[TVB-A] Journey To The West 西遊記

[aznxmichael]

Being a devout Buddhist and knowing a bit about Chinese folklore and mythologies, I cannot help being agitated at the naive view of the producer. It was evident from tacky scripts that the scriptwriters were ignorant of the real Buddhist teaching. It was also fair to say that the whole series has lost sight of the original theme of being a holy quest of a monk and his disciples. The whole show has basically been reduced into a whimsical serial, although admittedly a well-done production on its own.

The basic story is about a young monk in the era of Tang Dynasty set foot westward to fetch Buddhism Cannons back to China to reestablish Buddhism fate. From help of Goddess of Mercy (Guan Yim), he gained three disciples and a white horse, which was originally a dragon prince. Together, they braved various dangers throughout the long journey that took over a decade.

This is really a religious tale favored with many fantasy ideologies, mixed with folklore and myths. The main four characters should show their developments in saintliness and their understandings of Buddha's words as they progressed in their journey (Please read on. This is really a review, not a brochure to convert your belief. * smile *).

The monk, in my opinion, should be an ordinary man with strong determination and benevolent character. Yet, he was without means of protection, hence the need of three disciples to help him go through all obstacles. All the way, he and the others would get tested and tempted numerous times in many ways, but he would remain steadfast and went on after subduing the cause of those desires. Demons represented human sins, and the monk had to learn to leave all the desire in order to attain the ultimate step in Buddhism world.

Cast
Kong Wah as the Tang monk
I think he was the best candidate among the actors in TVB at the time although I don't think he fit that well with the role's description. The monk is supposed to be youthful and rather fragile looking. He is supposed to have the fair skin and tempting look for all demons out there to eat him. Kong Wah looked a bit old and was not innocent enough. Remember that this monk grew up in the temple. He was ordained since young and very clever and enlightened in learning sutras but should be rather naive when dealing with worldly matters such as love. These qualities were not portrayed at all through Kong Wah. All I saw was one confused monk who seemed so superficial. He seemed so strong and sure of himself at times that I wondered why Guan Yim even bothered to send the monkey god to protect him, whereas he could just get out of any hardships by uttering sutras, and voila! yellow letters would come out around him and worked miracles.

Dicky Cheung as the monkey god
His 'yo' trademark seemed to be a pioneer for every artist to imitate him when he/she is in a similar role. I found his character lively and lovable although not exactly monkey-like. Admittedly, I'm impressed with his energetic acting although I think he was still far from showing a real monkey side. He was very active in the scenes where he was the focus character. However, he would remain still when the camera was not on him. He was a funny character for sure, but I sometimes wished that he would show a bit restlessness when he transformed himself. The best monkey god that I have seen so far was the one from Chinese production's JTTW. That was a true monkey there.


Wayne Lai as the pig demon
Despite his inadequate makeup, Wayne Lai was my most favorite character in this series. He had a great chemistry with Dicky Cheung. His personal stories were interesting, and his mishaps were rather entertaining due to his cute acting. There is nothing much to say about this character. He was sent to disrupt the journey and practically to distinguish the fine qualities of his fellow travelers opposite to all his weaknesses. He learned his lessons the hard way throughout the journey though, and his master was kind enough to forgive him every time


The third disciple and the horse:
** sigh ** It would have been better if they had foregone the white horse. The horse seemed to magically disappear at any 'convenient' time. The water demon was pathetically stupid although he was a bit smarter in this series than the sequel. Their characters were much neglected in contrast to the first two disciples.

[eniss]

this series is so good,i loved it i just wish tvb continiues to make new verisons of this

[luon]

this series was very good
doesn't matter which version it is, the series is and probably would always be good

[helenlovesu]

i love thisprogram, toobadd 2nd series dint live up 2 expectations. i would recommend d newest version wiv twins in it! d@s d best especially wiv all d stars casting in it

[April07]

I enjoy watching this series.
Dicky as the monkey king is funny and lot of ideas.
Wayne Lai as the pig demon is cool too.
The third one, he is quite boring. =) but not easy to act like him thou.
Everyone in this series really perform very cool. Enjoyed this series very very much.

[chinkyxmee]

childhood #1 fav movie even till now is mah top fav movie

[candora831]

i like this movie...not the best.. but i like it..it funny

[Hunni3_6279]

omg this is my favorite serie.. dicky is the best actor.. he is halarious.. i watched all his series