On their quest from China to India to collect a set of ancient holy scrolls, the Buddhist monk Tripitaka and his three protective disciples, Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy, encounter a young princess, Reimi, who implores them for their help. Her once lush and peaceful homeland of the Tiger Kingdom has been taken over by two demon warlords, the cruel King Gold Horn and his equally tyrannical brother, Silver Horn. Having plundered the kingdom's palace and transformed Reimi's parents into turtles, the demons have also turned the surrounding countryside into a desert wasteland. Now, they plan to plunge the entire world into eternal darkness...

Originally adapted from Wu Chengen's classic Chinese novel, Journey To The West, one of the best-loved cult TV series from the 1970s, Monkey (Saiyûki), has been revamped for the 21st century. The result is Monkey Magic, a live-action feature length adventure featuring the further comic exploits of Tripitaka, Sandy, Pigsy and, of course, the irrepressible Monkey.

Monkey Magic (aka The Adventures of Super Monkey) may well crush the fond memories of those that grew up on the classic '70s series. To be honest that was pretty naff, but kids loved it (I know I did). This film attempts to bring the characters back to life for another generation of young fans and to be honest, while I'm sure that kids will love it, personally I really didn't enjoy it.

The story starts well, even if Shingo Katori (King Monkey) gurns and hams his way through the whole movie like a bad pantomime actor. There are some amusing gags as the travellers look for food. But, once they reach the Tiger Kingdom, everything soon starts to go downhill rather quickly.

I'm also not really sure what's up with the insistence that Tripitaka is male - the character is played by a woman and looks like a woman yet apparently she is a he.

Extras are a little disappointing. We get the trailer; TV Spots (6 min, 33 sec worth of TV ads for the film); and The Journey to the West (which is a page of text explaining that Monkey was based on a tale from the 1590s).

While the effects are okay and the plot will no doubt grab the imagination of a young audience, it's a little too cliched and a little to badly staged to appeal to anyone who remembers the original TV show.

6

Nick Smithson