Monkey Magic (1998) User Reviews

This is what I have to say

[samas_haggis · 10/10 · 29 October 2007]

The person who posted the review above me has no idea what he/she is talking about. Their arguments are flawed in almost every single way and anyone with half a brain would realise that the whole point of the character monkey was to be a rebellious character who often argued with the gods. For goodness sake, just read the book! That is, assuming that you have an intelligence level high enough to understand words.

In summary, I am going to award this movie a 10 to balance out the drastically under rating the person above me gave the movie.

Geeeeeez!

Samas

A show well done

[izlude · 10/10 · 27 November 2017]

I remember watching this when it came out. Unlike Dragon Ball, which only featured characters based on Journey to The West, this took it almost literally, except it contained cartoon antics and was pretty entertaining. I justify my 10/10 rating due to how immersed I became while watching it. It really was well done. The voice actors are familiar, so if you watch this, you'll feel good about it.

Well, when this show did come out for the first time, I tried to catch all the episodes, but it was hard to due to it coming on so early. It was kinda on the same boat as SatAM Sonic. Both shows were epic and lots of fun, but just hard to catch in time. And yes, sadly, this show got canceled.

Here's the thing, I don't buy the BS that this show had low ratings, especially after reading other reviews. This show was BULLIED off the air, exactly like what happened to SatAM Sonic. It too was canned for low ratings, but it really didn't have low ratings. We all know and love SatAM, yet have little understanding what low ratings actually means. It's VERY political:

If a show gets thousands of views and remains stable, it's considered acceptable by a station. If a show on another station gets even more views, they scrap what show currently airs (Monkey Magic or Sonic) and try to bring something new in, hoping for more views (more money).

Do not think that "Low Ratings" = "Bad Show". Monkey Magic is definitely worth your attention. I hope they reboot it some day.

VERY GOOD SERIES, I MISS IT

[viduenas · 10/10 · 17 August 2020]

This particular gem of the late 90s is one of the more obscure series out there. Based on the the ancient Chinese legend "Journey to West" (the same one Dragon Ball borrows heavily from) the series portrays the adventures of the popular Monkey King known to Chinese and Japanese folk culture, in this series named Kongo for the English dub. I remember this would come on at odd hours Sunday on the now-defunct UPN so catching all episodes was next to impossible in a time before streaming online. The show portrays the Monkey King's rambunctious, confrontational, and over confident personality well. This is contrasted with the celestial beings he is often in conflict with who are more or less portrayed as more stoic, biding, and enigmatic.

The English dub is rather quirky and the dialogue doesn't seem to be studied well enough to appropriately translate as is the case with other anime dubbed around this time (Tenchi Muyo, Universe come to mind). The animation mixed cell animation with computer CGI for large landscapes and some large creatures and characters. The CGI is actually impressive for the time and blends well with the animation, not leaving a jarringly cheap aesthetic like other motion pictures at the time (looking at you Spawn movie). The series seems to serve as a vehicle for the original PlayStation game which is a considered a cult classic in its own right.

It's unfortunate that it ended so early its time on air as it would have been interesting to see how the series would have progressed and adapted from the original ancient novel. As of now I can't seem to find any mention of a DVD release which is very unfortunate as this show probably had and COULD have a larger fan base than the industry would give it credit for. Evidence of merch are scant other than a few mentions of promo material from Japanese catalogers.

It seems as though this series couldn't compete with other emerging animes and action packed series at the time, namely the Dragon Ball successor, DBZ,which was also concurrently on American airwaves for the first time. Hopefully the series finds its way to a streaming network someday soon so audiences old and new can enjoy this interesting take on an old story.

Prepare for Disappointment

[sara-34 · 1/10 · 23 June 2007]

This is, hands down, the worst show I have seen in my life. By virtue of being a children's show, it should either fall into the category of being educational or entertaining, but this show is neither. The animation (computer generated images obviously done on a very tight budget) is terrible. All of the characters are annoying. Even more offensive is the theme and seeming moral of the show. The monkey whom the show is about is uncontrollably violent, and continuously challenges the gods. One might expect, in that case, for the gods to be the "good guys" and teach the stupid monkey a lesson in each episode. Unfortunately, that's not the case. The gods seem to be in competition with this monkey to see who can be the most aggressive, evil, and unreasonable. This review is, in all likelihood, completely wasted at this point, because no one in their right mind would ever put this show back on television or release it on DVD. Of course, I also would have said that no one is psychotic enough to have made this show in the first place, and obviously I would have been wrong.

Journey to the West meets bad acting and worse writing.

[chrinos · 6/10 · 7 March 2014]

This cartoon, like many from the East, is based upon the classic story of Journey to the West. I am unaware how much was made, but it seems that only this one season was translated. The problem the first reviewer has is understandable from the perspective of our instant gratification culture.

Very mild spoilers follow, as I have difficulty adequately describing what this story is about with no references.

Monkey is a short tempered, super powered, arrogant jerk. He exemplifies everything you might think of when describing a person acting like an animal--which is entirely the point. He, along with later characters, represents one of the facets of humanity a person must overcome to reach enlightenment.

Monkey is meant to be flawed. His story is about railing against the heavens, and, over time, learning to understand his own place in the universe. This season ends where the story of his redemption begins.

Also, it helps to know that in this mythology, the "gods" are bureaucrats. They aren't meant to be perfect, or even all that good, really. They are the middle management of the universe, taking care of the day-to-day business of keeping the world running.

That said, the production quality is pretty low, and the translation worse, so I can't really give it a good rating.