… the definitive guide for your Journey to the West
Films/TV on Sun Wukong
Battle Earth: Return of the Monkey King
Feb 13th
Seung Eun Kim & Brad Rozman have put together what appears to be an amazing film called “Battle Earth: Return of the Monkey King.” I’m not quite sure if it is going to be a full length feature, a comic, a tv-series, but the premise is promising. Basically, earth is in trouble and no one can fight off its invaders/destroyers so the people call out for help and Sunwukong hears their cry.
You can watch the trailer here.
A 1961-64 Shanghai Animation
Dec 9th
First, turn down the volume as the piercingly high Chinese music can be extremely grating to the ears. After you’ve done that, click on play and feast your eyes on some amazing animation made by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio (上海美术电影制片厂) during the golden age of Chinese animation in the 1960′s.
Aside from the fact that it is beautifully illustrated, there is a lot of clever and innovative use of the setting such as the monkeys opening the “wave curtain” with their staffs as they receive Sun Wukong who has returned after obtaining more suitable weapons for his monkeys so they can defend themselves when he isn’t around.
Unassuming Strands of Hair
Dec 2nd
Unlike any other super hero, Sunwukong’s hairs are also his weapons. Each strand of his 84,000 hairs can become an animal, an inanimate object, another human being/demon, and even a replica of himself, replete with his powers. Strike it, and it will disappear, but in the mean time it can also do damage to you while you’re trying to figure out where the real Monkey King stands.
Amazingly, he can never run out of hairs because he can all them back to himself once they are no longer of use. One real weakness though is fire- he cannot use his hairs when confronted with this element.
In this picture, Jet Li portrays Sunwukong in the movie The Forbidden Kingdom, and has just chewed a strand of his hair and is blowing it towards his enemy. A single strand can turn into several (up to a thousand I think) clones.
His other incredible ability is shapeshifting!
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