This movie is not meant to be a religious allegory or a faithful adaption of the book. It should be viewed as a fantasy and a potential blockbuster made for mass consumption.

As a fantasy, it failed spectacularly. It failed to be an immersive experience. The celestial palaces, the demon’s lair, and Hua Guo Mountain looked more like backdrops. You didn’t feel like to you could step through the screen and into this world. The problem was with the poor designs, not the CGIs itself. I’ve seen movies/series with low-tech effects that still managed to make it work.

They hired very capable actors, but all of the performances felt very superficial. I totally blame this on the directing. Casting Donnie Yen as Sun Wu Kong was pointless, since he didn’t really get to show off his fighting skills and choreography. Maybe this was why they replaced him with Aaron Kwok in the sequel.

I will end this review on a positive note. This was a high budget production with great looking actors.