\tIs he god, warrior or simply a naughty boy?<\/p>\n
\tThe Monkey King’s conflicting personas are part of what makes the character so special, but Sun Wukong (\u5b59\u609f\u7a7a) in “Uproar in Heaven 3D” (\u5927\u95f9\u5929\u5bab Dà Nào Ti\u0101ng\u014dng) definitely has more of the latter. After all, this is a feature-length cartoon.<\/p>\n
\tThe protagonist of Wu Cheng’en’s (\u5434\u627f\u6069) classic Chinese novel “Journey to the West” (\u897f\u6e38\u8bb0), Sun Wukong is a brave yet mischievous monkey assigned to protect the monk Xuanzang during his pilgrimage to India.<\/p>\n
\tThanks to an array of TV dramas, movies, comics and videogames, his adventures are well known in China, across all generations, particularly those who grew up watching the 1980s TV series (with its epic theme tune) starring Liuxiaolingtong.<\/p>\n
\t“Uproar in Heaven 3D” is a remake of another visualization of the Monkey King story, the original “Uproar in Heaven”, which was considered a landmark picture in the potted history of Chinese animated film. The original Uproar focused on the first seven chapters of the epic novel, covering the birth of this miraculous monkey and his rise to become the monk’s divine protector.<\/p>\n
\tFor producer Wan Laiming (\u4e07\u7c41\u9e23), bringing what he considered to be one of the greatest Chinese narratives to life through animation was a long-cherished dream and perhaps the pinnacle of his life’s work. Wan, who pioneered Chinese animated film in 1941, was only able to begin work on “Uproar” after he became the main cartoonist and director of the newly established Shanghai Animation Film Studio (\u4e0a\u6d77\u7f8e\u672f\u7535\u5f71\u5236\u7247\u5382 Shàngh\u01cei M\u011bishù Diàny\u01d0ng Zhìpiànch\u01ceng). The two-hour feature recounts the adventures of the Monkey King before his “Journey to the West”, when he challenged the powers of heaven and defeated an army of 100,000 celestial warriors. Upon its completion, Wan traveled the world and collected numerous awards at film festivals, helping Uproar become the flagship work of China’s animation industry.<\/p>\n
\tAlmost 50 years later, this year’s updated version gives the animation a facelift using modern special effects technology, the most obvious improvement being its rendering in 3D. The new version features a slightly longer edit that stays true to the spirit of the original film, as well as a new soundtrack that combines the original’s traditional Chinese opera arrangements with a symphonic score. Most importantly, the 3D remake introduces all new voices and a stellar cast to play them, including film stars Yao Chen and Chen Daoming. The voices of famous directors Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang also make an appearance, in homage to Sun Wukong and Wan Laiming.<\/p>\n
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