The Lost Empire Movie
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Storyline
TAGLINES
Reluctant hero, beautiful goddess, three days to save the world.
Journey to a world where kingdoms fall and heroes rise.
American Businessman and China Scholar, Nick Orton is enlisted by the Buddhist goddess of mercy to save his world from de-evolving to the time of the Demon Master Shu and the 5 Traditional Masters who wish for no progress to ever happen. Nick is given help in the form of The Handsome Monkey king, Pigsy and Friar Sand who must do battle with dragons, demons and a heavenly legal system to assure that Earth remains as it should be.
| Thomas Gibson | Nicholas Orton |
| Ling Bai | Kwan Ying |
| Russell Wong | Monkey King |
| Ric Young | Confucius |
| Kabir Bedi | Friar Sand |
| Eddie Marsan | Pigsy |
| Randall Duk Kim | Shu |
| Henry O | Wu |
| Terence Beesley | Prince of Confusion |
| Simon Bernstein | Umbrella King |
| Cecil Cheng | Monkey |
| Anthony Chinn | Citizen 1 |
| James Faulkner | Marcus Harding |
| Turbo Kong | Big Demon |
| Burt Kwouk | Professor Sheng |
| Peter MacDonald |
4.30 out of 10 (473 votes)
Visitor Reviews
A movie that butchered a legend, and insulted a culture.
posted on 01 Jul 2009Loosely based on one of China's greatest stories (A Journey to the West, also known as the "Monkey King"), the Lost Empire was a horrible rendition which insulted a rich culture.Moving past the bad acting, cheesy action sequences, and the slow, lengthy story; the Lost Empire continually butchered China's legends and heroes.Many of China's heroes and gods were wrongly portrayed as either villains or imbeciles... most insulting was the portrayal of Confucius as a devious worm who had nothing but disdain to the heroes...
Entertainment vs Accuracy
posted on 10 Mar 2009I picked 3 stars as a medium for this movie.
For those of you who enjoy mythical worlds for entertainment purposes, then you might rank this as high as 4 stars. Though the acting by Thomas Gibson (playing journalist Nick Orton, the Scholar) falls a bit flat, Russell Wong makes for an enthusiastic and entertaining Monkey King. The costumes are nicely done, particularly that of Pigsy, and the martial arts scenes are well choregraphed though a little cheesy sometimes. The special effects, while not perfect quality, give the movie character and a touch of humor.
For those of you who favor accuracy, this probably falls as low as two stars. (1 if you are an extremist, but then why did you even bother watching this?) The movie was created with little regard of the historical/modern origins of Buddhist religion. Issues of particular note are:
1. the Goddess Kwan Ying's deception/drunkenness at the begining of the movie and the romantic feelings throughout the film conflicting with the modern view of the holy figure Guan Yin (whom Kwan Ying is based on)**
2. the portrayal of Confucious as greedy and selfish instead of wise
3. (though not a religious issue) there seems to be a little bit of a dig at Chinese communism in the movie's second half which may be too much for the politically sensitive. There is some obvious emphasis on Western values such as individualism vs the collectivism of the Chinese.
** For those of you crying bloody murder over the portrayal of Guan Yin and looking for a warped version of a Christian holy figure, see the movie series 'Prophecy' by Gregory Widen. (Interestingly, Russell Wong is also a lead in Prophecy II as Danyael.) The archangel Gabriel has turned against the Christian God and the humans of God's creation. The warping of holy figures doesn't just happen to those of Chinese origin - it happens everywhere.
Note: THIS IS ***NOT*** A RECREATION OF 'JOURNEY TO THE WEST'!!!
Too many people seem to be expecting this. If you are looking for a retelling of 'Journey to the West', keep going as this is not for you. This is a Westernized story that pulls elements from the story "Journey to the West". You will not find a cast of all Asian characters. You will not find Buddhism or Confucionism presented here accurately. This is an entertainment piece and not a historical one. This was made for a the general American (and European?) audience and not an Asian one.
Enjoyable Family Fun
posted on 28 Jan 2009For a made for TV mini series, this was a fun watch for my kids and I. There was action, romance and magic. The special effects weren't so special and the acting was great, but both were passable. I don't know anything about source material, so I can't comment on discrepancies that others seem to be upset about, but the story was very enjoyable and my whole family liked it. I guess if your heavily vested in the original stories the mini series is based on, you might want to bypass this (but some previous comments said seeing the characters again, even though they didn't like the mini series, was enjoyable in itself), but if your like me and have little knowledge of the source material and just want a nice fun family film to watch with your kids about characters and myths that will be new to you, this is a good choice. Plus, you can spread it out over a couple of family TV nights.
Typical tv-movie fare
posted on 12 Jan 2009I watched this because of the previews, which showed a kind of Matrix/Crouching Tiger/Raiders cash-in, but I was very disappointed. All the rip-offs were there, but very poorly done (even the CGI effects looked cheap). This might be what Sid and Marty Krofft would do if they were still making Saturday-morning fare.The plot was obviously padded, the wind-ups (it seemed like there were about 30 of them) were anti-climactic, and the worst thing was the mish-mash of American and Chinese pseudo-mythology that has people saying things like "For Buddhaaaaa" while jumping off cliffs towards battle and painting Confucious as an ass-kissing bad guy.Along the way we have things like an American bookworm achieving God-level martial arts skill with only 3 days of practice, and a random globbing together of events in Chinese history that took place anywhere from 3000 to 30 years ago.All-in-all this was an insult to anyone that knows anything at all about Eastern history and philosophy, and a destruction (ie: more than a waste) of 4 hours for everyone else.
The Goddess of Mercy
posted on 18 Dec 2008The Lost Empire / The Monkey King is a mini series that tells the story of Nicholas Orton (Thomas Gibson) who finds himself on a save-the-world mission. The plot itself is a bit difficult to follow - it is loosely inspired by 'Journey to the West'- the famous chinese epic. However in this version, it shows us what would happen if 'Journey to the West' had never existed. Demons are trying to destroy the book (for the simple reason of that's what evil demons do with their spare time) and the world is running backwards because of it, deleting all the things that 'Journey to the West' helped inspire (which includes buildings and clocks, strangely enough). So the Goddess of Mercy, Kwan Ying (Ling Bai) travels from her world to find the prophesied Scholar from Above - our own Nick Orton. He is 'above' because all of the mythological characters he later mets live in a copy of China in one of the (very, very, very large) unexcavated tombs, under the musuem. So with the help of Kwan Ying and the famous terracotta warriors that come to life, Nick finds himself inside the tomb/copy of mythological China, faced with the sacastic Monkey King (Russell Wong) who was been trapped inside a mountain by those same demons that are out to destroy 'Journey to the West'.
As you can see, the premise is quite confusing, so if you like to sit down and get a nice, logical plot, you might want to give this one a miss, as our heroes do a lot of wandering around and your not actually sure where they're going or why.
However, if you are a fan of other Hallmark fantasy mini-series (the Magical Legend of the Leprechauns, Merlin, Arabian Nights, the 10th Kingdom, the Voyage of the Unicorn) then this is the movie for you. Like the others it boasts great special effects, great set-designs and Kwan Ying and her consort Whitesnake wear the most beautiful outfits I've seen. The lovely Ling Bai is perfectly cast as the Goddess of Mercy, and the scenes that take place in the home of the gods are wonderful. Nick and his reluctant teacher the Monkey King are good too, and get some good one-liners, and their allies Pigsy and Friar Sand should appeal to kids. The romance between Nick and Kwan Ying is nothing new, but still enjoyable to watch, and the carefully choreographed martial-art sequences are amazing.
If you are a Chinese-historian or a purist of any kind, I advise you to steer clear, as I'm sure Confucius wasn't an annoying, back-stabbing traiter as he is portrayed here, but everyone else should just sit down and enjoy the ride without being picky.
Campy Fun
posted on 28 Nov 2008I've read the other reviews available at the time this one is being written, and this film has some enthusiasts and some absolute haters. I'd like to offer a more centrist look in the hopes that it might make a little more sense. I gave this film 4 stars as center leaning towards fun and inspiration.
I'm a graduate student doing research on modern Japanese interpretations of "Journey to the West", "Suikoden", and "Fenshen Yanyi", and let me tell you, this film doesn't even compare to the weirdest, out of context interpretations the Japanese have done with this classic story. One of the most popular modern Manga adaptations of Journey to the West has the scripture pilgrim (who Mr. Gibson replaces in "The Lost Kingdom" [sort of]) as a gun toting, beer drinking, gambling, meat eating, rebel ("Gensomaden Saiyuki" by Kazuya Minekura). Another has him as a harmonica playing traveler in a post apocalyptic world ("Assobot Goku" by ARIMORI Jyoji), and don't get me started on "Dragon Ball". It doesn't detract from the story all that much to have a white guy in the lead roll if you've already trudged through that, especially since this movie is obviously designed for a Western audience.
On the pros side: This movie is entertaining. Its family friendly and it's not bogged down for a casual watcher in fancy dialogue. In fact, it's very much in the new millennia so far as most of the language goes. Having read the full original novel for my research, having every other paragraph be poetry would not have worked here. Youll laugh at it most of the way through. Fun Martial Arts sequences can be found throughout the film. You dont really have to know anything about the original story to watch it (but it helps). Amazing costumes and makeup are used in this film. Its very aesthetic.
On the cons side: It's not accurate in a lot of places. It's also not really trying to be. This strikes me as a movie that would have made a better book. The acting is not as good as most American's would expect, but it probably could pass for a BBC Miniseries in a Dr. Who/Neverwhere kind of style. Its special effects aren't stellar (although what they lose in quality they certainly made up for in quantity). It's important to remember that this movie is not supposed to be a retelling of the original legend, but more of a really campy sequel. Yes, Confucius is a lying swindler in this. He seems to embody more of what the government in modern day China is in this film that what he historically was. It seems relatively obvious that his character is simply a way to move the plot. It's unfortunate that they chose a historic scholar to corrupt.
Why is it worth a watch then? "Journey to the West" was historically a series of stories that were circulating long before Wu Cheng'en put it to paper in the Ming Dynasty, and those legends differ slightly across East Asia. The reason the collective works had so much meaning was that they were the literary pieces of the time that allowed for integration of Taoist beliefs, Buddhist beliefs, and Confucian ideals peacefully, and that union is part of what created the Chinese identity. "The Lost Kingdom" has taken bits and pieces of the original and used them with Western ideas to introduce the legend to a new audience. In the beginning narrative of the film, the main character even likens himself to a 'western cowboy' in China. There is no attempt at all to hide that this is a best fit cultural merge. It's an effort to bring cultures together for 3 hours that could spawn a search for a better understanding of Chinese culture (despite the fact that this doesn't match the original creator's full intent at the outset).
My academic pursuits of Chinese and Japanese literature started from a Japanese science fiction adaptation of Fenshen Yanyi as a 10 year old. Aliens in Ancient China who wear turbans ("Houshin Engi" by Fujisaki Ryuu) didn't put me off finding out the truth behind the original. Who knows what this film could inspire?
It's worth a watch. It's funny, and it's campy, but don't take it seriously. I understand declaring it 'Racist' and 'insulting' makes big headlines in news papers, and that sells issues, or gets blog hits, but the movie doesn't take itself that seriously, and making broad sweeping declarations about it probably means you've worked yourself up for nothing.
Passable entertainment
posted on 17 Oct 2008OK, I rounded up to 4 stars. This really isn't bad, though.
It's an idiom that most American viewers won't be familiar with. The major characters are Kuan Yin, Confucius, and a flock of other gods, godlings, immortals, buddhas, figures from myth, and other well-known figures and stereotypes from the Chinese pantheon. There are the flying heroes, improbable weapons, and acting at least on a par with the Dr. Who series. In other words, lots of viewers will see it as alien, disconnected, and amateurish, as well as being filled overly convenient miracles.
But it's not in the Western idiom, so parts of it have to be taken in their own terms. And it has the look of a low-budget film, so you won't see effects on the Star Wars scale. And it is a bit cheesy and over-the-top, which is part of the appeal.
The fights are bloodless, the romance is chaste, and all but the youngest kids will understand the characters. If you don't take it or yourself too seriously, there's a lot of fun in this one.
//wiredweird
A mixed bag, weak in many key areas
posted on 02 Oct 2008Lost Empire, a VERY strange title for a retelling of the old Chinese classic adventure "Journey to the West", is a mixed bag of a film. David Hwang's screenplay is in many respects a sequel to the original story, as opposed to being a modern rendition of the original story. I regard this as a mistake as I believe Mr. Hwang lost more by giving up on the original characters than he gained by having a modern setting.Good points: The lovely Ling Bai did a good job as the Bodhisattva of Compassion (Kwan Yin). Some scenes with Monkey and the "Scholar from Above" went well (mainly the scenes when Monkey rescues his subjects on Flower Fruit Island). Some interplay between "Sandy" and the "Scholar from Above" was funny. Some of the art design for the palace of the Jade Emperor was good (but NOT the throne room, yuk!).Bad points: Too many explosions. A really ugly and totally wrong portrait of Confucius (I could go on for some time but I'll stick with this key point: Confucius was a materialist. He had no interest in religion and spirits. He was only interested in how a good state was run. The depiction of Confucius in this movie is totally at odds with EVERYTHING that Confucius stood for.) The last half-hour of the movie was anti-climactic, over-wrought, and uninteresting.Deeper problems: Journey to the West is, at its core, at Buddhist story about the quest to attain enlightenment (along with the fun stuff about beating demons). This story (Lost Empire) takes place AFTER Monkey and Sandy have achieved their ultimate state. They are both "supposed" to be enlightened beings. The problem with this is that a) they don't act like enlightened beings, and b) there isn't much drama possible when you are enlightened. You can really tell the weakness in the writing when Kwan Yin has to tell Monkey's old teacher that "Monkey HAS been blessed by the Buddha". If you need a 3rd party (a goddess no less) to convince other people that you have become enlightened and have been blessed by the Buddha, well, its clear to me that the story is saying one thing, but doing another.In fact, none of the characters behaves "in character". At least not like the characters that you enjoyed when reading "Journey to the West".Deepest problem: the story (Lost Empire) is trying to both be and not be "Journey to the West" at the same time. Its trying to both be true to original ideas and be "modern" and up-to-date at the same time. Its trying to be a sequel that retells the original story. It is, in short, a total mess at a very deep level. -- Colin Glassey
Avoid at all costs! Don't let the trailer fool you! -- 3 (Really bad)
posted on 12 Sep 2008I saw the trailer for THE MONKEY KING on videocassette three years ago and have been meaning to rent this movie ever since. Though the first ten minutes reveal an interesting concept, the next thirty minutes or so are terrible, at which point you are free to hit the stop button. I was planning to write about the TV-Esq low quality production of this movie, but once realizing that this was originally for TV, I thought of something else to talk about. No, even if I found this "film" on TV, I would definitely not tune in for another episode.After watching the trailer, which is of course all in voice-over narration, I had assumed that THE MONKEY KING was an extravagant high-wire Hong Kong circus act. Popping in the DVD, I was hoping to see extravagantly costumed characters flying through the air and doing wild martial arts. "Maybe it's like an extremely silly Once Upon a Time in China," I thought, "where the Monkey King spits streams of blood and the pig man makes a million golden rings appear out of nowhere!"I was heartbroken when the Monkey King, played by Russel Wong, appears on screen and speaks perfect taxi-driver English. Nope, the whole movie is in English, there's not a trace of any Asian language or authentic culture, and obviously no one from the Hong Kong movie industry was involved in this production. It's more a parody of Asian folklore than anything else, and all the props are made of cardboard. The martial arts and dialog are both ridiculous (there are more moves and more coherent dialog in a Jane Fonda aerobics video), and I couldn't help from cutting THE MONKEY KING halfway short. It was unbearable.I think the movie was originally aiming at a Neverending Story type fantasy, where all the Chinese stuff would add "extra value" to the fantasy -- kind of like a paper umbrella or a fortune cookie. The production for this movie is at the same abysmal level as those bleak British dramas broadcast on PBS. The MONKEY KING's sets, special effects, costumes, and dialog would make for a very nice Sunday flea market but definitely not a two hour production. Instead of watching THE MONKEY KING, I highly recommend searching for a four hour made-for-TV Alice in Wonderland which featured Sammy Davis Junior as the Catepillar and Scott Baio as a cat, as well as a myriad other 80's TV stars. That was cheap production, but it was cheap production done well with care. I don't know if it's on DVD, but I highly recommend that if you're looking for fantasy with lots of color.Oh, and if you're looking for cool martial arts, you're better off visiting your local day care center when the kids miss nap-time.Avoid the MONKEY KING at all costs. It really shouldn't be commercially available and is only a sneaky, albeit clever, ploy to lure video rental customers who are into the Hong Kong high-wire genre.JYJimboduck-dot-com
Racist travesty of an epic story
posted on 11 Jul 2008"Journey to the West" is a literary masterpiece which has been loved in China for nearly half a millennium. In contrast, "The Lost Empire" is a piece of meretricious rubbish which will hopefully soon be consigned to oblivion. Its makers seem to assume, rightly or wrongly, that its audience will be unable to relate to a "foreign" story unless a white guy is inserted, however incongruously, into the action. As if this were not bad enough, the idea of the "hero" comducting a romantic affair with Kuan Yin must be deeply offensive to many people of Chinese extraction. Since Kuan Yin is someimes compared, in her role as compassionate mediator, to the Virgin Mary, one can only imagine the response had the situation been reversed. This is an example of film-making at its very worst.
A foolish movie
posted on 04 Feb 2008This movie misrepresents the Chinese history with odd plots and foolish effects. What it is trying to say is the value of individual, it is like a stupid political propaganda trying to brain washing the audience. If you are interested in Chinese history or mystery, the movie "Big trouble in little China" is much better.The martial art is terrible, try "Mortal Combat" if you are interested.
A Great Movie
posted on 31 Jan 2008First of all, while I can see where the other reviews are coming from in terms of considering this movie insulting, I have to disagree with them. Sure, in the book that this movie was based on, there were no white men. However, while this movie is based on the story (the idea behind it, at least), it's a completely different story. Sure, some of the characters are the same, but the basic story isn't, really and truly. And personally, I thought it was a really good movie. I considered the performances to be good. If you're looking for a movie that gives a really in-depth look at culture, this isn't it. If you're looking for an enjoyable movie to watch for entertainment, this is it. The story line is good, the acting is good; what more do you want? So stop being so picky and overanalyzing it.
Abominable trash
posted on 31 Dec 2007Surprisingly and shockingly awful. There are a lot of significant events, but no story. Constant stickfights that all look the same, aren't very exciting, and all the good guys win far too easily so no tension is created, do not make a movie action packed. Constant scenes of giant whirlpools or people flying do not make a movie magical when the scenes are poorly done and completely unmotivated by character. Watching two people kiss and express their love for one another does not make a movie romantic unless the two characters have some chemistry and interaction. The problem isn't that this movie is cheesy and formulaic. The problem is that the cheesy formula is unbelievably poorly executed. The characters are never developed, the special effects (especially the tiger) are often second rate, the story is not only derivative of every fantasy movie ever but derivative of itself (two separate villages that have had their children kidnapped by bad people), at least don't repeat your own ideas in the same movie. Dialogue is awful and cardboard, and the acting is pretty much lousy. This is everything the typical, paint-by-numbers approach to movie making yields.
This movie is so bad it's insulting to it's audience. Horrible. Save yourselves and don't go near this worthless mess of a mini-series.
To Long!!!!
posted on 13 Nov 2007How could they make this movie 2.44 hours long??? I tought i was a quite good movie the first hour...not a great movie more of a fun B-movie.But Then...when it never ended and story become stupid, not the kind of story you want to see. Let the good people win! Well then you just got tired and hoped it would end soon.It should have been 1 hour shorter then I would have given it a 5...but now its more of a 2-3.
It is worth watching and quite fun
posted on 12 Oct 2007I saw this program on Hallmark channel on cable TV
I did not have high expectations of it
But overall it was quite good for a made for TV effort It was quite fun and seeing something with monkey pigsy and sandy againIt is worth watching and quite funIt was titled the monkey king that might have only be for the Australian release
Impressive Mini Series
posted on 11 Jun 2007This is a wonderful movie about an anchient chinese story. The Journey To The West is a book on a scholar that travels to a different world. The movie has great effects and the characters fill the standards of the book. If you love magic and adventure this movie is good. Also if you were interested in movies like: Merlin, 10th kingdom, and Arabian Nights this movie is just what your looking for.
Three days to save the world.
posted on 10 Mar 2007This movie is a contemporary take on the classic Chinese novel "Journey to the West," which is a fictionalized account of the legends around the Buddhist monk Xuánzàng's pilgrimage to India during the Táng dynasty in order to obtain Buddhist religious texts called sutras.The ministers have imprisoned the writer of the book, and are attempting to destroy it to reverse time back to traditional Chinese life, i.e. before any modernization. The modern world will be destroyed unless The Scholar From Above (Thomas Gibson) can enter the underworld and save it.Don't make any mistake. Gibson would not have taken one step except for the fact that he was following the luscious Bai Ling, who anyone would follow to the gates of Hell.He rescues Sun Wukong the Monkey King (Russell Wong - Romeo Must Die), and is joined by Zhu Bajie(Pigsy)(Eddie Marsan - 21 Grams, Vera Drake) and Sha Wujing (Friar Sand) (Kabir Bedi - Octopussy) to save the book and save the world. It is almost a Wizard of Oz adventure, as they all have personal issues to resolve in addition to the mission.Of course, Kuan Yin (Bai Ling) appears any time he utters a prayer. Thankfully, for the many appearance of Bai Ling make this film worth watching. She is usually in another spectacular costume each time she appears.Besides spectacular costumes, the sets were lavishly decorated. The special effects were magnificent, and the martial arts displays exciting.It was overly long, but most great adventures are. Anyway. that is more time to watch Bai Ling.
Special Effects are Just Cheezy
posted on 03 Mar 2007I can see that whoever made this, put a lot of time and money into it trying to make this a big successful production, however, this fantasy film is best for ages 10 and under. Special effects, script lines, acting and story are significantly lacking what the blockbuster's have. Too bad.
Lessons Unheeded
posted on 21 Jul 2009Well, this mini-series was the straw that broke the back for producer Robert Halmi with NBC. The faults of his previous rating disaster, "The 10th Kingdom" have not been heeded in this production. The screenplay is overloaded with over the top characters and situations that never let up. But, to me, the failure of "The Lost Empire" falls in three catagories. The total miscasting of Thomas Gibson, who gives a performance of towering stiffness. Gibson seems to baely be able to walk, let alone perform martial arts, and his delivery is unbelievably stilted. The music score is among the worst I've heard in a production like this. Very little thematic melody and even less of the score reflects the rich culture depicted in the story. Third, the director chose to show most of the frequent martial arts action from the waist up, so much of the visual impact of those scenes is unseen. Indeed, only Bai Ling retains her dignity in the production. The only other redeeming feature is, that the film did cause me to look into the classic book, "Journey to the West."