Why So Blu?

Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons (Blu-ray Review)

Magnolia Home Entertainment is releasing the action-packed adventure, Journey To The West, on Blu-ray and DVD on May 27. I was a fan of both Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer, so I was interested to see what Stephen Chow brings to the table this time.  I never saw CJ7 so I really haven’t seen anything from the guy since 2004 with Hustle.  Journey To The West definitely has that same vein that Soccer and Hustle had, but heads off for a bigger, more fantastical, more supernatural adventure this time around.  I had bit of a problem with the CGI in this one, but I think the idea behind and choreography of the fight sequences was impressive enough that the film is able to overcome some lackluster effects.

Film 

This is the story of Tang Sanzang, a Buddhist demon hunter.  When we open, he is trying to protect a village from a demon in the form of a giant fish.  He is able to stop the demon but not without some casualties that affect him dearly.  Along his journey’s he is constantly assisted by a fellow demon hunter with a crush on him named Miss Duan.  Together they go after demons in search of stopping the Monkey King.  The film is a comedic twist on the classic Chinese novel with the title merely just being Journey To The West.

Being a fan of Chow’s previous two efforts, I was looking forward to this one.  And it was pretty solid with action and comedy as expected.  The film also carried a lot of Chow’s style and fighting techniques he likes that you sort of can just tell by watching.  It also contains characters and memorable characters in groups that tend to be a trademark of the films he has made.  Its safe to say if you’ve liked what’s come before than you should check this one out.

My biggest gripe with the whole film is the CGI.  The creatures and effects aren’t bad, a bit better than SyFy Channel movies, they just don’t seem to match up very well with the live action scenes they’re being mixed with.  There are many instances of some backgrounds that look incredibly fake compared to the person standing in front of them (Sin City 2 trailer Josh Brolin falling bad).  And when interacting with a creature it just doesn’t look very believable either.  Some of it looks as if live action people have been inserted into video game graphics.

Due to some very well thought out action sequences, I was able to look over these shortcomings.  However, I was probably less engaged and suspended in disbelief because I was taken out by noticing how fake it looked.  That aside, there’s some really cool stuff going on here.  Ring throwing in particular was super cool.  Also, the opening sequence trying to stop the fish had some unique and great moments in action.  All in all, you’ll appreciate what they’re going for, even if it is incredibly visible to you how they were able to pull it off.

Journey To The West: Conquering the Demons is a really fun adventure to take.  I don’t know that its one I’d take a lot, but you should definitely go on it once.  The movie is a lot of fun and carries plenty of heart.  Stephen Chow really needs to direct one of these kinds of movies a little more often than have a bigger gap in between them.

Video 

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 2:35.1

Clarity/Detail:  This is kind of a tricky one.  It looks good, not great.  Aspects of this are heavy in detail, but a lot of it is pretty smoothed over looking.   I think the picture quality on this also hampers the look of the CGI in the film, making it look detached and uninvolving.

Depth:  There are moments with some solid depth, but for the most part its rather average.

Black Levels:  Black levels are varied and add to some detail with minimal loss.

Color Reproduction:  Greens look quite striking, but the rest is rather just sort of there.  Not faint looking, but not really bold either.

Flesh Tones:  Consistent and detailed.

Noise/Artifacts:  None witnessed.

Audio 

Audio Format(s): Mandarin 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English 5.1 DTS-HD MA

Subtitles: English, English Narrative, English SDH, Spanish, French

Dynamics:  This is a pretty clean track.  The volume on it was set really low though.  I had to turn it up significantly more than my normal settings I watch on.

Low Frequency Extension:  There’s some great usage in the intro with the fish plopping down and landing on planks.  Also later, when things explode by the rings bopping them, there’s a good umpf.  Its a very complimentary track.

Surround Sound Presentation:  There is some good usage during some battles in the rear speakers of things flying by.  There’s also some nice ambiance as well as extra scoring in the rear channels.

Dialogue Reproduction:  Dialogue is clear and centered.

Extras 

There is a ‘Walmart Exclusive Edition’ of this release that comes with a digital copy.  If you don’t get it from there, your version will not include it.

Behind The Scenes Featurettes – Six brief little EPK featurettes about making the film.

• Stunts & Special Effects (HD, 1:41)
• Cast & Characters (HD, 2:04)
• Director Stephen Chow (HD, 2:39)
• The Laughs (HD, 2:20)
• Production Design (HD, 1:20)
• Choreography (HD, 1:45)

Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2:08)

Also From Magnolia Home Entertainment: Trailers for The Protector 2, Stage Fright, Alan Patridge, Chideo, AXS TV

Summary 

Journey To The West comes with a solid presentation and very light bonus materials.  The film itself is quite a bit of fun, despite its crummy CGI effects I mentioned in my review.  If you’re going to pick this one up, I recommend the Walmart version so you get the digital copy (I’m not sure if there’s anything else extra with it aside from that).  But, if digital copies aren’t your bag, then feel free to order it from the Amazon link right below this paragraph.