AniWorthAlakazam the Great
Introduction
Upon a mountain, a monkey is born from stone—nameless, parentless, and friendless. That is, until one day, he encounters a young female monkey named RinRin, who offers to be his friend. Through RinRin's encouragement, he becomes king after a test of bravery; however, his personality sours. When RinRin tells him that humans are the most intelligent creatures on Earth, the monkey vows to become smarter than them. He leaves RinRin behind and trains with a mountain hermit who gives him the name Son-Goku.
Following Goku's imprisonment for using his newfound powers to steal a celestial fruit from heaven, he is rescued by a monk. In exchange, he is asked to accompany the monk on a journey to India. This journey will prove to be yet another challenge for the monkey to overcome.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Audience ratings
MyAnimeList / Tenrai : 6.18/10 · 1623
| 1/10 | 29 |
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| 2/10 | 35 |
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| 3/10 | 78 |
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| 4/10 | 129 |
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| 5/10 | 267 |
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| 6/10 | 416 |
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| 7/10 | 327 |
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| 8/10 | 180 |
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| 9/10 | 83 |
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| 10/10 | 79 |
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Audience reviews
6 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
AlanDSouza1
I'm finding it really difficult to grade these early feature length animations - partly because most of the artists were still exploring the boundaries of what works and balancing a nascently developed industry's profitability - both when it came to the animation and the manga works they were bring primarily adapted from. A common problem that a lot of the animated films of this era seem to have is poor storyboarding and even poorer narrative coherence.
While Hakujaden struggles to keep going and is just filled with padding, Sayuuki has the opposite problem. It attempts to cover material way more ambitious in scope and scale than it has the time to cover while also balancing the extended fight choreography and typical animation tropes that the audiences of the time deemed necessary. The p…
Read at the sourceShirleyMarquez
Saiyuuki, aka Journey to the West, is not a great film by modern standards. But it's an important one in the history of anime. It's only the sixth anime feature film ever made and the first one to be released in the US. The substantially reedited American version was titled Alakazam the Great, in a dub featuring notable actors including Jonathan Winters and Dodie Stevens, the voice of Frankie Avalon singing the title part of Alakazam, and Sterling Holloway as the narrator.
Because of its historical significance, it's a must-see for serious students of anime. (Alas, the original Japanese version seems to be unavailable, but the dub is available on Amazon Prime as I write this in December 2017.) For everyone else it's something that you might want to check out if you're curious. I admit to…
Read at the sourceRicequake
Let me begin my review by stating that I did not see this movie as a kid, and therefore have zero nostalgia goggles to work with. Saiyuuki, for lack of a better term, is not a very spectacular movie. The music is, for the most part, forgettable, and doesn't always work. The musical numbers are unneeded. The visuals are passable, but nothing special. The voice work is okay: again, nothing special.
One of this movie's huge problems is getting me to care. I didn't care about the journey. I didn't care about the characters. In fact, I HATED most of the characters. The female love interest is a forgettable, bland cinnamon roll stereotype, and Son Goku is kind of a dick until very, very late into the film (and even then isn't that likable). The side characters are kind of neat on occasion, but…
Read at the sourcejonahthefurious
Based off the Monkey King character from the classical Chinese epic novel Journey to the West (Journey of the West being the inspiration for other cartoons like Dragon Ball Z), this is the story of Alakazam the Great and his journeys after becoming king of the monkeys. I watched it not expecting much after seeing a lot of low-budget early anime, but I was surprised by the great characters like Alakazam, and especially the pig Sir Quigley, whose character design is straight out of John and Joy Halas' Animal Farm.
The American dub was really well-done, and actually pretty funny at some times. The movie as a whole is pretty lighthearted, and extremely imaginative. Magic is an important aspect of the movie, and the different ways Alakazam uses it never failed to be interesting. As far as the…
Read at the sourcelostpuma
I've seen this anime about 30 years ago. I still remember watching this movie on a Sunday afternoon. It was part of the Sunday matinee on TV. At the time I had no idea it was a Japanese cartoon, but the story and artwork was pretty good. I'm not here really to review this anime, more like rant nostalgically about an entertaining and well-done anime. If you ever have a chance to see this anime, do not pass it up if you believe you are a true fan of the sub-culture.
Read at the sourceLolita_Flora
Saiyuki fans the world over, if you have not watched this than there is something missing from your fan obligations that need be filled in immediately. This beautifully animated film from 1960 depicts the famous “Journey to the West” in a classic style that has set the foundation for generations to come. The legendary Story of Son Goku: The Monkey King in his epic adventure “Journey to the West” has been retold many times over since its publication 1590 and since then has generated much popularity. Everything from Dragon Ball to Forbidden Kingdom has draw inspiration from this amazing story. The Monkey King/ Alakazam the Great is one of the most well executed retelling of this classic tell and is a pillar of historical foundation for the 60’s as well as anime as a whole for coming along du…
Read at the source