Michelle Yeoh + Wu Yanzu + Liu Yuling, acted in an American version of "Journey to the West"

This year, Michelle Yeoh and Kwan Jiwei won the Oscar for actress and best picture, which can be said to be the most important moment of subculture in the mainstream film market. All-Asian actor, telling the story of an Asian family, but combined with imaginative parallel universe elements.

Seven seconds is a moment, a decision to extend is our life, different parallel universes are constantly intertwined, time is the fairest existence in this world - I am the actress of Hong Kong kung fu movies, the office typist with hands as soft as tentacles, Evelyn who has problems filing taxes in a washing machine shop, and the indisputable stone on the cliff edge of the earth...

With special effects full of visual effects and imagination, build a parallel universe full of imagination and possibilities; And inside is the hidden wounds of Asians, family and unspeakable love: fighting and killing at the tax office, signing divorce agreements, crying and chasing out after her daughter cheated and chased out, saying "It's time for you to lose weight;

Since you have never owned it, you don't have to be afraid of losing; Since it can no longer be broken, there is also the possibility of a great reconciliation between three generations of ancestors and grandchildren. From never understanding to beginning to understanding, understanding that you are a failure and I am also a failure, in fact, we are all failures.

The parallel universe is full of infinite possibilities, but our life is a cycle, daily tax returns, washing machines that rotate every day, and New Year's Eve in the laundry room every year, but all I have been worried about is you; A black hole is a black bagel, and life is also a circle, every day is new, and every day is a cycle.

Love is not grasping, not saying the opposite, not "for your good"

It is to accompany you through this chaotic life, to learn to let go, to give you freedom.

Imagination is all the universes that Michelle Yeoh shuttles, and the final foothold is still the real, warm and sensitive oriental core.

Including "Don't Tell Her", "First Arrival" and "After Yang", these niche but rich Asian culture, more and more appear in European and American dramas, we know that no one rejects the subculture.

No, recently Disney has gathered Michelle Yeoh, Liu Yuling, Kwan Jiwei, Wu Yanzu, Ouyang Wancheng, Xu Weilun and other top Asian actors to create a fresh drama combining "Journey to the West" with the theme of American high school - "Journey to the West ABC", the vibrant American high school life and the classic Chinese traditional mythological story "Journey to the West" are combined, plus heavyweight Asian actors. What kind of spark can "Journey to the West ABC" create?

Wang Jin is an ordinary Chinese teenager who grew up in the United States and struggles to balance high school and family life. When he met his new classmate Sun Weichen at school, he accidentally got involved in a battle between gods in Chinese mythology.

As a classic traditional Chinese myth, "Journey to the West" has long been remade with South Korea's "Journey to the Flowers" as a precedent, and the editor feels that "Journey to the Flowers" integrates traditional myths into modern social settings, which is actually quite interesting: for example, in a bar, seeing the scene of eating while having a monster sucking their fat behind is actually a very modern sense of fear and grotesque.

"Journey to the West" has a lot of fighting, mythological works, in fact, the remake should be very interesting to integrate into other cultures.

But it's a pity that "Journey to the West ABC" wastes both good themes and a lot of good actors.

Let's talk about the script setting first, which integrates the self-identity of American high school students, the culture shock of Asian families in the American environment, and the dilemma and breakthrough of Asian characters in the workplace... Overall it's quite interesting.

The story of Journey to the West is used as a fantasy background, while reality falls on the hot issues of the moment: identity, husband and wife relationship, campus life, the survival of Asian Americans in the United States...

The sullen Asian boy who enters school just wants to be a normal boy, try to date his favorite beautiful girl in the lead, participate in the soccer team with a group of brothers, and eat a gregarious white lunch at noon; Neither deliberately highlighting their Asian identity, nor clamoring to "speak up for Asians"

However, a generous and cheerful Chinese boy who was difficult to integrate into the American campus was transferred to the class, and a little contact found that this boy came from the world in "Journey to the West"

In fact, it is possible to make transformative dramas by linking Meigao life with this somewhat "super-heroic" Chinese myth. But "Journey to the West ABC" has a very careless taste in the production, and the ultra-low-cost production of Journey to the West is a crude taste of a small-cost cult film, retro Hong Kong-style Journey to the West? The scene and the fight taste really doesn't taste right;

The costumes, art, and sound effects are also full of a taste of the last century; This is not the whimsical, retro and fashionable taste of "Instantaneous Universe". It is a dull and old era atmosphere, and the ornamental is indeed not high.

The core of "Journey to the West ABC" cannot be traditional Chinese culture, but the proposition of the survival of Asian Americans in the United States.

How to say, in the past two years, there have actually been quite a few excellent works on this theme: "Instantaneous Universe" and "Minari", including this year's blockbuster "Angry Life".

However, the script of "Journey to the West ABC" is full of an old, stereotypical sense of boredom, high school children always need to speak up bravely, and there are still heart-warming school goddesses and bored and bullying football team players on campus; Adults will always need promotions and raises, and Asian families will always be sullen, sad, noisy, and unable to talk well.

The cliché, in 2023, is indeed outdated. After all, there was a traditional and vivid Asian family in "First Arrival"; The Asians in "Angry Life" are "crazy" like never before, and the wild fantasies in "Instantaneous Universe" reconcile with the most gentle families. The bunch of Asians who eat Asian fast food buffets and run to acupuncture shops in "Journey to the West ABC" is really nothing interesting to be interested in.

It is naturally good to be attentive to the Asian community; But if political correctness can never escape these clichéd unfolding and rhetoric, then it is better not to shoot.

How to say, in the past two years, it is obvious that Hollywood wants to make a Hollywood blockbuster with a subculture, "Mulan" and "Shang Qi" are first-class action, but the story is not interesting; "Journey to the West ABC" is still the self-identity of old American teenagers, but the action scenes are not up to par.

I really want to see an Asian theme that has reached an excellent Hollywood production level! You can not be faithful to the original, but at least it looks good!