The Monkey King (TV miniseries)

The Monkey King, also known as The Lost Empire, is a four hour television mini-series produced by NBC and the . It is a contemporary take on the classic Chinese novel ''Journey to the West''. It stars Ling Bai, Thomas Gibson, Russell Wong, and Randall Duk Kim. The film is directed by and written by pre-eminent Asian American dramatist David Henry Hwang.

"A businessman, a powerful monkey-like being and his weird sidekicks battle an army of demons for a Chinese manuscript."

Plot

Nicholas Orton is an American businessman who has lived in China for several years. He has a chance encounter with a beautiful Chinese lady who says that he is the only one who can save China from reverting back five-hundred years. He is unswayed by this until many modern buildings begin disappearing before his eyes. This mystical lady transports him to a portal which offers entrance, through the teachings of Confucius , to the ancient Chinese underworld.

When Nicholas Orton reaches the other side of the portal, he finds that his studies of Confucius will come in handy for the path that lies ahead. Nicholas Orton's first action is to rescue Sun Wukong the Monkey King from the mountain which he has been imprisoned in for centuries. Sun Wukong travels with Nicholas Orton in his quest to save the original manuscript of Journey to the West from destruction. They are later joined by Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing to help them on the way.

Releases

The film is available on DVD and videocassette.