A Chinese Odyssey

Part One

500 years ago, Monkey got annoyed with Longevity Monk while escorting him on his quest to fetch the Buddhist scriptures, and betrayed him. He was subdued by Guanyin, who gave him a second chance after Longevity Monk pleaded for leniency and sacrificed himself.

In the present, Monkey has been reincarnated as Joker, an outlaw chief, and has no memory of his past life. He and his gang are attacked by two demonesses, Spider Woman and Bai Jingjing. Joker's second-in-command, who is actually Pigsy reincarnated, overhears the demonesses' plan to capture and eat Longevity Monk, and gets forced into servitude by Spider Woman. Joker later falls in love with Bai Jingjing. Grandpa Buddha shows up to warn Joker about danger and gives him a magic mirror that can reveal a being's true form.

The group is attacked by Bull King; Joker and Pigsy flee with Bai Jingjing and Spider Woman to a cave, where the demonesses start fighting over Joker. Bai Jingjing and Joker escape, while Spider Woman is accidentally impregnated with Pigsy's child. As Bai Jingjing has been poisoned, Joker goes back to ask for the antidote and gets imprisoned by Spider Woman. Meanwhile, Bai Jingjing is captured by Bull King, who heals her in exchange for her helping him take revenge against Monkey.

In the cave, Joker finds Pandora's Box, which can open a time portal under moonlight when "Prajñāpāramitā" is chanted. He also overhears Guanyin's voice, telling him about his destiny to accompany Longevity Monk to complete his quest. Meanwhile, Bull King and Bai Jingjing enter the cave and fight with Spider Woman. Bai Jingjing commits suicide after mistakenly believing that Joker has betrayed her and now has a child with Spider Woman.

Joker uses the Pandora's box to travel back in time to stop Bai Jingjing from committing suicide. He fails on the first three attempts. The fourth time, he ends up going back to 500 years ago, where he encounters the fairy Zixia, who confiscates the box and sears three dots on the sole of his foot to mark him as her servant, revealing Joker as Monkey.

Part Two

Joker learns more about his past life and reunites with Longevity Monk, Pigsy and Sandy. However, he only wants to get back the Pandora's box and return to 500 years later to save Bai Jingjing. Zixia falls in love with him after he unsheathes her sword as she has promised to marry whoever manages to do that.

When Zixia and Longevity Monk are captured by Bull King, Joker and his companions fight to save her but Joker falls off a cliff. Joker was rescued and directed his rescuers to the same cave. He is killed by Spider Woman, and only realises moments before his death that his true love is Zixia. As a ghost, he hears Guanyin's voice reminding him about his destiny. Finally deciding to accept his fate, he puts on the golden headband, transforms into Monkey, and returns to fight Bull King. Now that he has reclaimed his true identity, he must relinquish all worldly desires, including love, so he cannot be together with Zixia anymore. Monkey fights Bull King and in an attempt to save everyone, he is attacked by Bull King. Zixia sacrifices herself to save him. As she dies, Monkey confesses his love for her and the headband tightens, giving him an extreme headache. He beats up Bull King before using the Pandora's Box to escape with his master and two juniors.

Monkey awakes and sees the incarnations of Joker and Zixia in a standoff on a city wall. He uses his powers to possess Joker and give Zixia a long and passionate kiss before walking away. The embracing couple continue their romantic relationship, while Monkey races off to join his companions on their journey to the west.

Box office

The first part grossed HK$25,093,380 and the second HK$20,872,117 in Hong Kong.^[11][12] The second part has grossed CN¥189.202 million on its 2017 release in mainland China.^[1]

Both films underperformed at the box office,^[13] leading to Choi Sing Film Company declaring bankruptcy.^[5] Chow, however, earned substantial money from the movie over the years through licensing and advertising opportunities.^[14]

Critical reception

The Austin Chronicle gave Part Two a positive review saying that "if you missed the original film — forget it, you'll never understand what's happening in this picture, but if you saw and enjoyed the first part, you'll no doubt have a great time with this terrific follow-up".^[15]

The line "10,000 years" in the film became one of the most popular buzzwords for Chinese-language films, with a Google search count of 21.9 million.^[16] In the late '90s and early 2000s, the films became a cult favorite in China with phrases, expressions, and memes from the two films becoming a foundational part of early Chinese internet culture.^[17][16] This also became known in part as the Stephen Chow Phenomenon (周星驰现象).^{[18][19][20][21]}

Accolades