An often delightful blend of fantasy, action, comedy and romance loosely derived from a famous 16th-century Chinese novel, this is the first film from Stephen Chow (best known in this country for “Kung Fu Hustle’’) since he was dumped from his Hollywood debut as director of the abysmal would-be blockbuster “Green Hornet’’ (2011) and also replaced in the co-starring role of Kato.
In fact, Chow reportedly took over direction of “Journey’’ from the uncredited Derek Kwok midway through the shoot, though the final product is very much Chow — with elaborately staged stunts, slapstick inspired by silent Hollywood, and a silliness that will appeal to kids (as well as some black humor that may take some explaining for younger audiences).
Chow doesn’t act in this one, but Wen Zhang has his moves down cold as a bumbling Buddhist monk who receives lots of help from a beautiful fellow demon hunter (Shu Qi) set on tricking him into loving her. Over the course of the movie, they do battle with a giant fish monster, a pig demon and a murderous monkey who’s been imprisoned in a mountain for 500 years.
A huge hit in China — where it was released in 3-D IMAX — the handsomely filmed “Journey To the West’’ deserves better than the token 2-D theatrical release it’s getting in the United States to support its simultaneous arrival on video-on-demand.