3D Monkey King makes debut in China

The three-dimensional (3D) animation, " Uproar in Heaven," a landmark work of China's animation film history, staring Monkey King, made its debut on the big screens around the country Wednesday.

The newly-released 3D version of "Uproar in Heaven" is a collaboration by the Shanghai Film Group (SFG) and Technicolor Group, an internationally renowned moviemaking company famous for its postproduction services for films.

Based on one of the four classic Chinese novels -- "Journey to the West" written by Wu Cheng'en in the 1590s during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)， "Uproar in Heaven" was first filmed in 1964.

The movie "Uproar in Heaven" features the part of the novel when Monkey King caused trouble in heaven and defeated an army of 100,000 celestial soldiers, led by the Four Heavenly Kings. Monkey King was subdued by Buddha and later became a protector of a Buddhist monk Xuan Zang during his pilgrimage to India during the Tang dynasty (618-907).

The award-winning animation features various Chinese elements and remains one of the favorite animations of many people at home and abroad.

As a recreation of the classic animation, the 3D version of "Uproar in Heaven" aims to take advantage of high-tech to make the original story more vivid and dynamic, said Su Da, the Chinese director of the 3D film.

Yan Dingxian, the 75-year-old painter of the original animation "Uproar in Heaven," has also participated in the recreation of the 3D version.

"The 3D version has lifelike visual and sound effects," said Yan.

China's film market demands high-quality technology support so that Technicolor Group, the special effects producer of a series of international blockbusters such as "Avatar," "2012" and "Harry Potter," cherishes this chance to cooperate with China, said Frederic Rose, CEO of Technicolor.

The 3D version film will provide movie-goers with a visual feast while some may recall the beautiful memories of their childhood, said Ren Zhonglun, producer of the film.

Western classic music has been added into the film soundtrack catering to the international market, compared to the traditional version featuring the music of Chinese opera.

A group of popular actors, singers and directors including Feng Xiaogang, Yao Chen, and Chen Daoming have been invited to dub for the film.

"We are looking forward to bringing a batch of classic animations popular in the past five decades to life via recreating them in the 3D version," said Ren, "We also will consider to find some native speakers of foreign languages like English, French and German to use their voices for dubbing the movie so that Monkey King can reach more people in the world."