An arrogant monkey is forced to go on a journey where he learns about gluttony, greed, love and humility.An arrogant monkey is forced to go on a journey where he learns about gluttony, greed, love and humility.An arrogant monkey is forced to go on a journey where he learns about gluttony, greed, love and humility.
Kiyoshi Komiyama
- Son Gokû
- (voice)
Noriko Shindô
- RinRin
- (voice)
Hideo Kinoshita
- Cho Hakkai
- (voice)
Setsuo Shinoda
- Sa Gojô
- (voice)
Nobuaki Sekine
- Sanzô hôshi
- (voice)
Kunihisa Takeda
- Shaka-nyorai
- (voice)
Katsuko Ozaki
- Kanzeon-bosatsu
- (voice)
Michiko Shirasaka
- Shoryo
- (voice)
Kinshirô Iwao
- Gyûmaô
- (voice)
Tamae Katô
- Rasetsu-jo
- (voice)
Kiyoshi Kawakubo
- Kinkaku daiô
- (voice)
Frankie Avalon
- Alakazam
- (English version)
- (singing voice)
Dodie Stevens
- DeeDee the Monkey
- (English version)
- (singing voice)
Jonathan Winters
- Sir Quigley Broken Bottom
- (English version)
- (voice)
Arnold Stang
- Lulipopo
- (English version)
- (voice)
Sterling Holloway
- Narrator
- (English version)
- (voice)
Jack Curtis
- King Amo
- (English version)
- (voice)
- …
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis movie is based on the epic Chinese novel A Journey to the West written by Wu Cheng-En in the 16th Century China about the adventures of the Monkey King accompanying a Buddhist monk traveling to India to collect rare scrolls to bring home to China. This story has been the basis of many movies, television shows and plays.
- Crazy credits[U.S. poster] COLOR and MAGISCOPE
- Alternate versionsA version now exists using Toei's restoration (including the original Japanese title and credits) that is synced with American International's English dubbed track.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Legends Summarized: The Monkey King (Journey to the West Part 1) (2015)
Featured review
disjointed but rather charming children's movie
I'd be curious to know how close this is to the original. As it stands, this is a rather odd tale, very episodic, sometimes surreal and decidedly disjointed. The movie often fails to explain why things are happening, most notably in the beginning when the protagonist is supposed to go through a trail to become the animal king or the monkey king or whatever. Why *him* in particular? What is the point of the trail? Like much in the movie, such information is glossed over.
Still, it is all rather charming. Animals move in a cute way, the main characters are relatable in their stereotypical gender roles and there are some very interesting monsters that show up late in the movie. At the same time, there is something very odd, at least to my Western sensibility, with the odd mix of animals, deities and, incongruously, Hercules.
A lot of the reviews are by people who saw this movie as kids, and at first I thought I was going to be the exception, as it didn't look remotely familiar. But around halfway through or so I realized I had seen this movie. Not all of it, but at least twice I just found it on TV when I was very young. I may have only seen the last half hour.
The weird thing is, I am now 52 and I still thought of that bit of a movie I'd seen as a kid and wished I'd known what it was. I remember that little kid with the horn, I even remember specific moments with him (for some reason I connected with him more than the protagonist). I also remember having no clear idea of what was going on (it's hard to pick up the story from the last third of the movie, especially if you're a kid), but for some reason I found it very compelling. I remember thinking as a kid I'd like to see it again, and as I said before, I still thought of it from time to time as an adult.
I don't know what it is about this movie that is so compelling for kids, but I think there's something about it that is simple and direct and weird and fast-moving that is just very appealing to children. I disagree with the person here who said he didn't think today's kids would like it; I think there's just something very kid-friendly about this. (Although to be fair, the 60s was a terrible time for kid's cartoons and kid's movies in general, which may have lowered my standards.) Some people here are saying this is a terrible movie and the only reason anyone likes it is for nostalgia. I disagree. As I say, I never saw the first 45 minutes to an hour, so for that length there was no nostalgia component at all but I still thought it was really cute. Not great, but definitely entertaining. But I'll admit the main reason I'm glad I watched it is because it turned out to be a phantom memory of my childhood self, and I am so glad I found this at last.
Still, it is all rather charming. Animals move in a cute way, the main characters are relatable in their stereotypical gender roles and there are some very interesting monsters that show up late in the movie. At the same time, there is something very odd, at least to my Western sensibility, with the odd mix of animals, deities and, incongruously, Hercules.
A lot of the reviews are by people who saw this movie as kids, and at first I thought I was going to be the exception, as it didn't look remotely familiar. But around halfway through or so I realized I had seen this movie. Not all of it, but at least twice I just found it on TV when I was very young. I may have only seen the last half hour.
The weird thing is, I am now 52 and I still thought of that bit of a movie I'd seen as a kid and wished I'd known what it was. I remember that little kid with the horn, I even remember specific moments with him (for some reason I connected with him more than the protagonist). I also remember having no clear idea of what was going on (it's hard to pick up the story from the last third of the movie, especially if you're a kid), but for some reason I found it very compelling. I remember thinking as a kid I'd like to see it again, and as I said before, I still thought of it from time to time as an adult.
I don't know what it is about this movie that is so compelling for kids, but I think there's something about it that is simple and direct and weird and fast-moving that is just very appealing to children. I disagree with the person here who said he didn't think today's kids would like it; I think there's just something very kid-friendly about this. (Although to be fair, the 60s was a terrible time for kid's cartoons and kid's movies in general, which may have lowered my standards.) Some people here are saying this is a terrible movie and the only reason anyone likes it is for nostalgia. I disagree. As I say, I never saw the first 45 minutes to an hour, so for that length there was no nostalgia component at all but I still thought it was really cute. Not great, but definitely entertaining. But I'll admit the main reason I'm glad I watched it is because it turned out to be a phantom memory of my childhood self, and I am so glad I found this at last.
helpful•20
- cherold
- Mar 7, 2011
- How long is Alakazam the Great?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Alakazam the Great!
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 24 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
- 2.35 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content