Oliver Jia, NCTA Student Worker

Havoc in Heaven is a classic of Chinese animation and for decades has been considered one of the best adaptations of Journey to the West (Xi You Ji) and the Monkey King character. Its vibrant art, Beijing Opera-inspired score, and dazzling movement greatly impressed Chinese audiences during its release shortly before the Cultural Revolution, while its distribution outside of China allowed non-Chinese speaking audiences to experience it as well. The film (originally in two parts) is not as well-known to Americans due to lack of distribution, but many artistic depictions of the Monkey King for children are often heavily based, if not taken entirely, from the Wan brothers’ designs seen here.
This picture book features the same beautiful artwork with accompanying text telling the same narrative, but it could never hold a candle to actually seeing the animation in motion. Since Havoc in Heaven is a children’s story there is no concern over content, but a younger crowd would easily be more entertained by the actual film. It can easily be found on sites like ChinaSprout and English subtitles are readily available online, but there is very little dialogue to begin with. Seek the film out over the book.
https://www.chinasprout.com/shop/V001