Rating: 
Summary: Racist travesty of an epic story
Review: "Journey to the West" is a literary masterpiece which has been loved in China for nearly half a millennium. In contrast, "The Lost Empire" is a piece of meretricious rubbish which will hopefully soon be consigned to oblivion. Its makers seem to assume, rightly or wrongly, that its audience will be unable to relate to a "foreign" story unless a white guy is inserted, however incongruously, into the action. As if this were not bad enough, the idea of the "hero" comducting a romantic affair with Kuan Yin must be deeply offensive to many people of Chinese extraction. Since Kuan Yin is someimes compared, in her role as compassionate mediator, to the Virgin Mary, one can only imagine the response had the situation been reversed. This is an example of film-making at its very worst.
Rating:
Summary: Racist travesty of an epic story
Review: "Journey to the West" is a literary masterpiece which has been loved in China for nearly half a millennium. In contrast, "The Lost Empire" is a piece of meretricious rubbish which will hopefully soon be consigned to oblivion. Its makers seem to assume, rightly or wrongly, that its audience will be unable to relate to a "foreign" story unless a white guy is inserted, however incongruously, into the action. As if this were not bad enough, the idea of the "hero" comducting a romantic affair with Kuan Yin must be deeply offensive to many people of Chinese extraction. Since Kuan Yin is someimes compared, in her role as compassionate mediator, to the Virgin Mary, one can only imagine the response had the situation been reversed. This is an example of film-making at its very worst.
Rating:
Summary: program's unfortunate lack of cultural respect
Review: despite the participation of david henry hwang, there were many miscalculated, unfortunate, misguided and tragic mistakes made in the production of this good-intentioned attempted. a commentary seen in the l.a. times review describes more eloquently and directly my thoughts.---- "The Lost Empire" provides a touchstone for looking at ways that anti-Asian sentiments are practiced. I say "sentiments" because at this point I am somewhat reluctant to label the movie "racist," at least until a fuller definition of the term is operative. TYPICALLY, we might think of racism as discriminatory exclusionor discriminatory selection that is institutionally enforced: people of color not matriculating into higher education at proportionate rates to whites, not being promoted to upper-level management, racial profiling, etc. "The Lost Empire" turned this "history of exclusion" on its head, but in a way that is no less offensive to many Asians. The production accomplished this by injecting a white, male romantic lead into a Chinese myth where none before existed. WHAT'S PARTICULARLY DISTURBING about "The Lost Empire" is that the inclusion of the white man was mandated to screenwriter David Henry Hwang. Further, it was made clear that this character was to serve as the romantic interest of the female Asian lead. IN A STORY in The LA Times ("Ancient Mysteries," by Susan King, March 11), director Peter MacDonald said that producer Robert Halmi "wanted the romance between Orton [the white male] and Kwan Ying [the Asian female] to be the most important element in the adventure."That's a far cry from an ancient Chinese myth where whites weren't even present. Indeed, can you imagine the reaction if Asian filmmakers decided to tell the American myth of Paul Bunyan with an Asian actor as the lead? TRYING TO PIN DOWN motivation for the inclusion of whites in ethnic films is an endeavor best left to another essay. For now, let us simply include "The Lost Empire" with other films in Hollywood's history that have, for their own reasons, placed white males in lead roles in otherwise Asian stories. Films that come to mind are "Come See the Paradise" (1990), which placed a white, romantic male lead squarely in the story of the Japanese American internment, and "Year of the Dragon" (1985), which placed a white, romantic male lead in New York's Chinatown. A more recent example is "Snow Falling on Cedars" (1999), which also dealt with World War II internment. And then there's the hit Broadway play "Miss Saigon." In each case, the white male was the romantic lead to an Asian woman. ASIANS and other groups underrepresented on television, such as racial minorities, gays, lesbians and the physically and mentally challenged, deserve the same level of respect as the mainstream. But they need to make their voices heard. And network and studio executives must listen. THE FRAMEWORK FOR IMPROVED RELATIONS is in place: Underrepresented groups have advocacy organizations that can be consulted, and the networks, as a result of the NAACP-led protests in 1999, have vice presidents for diversity. Now everyone involved must make two-way communication the norm. One thing is clear: Unless meaningful, ongoing dialogue is established during the script development process, the door to more cultural insults such as "The Lost Empire" will remain open.
Rating: 
Summary: A review with a quick history
Review: First of all there WAS people who were White in Asian before Europeans even started circumnavigating the globe. They've found mummies in China that appeared to be Caucasions (right done to the DNA testing that was done) that were there for nearly a millenium.
Going all long with that, the monk in the story that Thomas Gibson replaces was known as The White Monk. So its not a far stretch to have a White man who is a scholar searching to protect the text when The White Monk was the one in the original story who set The Monkey King free and was the one on the journey to take the texts from India to China so that China would have the Buddist texts.
Gods and Goddesses in every religion vary in the way they act. They are not forbidden from any act because they are above us mortals. They can do what they want because they have more ability. Mara, the God who become the Buddist version of Lucifer, tries to tempt everyone including tempting Buddha with women. A god can do things, but they would have to deal with the kharma.
Yes they are some gross misrepresentations of the story. But you have to realize that it is a Western version of a story. Eastern version's of Western stories have serious flaws, but we still accept them if they are well done as a story.
If anything we should be complaining that this story did a better representation than Dragon Ball.
Overall this is a decent movie, not the best but I've seen worse representation of "The Journey to The West" in films that were made in China. so considering the culture gap it was well done.
Its worth getting for less than $12, anything more is a joke for any DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Movie
Review: First of all, while I can see where the other reviews are coming from in terms of considering this movie insulting, I have to disagree with them. Sure, in the book that this movie was based on, there were no white men. However, while this movie is based on the story (the idea behind it, at least), it's a completely different story. Sure, some of the characters are the same, but the basic story isn't, really and truly. And personally, I thought it was a really good movie. I considered the performances to be good. If you're looking for a movie that gives a really in-depth look at culture, this isn't it. If you're looking for an enjoyable movie to watch for entertainment, this is it. The story line is good, the acting is good; what more do you want? So stop being so picky and overanalyzing it.
Rating:
Summary: The thousand injuries of Fortunado
Review: First, this piece of trash is based on The Journey To The West about as much as Raiders of the Lost Ark is based on the Bible. There are some characters common to both Lost Empire and Journey. Well, common in name. That said let's get to the real problem with this film. It is astoundingly insulting to Chinese religious traditions. Imagine for a moment some non-Christian producing a film in which: the God Jehova no longer cares what happens to humanity and just gives us over to Satan; Jesus gives up on that sacrifice stuff and is now focused purely on the personal acquisition of wealth and power; and the Virgin Mary comes to earth for a hot night at the singles bars. Sound offensive? It is. And this film is equally insulting to Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism (the three big ones in China).
Confucius, a man revered these past 2500 years for his uncompromising moral standards appears in Lost Empire as a lecherous,traitorous,lying,cowardly weasel.
The Jade Emperor,Taoism's chief God, is shown as a despondent,apathetic slob who no longer cares about the earthly or celestial realms.
Kuan Yin, one of the Bodhisattvas, is shown in Lost Empire falling in romantic and physical love with a man. That is as likely as the Virgin Mary turning tricks on a street corner.
If some religious bigot wanted to disguise a piece of anti-Chinese propaganda as a clever adventure-fantasy they could not easily do better than The Lost Empire. It makes me wonder if the insult was intended.
Rating:
Summary: My fav. movie!!!!!!!
Review: I actually have to say that this is my favorite movie of all time. It even got me into the book, Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en. It's a very well put movie and it has great special effects. I watch it about every single day I love it so much. It may be a very long movie, but it's well worth the time. And ya have to admit the Monkey King, Russell Wong, is quite a hottie! Well, that's all I have to say I guess!...BYE!
Rating:
Summary: Special Effects are Just Cheezy
Review: I can see that whoever made this, put a lot of time and money into it trying to make this a big successful production, however, this fantasy film is best for ages 10 and under. Special effects, script lines, acting and story are significantly lacking what the blockbuster's have. Too bad.
Rating:
Summary: Steaming Pile of Racism
Review: I have never, ever been more offended in my entire life. As a Chinese-Canadian, I was grown up on Monkey King fairy tales. But this.....this abomination is no tribute to Wu Ch'eng-en's original Epic. Besides for the fact onyl 1 of the main characters is even Asian, all the Demons seem to by. To top it all off, the producers forced David Hwang to focus the entire story on a white man/Asian Goddess romance. How pathetic.
Rating:
Summary: Steaming Pile of Racism
Review: I have never, ever been more offended in my entire life. As a Chinese-Canadian, I was grown up on Monkey King fairy tales. But this.....this abomination is no tribute to Wu Ch'eng-en's original Epic. Besides for the fact onyl 1 of the main characters is even Asian, all the Demons seem to by. To top it all off, the producers forced David Hwang to focus the entire story on a white man/Asian Goddess romance. How pathetic.
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