Lack of good storyline.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This is the very first movie I remember seeing as a young child. I slept with a picture of the monkeys under my pillow. It was very colorful and funny. The music is enjoyable, and it captured my attention. Even as a young child, I understood the message of doing what is right, even when you don't want to. I bought a copy (yes, they are sometimes available), to recapture a fond memory. I enjoyed watching it again with an adult's perspective. I have since learned about the original religious message, but the English version is not preachy, it just includes a moral lesson. If you have children, I recommend this classic.

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.

This film is one of the inclusions in Harry Medved's "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time" and seeing all the very positive reviews is odd in light of this. However, I noticed that MANY of the positive reviews are from people who saw it in their childhood and such after the fact reviews are of somewhat limited value. It is base on recollections almost 50 years old AND it's true that children are often not the best at discerning classics. Heck, when I was a kid, I thought cartoons like "Deputy Dog" and "Huckleberry Hound" were classics--little did I know. My advice is to see the film again and then ask yourself if kids today as well as their parents would enjoy this film? Another important thing to keep in mind is that this film is highly bastardized. When American-International bought this film from Japan, they literally cut the film apart and changed it so much that it's hard to adequately rate the film. Many times in the 60s, this studio bought films and cut and pasted them into "new films" by adding some American actors in short snippets. In this case, Frankie Avalon and several other "hip" voice actors were used, names were changed, story lines were changed and songs were added. My review is ONLY for the Americanized version.Alakazam is a monkey and after passing a test, he becomes king of the animals. However, after a while, this new king shows himself to be a total jerk--arrogant and thoroughly unpleasant. In fact, he's so arrogant that he thinks he's smarter than humans (in some case, this could easily be true) and goes to Merlin the Magician to learn all he can. Naturally, he uses all this knowledge to make himself even more annoying and fat-headed. And so, of course, the rest of the film is about Alakazam learning humility through many trials and misfortunes brought about by his haughty manner. Fortunately for him, his good friend and sweetie, DeeDee, is on hand to assist him.This all occurs in a portion of the film that is a magical land and it's a strange amalgam--with Merlin, Hercules, the McSnarl Brothers, various gods from Buddhism and Buddha himself! Apparently, it's very loosely based on a Chinese tale from the 12th century, "Journey to the West", though the story and structure are quite unlike live action versions of the tale that I have seen (such as "Pan Si Dong", though the characters are the same--the monkey king, pig and Xuánzàng). Merlin and Greek gods, naturally, were NOT part of the original Chinese tale! It's a shame, as the original story is a lot better than this confusing film.As far as the technical aspects of the film go, it's pretty typical of animation from about 1960--and that's NOT a good thing. This was a new era for cartoons and simpler backgrounds, lower frame-rates and simpler drawings were the norm. For 1960 this looks pretty good. Compared to today or the golden age for cartoons (1940s-50s), however, it's pretty shabby. This is NOT to be confused with a Miyazaki film or Walt Disney!! Voice acting was decent--especially with Frankie Avalon doing a better than expected job. Oddly, however, Jonathan Winters has a great knack for voices, but his character sounded way too much like his Grandma Frickert--and that's pretty weird.The story itself is probably very confusing for most kids and has too many splashy musical numbers. Perhaps Japanese kids were already familiar with the original story and the original version of the film might have stuck closer to it, though I think they, too, would have quickly tired of the musical interludes (like the one that occurs at about 70 minutes into the film). However, for a non-Chinese or Japanese audience, this film will probably be a bit strange. If the audience is people with some knowledge or appreciation for Asian culture, then the film would most likely be appreciated much more--especially if you can find it in its original form. Boy, would I love to see this in its original form with subtitles--it might have been a lot better and couldn't have been much worse!

I agree with EL BUNCHO! I saw this movie at a Saturday afternoon matinée when I was about 11 years old and I loved it. At that time I had never seen animation that wasn't childish in nature. This movie has rather sophisticated themes and it was a real pleasure to watch a movie that was made for children but didn't talk down to them. I actually cared about the characters, something I can't say I ever really did with American animation. This was back when essentially the only film animation was coming out of Disney and Alakazam The Great had a totally different style that I really liked. It was also my first exposure to Japanese animation and created an interest in Japanese culture that I never had before I saw this movie. It opened my eyes to whole new worlds. I recommend it to anyone.