Netflix's 'The Monkey King' - 2D Sequence | Golden Wolf

When Netflix came a-knockin and wanted to know if we could help with their upcoming feature film The Monkey King, we couldn’t say yes fast enough!

The film, directed by Oscar nominee Anthony Stacchi, is an exciting, action-packed retelling of the classic Chinese tale: Journey to the West, and working closely with the Netflix team we were tasked with creating a unique vision for Monkey’s demon-fighting montage sequence - a complete stylistic break from the rest of the film and one heavily inspired by traditional Chinese brushwork.

With a lot of blood, sweat and more hand-painted frame-by-frame brush strokes than you can shake a Wacom pen at (yes we did it the HARD way), we created something bold, fluid, tactile, action packed, and ultimately….something we’re all extremely proud of!

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CREDITS:
PRODUCTION
Executive Creative Director: Ingi Erlingsson
Creative Director: Ewen Stenhouse
Supervising Producer: Tan Jones
Supervising Producer: Dotti Sinnott
Production Manager: Lucy Caetano
Production Assistant: Danielle Bordelon
Talent Director: Henry Purrington

DESIGN
Design: Mikhail Kalinin
Design: Simon Leclerc
Design: Yujia Wang
Colour Script: Dan Burgess, Lap Pun Cheung
Layouts: Gaia Lamiot

ANIMATION
Animation Lead: Maxime Delalande
Animation: Charles Badiller
Animation: Stephanie Mercier
Animation: Diego Porral
Animation: Mourad Elias Seddiki
Animation: Kensei Thomas
Animation: Alain Vu
Animation: Tim Whiting
Animation Clean Up: Jennifer Belobi
Animation Clean Up: Eric Bradford
Animation Clean Up: Thomas Eide
Animation Clean Up: Myra Hild
Animation Clean Up: Mila Obelleiro
Technical Director / Compositing Lead: Ian Pinder
Compositing: Stefan Ahmad
Compositing: Karl Fekete
Compositing: Gabrielle Locre
Compositing: Laurence Parsons
Compositing: Thomas Purrington
Compositing: John Taylor

[Karomix]

I like how he grows more confident the more he fights, you can see the evolution of when he is struggling to when he is toying with them with ease, character development.

[choidh]

absolutely incredible - you can really see the love poured into every single frame of this!!

[soulangea]

SUCH A GORGEOUS SEQUENCE THAT CAUGHT ME COMPLETELY OFF GUARD IT MADE ME FALL IN LOVE WITH THE MOVIE IN A HEARTBEAT

[arensaysoao]

My absolute favourite part. Did not expect such detailed, dynamic action packed 2d sequence in the film! Can't wait to see more

[aboodsart]

This movie should’ve been 2D it looks so crisp and cool

[greekzeus]

Me grinding in a game to get a cool looking skin:

[NettIefang]

THIS IS SO INSANE YOU GUYS ARE INCREDIBLE

[AdrianMarinMarinoES]

This is the kind of 2D animation we needed for Kung Fu Panda 4

[CosmicPotato]

The literal definition of ‘Never give a man a challange’ 💀

[crystalnee]

Me who watches Lego Monkie Kid.. was not expecting this

BUT I CAN SEE ITS OWN BEAUTY AND NGL!! THE CLOLOUR AND ART AND ANIMATION IS AMAZING!!
i can see teh ref to the journey to the west and similarities with the monkie kid series!!!

[rissanmiranda]

Man This Monkey Is Amazing And Awesome.

[dreamer]

Kinda wish the whole movie was 2D
The fluidity and colors are amazing

[lizirose]

That action sequence was great, I loved it, although I would have liked it more if they showed how I defeated them as well as the red girl, that would be more interesting but well, the summarized scene is also great👍🐵.

[MaximeLoonatic]

This needs to be a TV show! #MonkeyKingReingsSupreme

[kaylaturnis]

That reminds me of the 2D opening sequence of Kung Fu Panda!

[aksharaghav]

Reminds me of the animated sequences from Kung Fu Panda 2. Not comparing, they both look very beautiful!

[RexTheWolf]

I hope we get the JTTW. I know we got Monkey Kid but this movie was great.

[JamesBond-imzn]

This is awesome, but I'm kind of upset they killed the Bull Demon King and the White Bone Spirit

[Aussieguy-]

Hate to be this mythology guy but he actually allied with those demons the ass kicking part was way earlier in journey to the West

[grantcole]

That song should definitely be in the next Guitar Hero.