An American teenager who is obsessed with Hong Kong cinema and kung-fu classics makes an extraordinary discovery in a Chinatown pawnshop: the legendary stick weapon of the Chinese sage and warrior, the Monkey King. With the lost relic in hand, the teenager unexpectedly finds himself traveling back to ancient China to join a crew of warriors from martial arts lore on a dangerous quest to free the imprisoned Monkey King.

Based on the Chinese epic story 'Journey to the West', one of the four great classic novels of Chinese Literature. The novel is a fictionalized account of the legends around the Buddhist monk Tang Sanzhuang's pilgrimage to India during the Tang dynasty in order to obtain Buddhist scriptures. Many programs have been based on this tale, such as television show "Saiyûki" (1978), and anime series "Dragon Ball Z" (1989/I) holds a few loose facts from the same story.

Jason Tripitikas:
I can't understand you.


Lu Yan:
That's because you're not listening!

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Jason refers to the Monkey King's staff as a "bo staff." However, the "bo staff" is a Japanese, not Chinese, name for such a weapon.