Bob Dorien Now I doubt many westerners are familiar with the Chinese novel Journey to the West or with the legendary Chinese character of the Monkey King. So for the uninitiated this might be an interesting story with interesting characters. But despite the fact that they used some Chinese actors and actresses there is a hallow ring to this TV movie. It all seems staged to appeal to Americans and doesn't honestly follow the legends of the original Chinese texts. The casting could have been better. It would have been nice if they picked an actor with more depth than Thomas Gibson for the Nicolas Orton role. The probably chose Gibson for his popularity on network television at the time (in Dharma and Greg) instead of auditioning someone else for the role. Bai Ling is a spectacular woman to look at and a very good actress. She tries her best but she would have been better served if they wrote a better script and gave more emphasis to Chinese authenticity.

Observer-2 Some other commentators have bemoaned the historical faults, others the romantic interest. To which I say this - first off, it was a made for TV movie. What is the first role of such a movie? To entertain. Perhaps the History Channel will do a more accurate documentary, if that's what people want. As for the romance, where would the movie "Titanic" have been without the love story? Similarly, this movie needs the romantic interest to move the very 21st Century "Scholar" into a position to want to get involved with people that are more the stuff of Myth, Legend, and to a great degree, Hope. Otherwise, why should he bother? "The Journey West" is a story I'd not heard of. Now, even with this fanciful introduction, I think I'll go look it up and read it. To bring me to do this, both the movie, and other comments here, have thus been successful. Microwave up the popcorn, sit back and enjoy the show. Just don't take it too seriously, just enjoy it for the entertainment that it is.

Sentinel-15 This is like a post-modern take on the legend of the Monkey King, where a modern human gets involved with saving the book that contains the original story. First of all, it is FUN!There are lots of interesting characters, lots of action, heroic characters fighting the Good Fight... what more do you want?Just keep in mind that this is NOT the original legend(s) - whatever those were about - and it doesn't even try to be, so don't criticize it for that.This is good old-fashioned entertainment, with lots of imagination and heroics. Enjoy!

Mark-129 Well, this mini-series was the straw that broke the back for producer Robert Halmi with NBC. The faults of his previous rating disaster, "The 10th Kingdom" have not been heeded in this production. The screenplay is overloaded with over the top characters and situations that never let up. But, to me, the failure of "The Lost Empire" falls in three categories. The total miscasting of Thomas Gibson, who gives a tired and stiff performance. Gibson seems to barely be able to walk, much less perform martial arts, and his delivery is unbelievably stilted. The music score is among the worst I've heard in a production like this. There is little thematic melody and even less of the score reflects the rich culture depicted in the story. Third, the director chose to shoot most of the frequent martial arts action from the waist up, so much of the visual impact of those scenes is lost. Indeed, only Bai Ling retains her dignity in the production. The only other redeeming feature is, that the film did cause me to look into the classic book, "Journey to the West."