The Asian Cinema Critic

Four misfit demons seek to take the Tang Monk’s pilgrimage in Yu Shui’s charming, fresh take.

“I don’t want to be the Sha Monk anymore.”

If there was ever a line that summed up Wu Cheng’en’s Journey to the West, this might be it. No one wants to be Sha Wujing, he does nothing cool. This line is spoken in the animated comedy Nobody by a motormouth weasel demon forced into speaking only two lines ever, both variations on “someone has captured the Tang monk”.

He is one of four minor demons who pretend to be the Tang Monk and co., in order to acquire the scriptures and gain immortality before the real deal can. The group is led by Pig, who – after a miserable experience working for the Tiger Demon King in his lair – flees that life with his friend Toad. Pig decides, after realising they’re unlikely to capture the Monk and eat him themselves, to just go on his own pilgrimage, with him as Zhu Bajie, and Toad pretending to be the Tang Monk.

Along the way they find a talkative weasel, who they dress up as Sha Wujing, and a shy ape, who struggles in his new role as the legendary Sun Wukong. They encounter a few people that the real pilgrims will meet on their journey, including a lesser wolf demon, who is convinced these guys are the real ones, and the actual pilgrims are imposters. Things come to a head when they encounter the Yellow Eyebrows King who is also in disguise as the Buddha, in his Fake Thunderclap Monastery.

This is arguably one of the more interesting Journey to the West films I’ve seen in a very long time. Switching the perspective over to a completely different set of chracters, while keeping intact the feeling of the series, is a great way to inject this much-retold tale with some new life. The writers are clearly very well versed in the story, and give this version a lot of credibility as it jokes, references and mentions both the original story and its many film versions throughout.

The genre savviness, combined with good humour and a respect for its source material lets Nobody really stand out in a sea of overly cool, flashy Journey adaptations that love to throw as much stuff as possible at the wall. Nobody, with its 2D animated charm, keeps things very modest, and it works all the more for it.

The art is also absolutely gorgeous. The background look amazing, and the character designs have enough personality without going overly complicated, blending the fantastical and the simple in a way that works really well for Journey to the West. It maybe stumbles a little bit at the end, when things get a little bit too fantastical, but Pig’s heavily-foreshadowed Ultimate Move makes for stunning and hugely creative animation, so I can’t really fault it for that.

The perfect combination of delightful characters, funny premise and top-notch animation allows Nobody to stand head and shoulders above more serious adaptations, and shows that it’s more than the sum of its TV-story origin, and far from a nobody.

Verdict: Equal parts road trip comedy and love letter to the one of the world’s most enduring stories Nobody brings new life to both animated films and Journey adaptations.

Overall entertainment:9/10
Violence: 5/10
Sex: 0/10
Good vibes: 8/10
Accuracy to the lore: Surprisingly high!
Hidden powers: What in the world was that
Ending: Bittersweet, loved it

Nobody (2025)
Also known as: 浪浪山小妖怪 (The Little Monster of Langlang Mountain)
Mandarin

Director: Yu Shui
Writer: Yu Shui

CAST

Ziping Chen as Pig yaoguai
Wenliang Dong as Weasel yaoguai
Yang Lu as Toad yaoguai
Cong Liu as Gorilla yaoguai
Qiang Lin as Huangmei Dawang