Monkey King: Hero Is Back

Monkey King: Hero Is Back (西游记之大圣归来, 2015) is a Chinese animated fantasy from director Xiaopeng Tian — watch it online on iFILM. The legendary Sun Wukong once ruled heaven and earth, but angered the gods and spent five centuries sealed inside a mountain of ice. A small boy breaks the seal by accident, with no idea what he has just unleashed.

The Monkey King is free — but his powers are locked away, and a monstrous dragon is already tearing through the countryside. What follows is a road-trip survival story between a grumpy, powerless deity and a child who refuses to stop believing in him. That dynamic, more than the action sequences, is what gives the film its pull.

Released by Beijing Enlight Pictures, the movie earned roughly $150 million in China and shifted how the industry looked at homegrown animation. Stream Monkey King: Hero Is Back (2015) online on iFILM.