Monster Hunt

The plot is even more nonsensical than it sounds, but the monsters' high-energy antics and the humans' martial-arts skills make for a delightfully bizarre adventure romp.

This film is pleasantly cheesy, and probably more interesting than anything that's currently being marketed to your not-so-picky kids. Try it, they'll like it.

Some of this recalls Stephen Chow's "Journey to the West," minus the brilliance.

The film is far from perfect, but it's certainly ambitious, often entertaining and, compared to the feeble competition from new American films of the moment, a singing, dancing, stomping and chomping "Citizen Kane."

"Monster Hunt" broke box office records in China, but American viewers may wonder why this confused and confusing adventure-comedy enthralled audiences there.

Director Raman Hui mixes martial-arts fights and slapstick comedy (lots of mugging by Jing) into a whimsical, fast-paced monster mash.

The movie is a mixed bag, but one filled with imagination and ingenuity, and as such as nuts as Monster Hunt proves to be it's also just enjoyable enough to make dealing with its wildly perverse lapses into pandemonium worth enduring.

Monster Hunt is far more engaging as cultural commentary than as entertainment.

There's a charm that makes Monster Hunt worth seeing if only for curiosity's sake.

Kid-friendly fare amusing enough to entertain adults, too, provided their brains are on pause!

The effort into the sets, costumes, and cinematography are immaculate and everything is done for fun. Just don't expect Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

An oddball mélange of action, slapstick, sentimentality and ghoulishness, all wrapped up into one big, galumphing package... more a curiosity than a delight, but the adventurous might want to give the sweet-and-sour dish a try.