The Monkey King (Sci Fi Channel)

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The Monkey King was a four hour miniseries produced by the SciFi Channel in 2001. It is also known in the US as The Lost Empire.

(From a Tivo guide summary:)

"A businessman, a powerful monkey-like being and his weird sidekicks battle an army of demons for a Chinese manuscript."

This SciFi movie is loosely based on Journey to the West.

[edit] Plot

Nicholas Orton (played by Thomas Gibson) is an American businessman who has lived in China for several years. He has a chance encounter with a beautiful Chinese lady (played by Bai Ling) who says that he is the only one who can save China from reverting back five-hundred years. He is unswayed by this until many modern buildings begin disappearing before his eyes. This mystical lady (revealed later as Kuan Yin, the bodhisattva of compassion) transports him to a portal which offers entrance, through the teachings of Confucius, to the ancient Chinese underworld.

When Nicholas Orton (soon to be named The Scholar From Above) reaches the other side of the portal, he finds that his studies of Confucius will come in handy for the path that lies ahead. Nicholas Orton's first action is to rescue Sun Wukong the Monkey King from the mountain which he has been imprisoned in for centuries. Sun Wukong (the Monkey King or Monkey) travels with Nicholas Orton in his quest to save the original manuscript of Journey to the West from destruction. They are later joined by Zhu Bajie (Pigsy) and Sha Wujing (Friar Sand) to help them on the way.