The Little Pig Yao decides to leave Langlang Mountain to join the pilgrimage. On the journey west, what trials will the little monsters face? In the end, will they achieve their dreams and live as they truly desire?
Kind of. No regular dogs die (or are seen), but a tribe of anthropomorphic dog demons die offscreen at the hands of the Monkey King. The one surviving dog demon is thrown off a cliff twice (once offscreen) but survives unharmed and gets a post-credits sequence.
Three anthropomorphic demon animals are whipped by a human and made to do his chores. The film features several fights among anthropomorphic demon animals that are usually played for comedy, although some are more dramatic.
Kind of. An anthropomorphic leopard demon is killed by his human-shaped boss demon on screen, although his death is not graphic; he is hit with a magical fire and drops to the ground.
Not sexually, but several children are kidnapped by a powerful demon, although they are later rescued, freed and returned unharmed by the protagonists.
Kind of. The protagonists sacrifice their demon energy to defeat the villain and save several kidnapped children. Without the demon energy, they are condemned to revert to mindless animals. They face this fate with dignity, however, and believe that their lives were better spent in this way, under their own choices, than following their vicious leaders. It is implied at the end, however, that the Monkey God may save them by restoring their demon forms.
Some light blood is seen after characters are beaten up. Characters also end up with bumps and swollen eyes after fights, although they recover soon after, Tom & Jerry-style.
A gorilla demon allows some of its hair to be cut off to make a false beard for one of its friends. A boar demon uses its bristles to clean a cauldron until they wear away; its skin is shown red and sore.
A rat demon is killed offscreen and transforms back into a regular rat. Its dead body is briefly seen. A leopard demon is bloodlessly killed onscreen with magic fire and slumps to the ground. Dozens of animal demons are killed offscreen, although their deaths are only mentioned later on and never shown.
Some of the villains want to eat a famous monk to gain immortality, but fail; the monk is barely seen onscreen. A protagonist is mistaken for the monk and thrown into a cauldron to be cooked, but the water isn't hot enough, so he treats it as a bath in a scene played for comedy. The lead villain plots to eat several kidnapped children, but the protagonists free them and defeat him.
The protagonists convince several groups of humans and demons that they are a famous monk and his entourage. Later, some demons convince the protagonists that they are Buddha and his entourage. This is all played for comedy.
One of the protagonists had his whole family killed prior to the start of the movie. The deaths are not seen. Another protagonist has his uncle (who is never seen in the film) die offscreen. A third protagonist's father is shown to be ill/disabled, but does not die.
The main villains kidnap five children offscreen and keep them in a dungeon. They later kidnap a further five children onscreen. The protagonists later save the children and return them to their village unharmed.
A secondary villain who terrorises the protagonists is killed onscreen by the lead villain towards the end of the film. Several prominent villains earlier in the film are killed offscreen around the midway point.
One protagonist is tied up and threatened with death, although the circumstances are played for comedy. Later, another protagonist is restrained and set to be executed, and it is played seriously although his friends free him. Two villainous guards are knocked out and tied up.
One of the protagonists had his whole family killed prior to the start of the movie. The deaths are not seen. Another protagonist has his uncle (who is never seen in the film) die offscreen. A third protagonist's father is shown to be ill/disabled, but does not die.
A rat demon is killed offscreen by the protagonists. A leopard demon is bloodlessly killed onscreen by its superior. Dozens of anthropomorphic demon animals die offscreen, but their deaths are not seen. A protagonist's family is killed offscreen before the movie, but the deaths are not seen.
Three characters, standing on one another's shoulders in a large suit of armour, almost fall down some stairs, but manage to keep their footing. They instead run down the stairs out of control, and slam into a prison cell door at the bottom, although they are unharmed.
At the end of the movie, the protagonists give up their demon energy to defeat the villain and save a village's children. They do not die, but instead become ordinary animals. They are shown gracefully accepting their face, and the tone is gently melancholic. It is implied that they may have been restored by a powerful being at the end of the film, although it is ambiguous.
The protagonists intend to retrieve scrolls of wisdom from Buddha, and are racing a monk to get to him first. An old man talks about how Buddhism is fading in China, and a protagonist suggests that retrieving the scrolls may reverse that. Villains pretend to be Buddha and his disciples, and ask the protagonists to recite Buddhist scripture, and the protagonists make it up - this is played for laughs.
The protagonists, the villains and most of the characters in the film are yaoguai, or Chinese demon spirits. They are not all evil, and mostly they present as anthropomorphic animals. The lead villain appears as a blue-skinned giant, looking similar to Hades from Disney's Hercules, although in the original Chinese tale Journey to the West, he is a corrupted celestial being rather than a demon. There is no depiction of Hell.
There are no ghosts, but several of the characters, including the protagonists are (often cute) animal spirits/demons. They are not dead, however, and have a physical form.
A gorilla demon is traumatised by the (offscreen, historic) death of his family, and cries several times. A toad demon is sad about the offscreen death of his uncle; A dog demon is angry about the offscreen death of his brother. In the emotional climax of the film, the protagonists, all animal demons, fall out and are sad, but they reunite before the end. At the very end, they are gently melancholic.
An anthropomorphic demon rat is killed offscreen and transforms into a regular dead rat. Its dead body is briefly seen. An anthropomorphic demon leopard is bloodlessly killed onscreen with magic and slumps to the floor.
An anthropomorphic demon rat is killed offscreen and turns into a regular dead rat. Its dead body is briefly seen onscreen. Several other demon animals are killed offscreen. One demon animal is killed bloodlessly onscreen.