Jeff Lau makes use of first-rate CGI in delivering his wonderfully conceived and brilliantly executed tale of Love. Lau makes an excellent decision in focusing on the monk, Tripitaka (Nicholas Tse), whose quest to bring the Buddhist sutras back to China from India (humorously portrayed as a land of Bollywood singing and dancing) is interrupted by a tree spirit out to gain immortality by eating him. He gains temporary safety from the tree spirit and his army when Monkey hurls him far away from the fighting, but unfortunately ends up in the midst of some imps who are equally eager to make him the main attraction of their next meal. And it's here that the story really begins, when he meets the imp Meiyan (Charlene Choi), who is assigned to guard him.

This is the movie many of us wish Disney would have the guts to make. It has the technical element down pat: the CGI is world class. But this film leaves Disney productions far behind in its story (would Disney dare have its hero - let alone a monk - literally fight Heaven for love of a girl and have the deity come off as self-righteously bureaucratic?), in the integrity of its characters (these imps in Disney would quickly give up their idea of eating Tripitaka and be drafted into cute, loyal helpers of Tripitaka, but here they only help him as a ploy and never give up their impish nature). Yes, Disney would have transformed Meiyan into the beautiful spirit, just as Lau did, but would not have stayed true to the story until the end, as Lau does. And then there's the blood.

I've mentioned the CGI and the story, which are both impressive, but there's another element to this film's success - the acting. I thought everyone turned in good performances and I liked Nicholas Tse's selection of a role that isn't so flattering; but the one that really carries the film is Charlene Choi. She played the ugly imp Meiyan perfectly; no sentimentality, no false emotion, and through a layer of makeup so thick she's unrecognizeable as The Twin.

This movie is always true to itself. It's the type of film that could have become self-indulgent, getting lost in the CGI, or could have sold out the characters or manipulated the viewers' emotons, but it never does. It has Integrity. Three cheers for Jeff Lau, his crew, and cast!