American Born Chinese (2023) 西游ABC
Director: Destin Cretton / Ding Tai / Liu Deren / Zhang Peng / Cheng Yu / Lucy Liu / Erin O'Malley
Screenwriters: You Chaomin / You Chaokai / Vali Chandrasekaran / Warren Xu Renard / Aaron Izek / Lawrence Day / Wu Kai / Lana Zhou
Starring: Wang Ban / Liu Jing / Michelle Yeoh / Guan Jiwei / Daniel Wu / Yanyan Yeung / Chin Han Huang / Sidney Taylor / Mahi Alam / Qian Xinyi / Leonard Wu / David Blum / Larry Bates / Stani Blyden / Liu Bo / Josh Duvendek / Celeste Dun / Meg Schimmelfinney / Wu Hanzhang / Ouyang Wancheng / Jiang Jinan / Marty Ma / Ethan Ritchie / Xu Weilun / Jennifer Irwin / Lu Yan / Brian Hirsch / Derek Yates / Tory Keith / Gloria Reno
Genre: Comedy / Action / Fantasy
Country/Region of Production: United States
Language: English / Mandarin Chinese
Date: 2023-05-24 (USA)
Number of episodes: 8
Single episode length: 30 minutes
Also known as: ABC Westward Journey / ABC / 美生中国人 / 美国出生的中国人 / ABC大话西游
IMDb: tt15552018
Adaptation: Modern
Summary:
American Born Chinese tells the story of teenager Jin Wang (played by Ben Wang), a son of Chinese immigrants, who for the most part is a typical high school kid. He collects manga, tries to join the soccer team, and is on a journey dealing with his own identity as he tries to figure out who he is. One day, Wei-Chen (Jimmy Liu), an exchange student, arrives at Jin’s school. Unlike Jin, Wei-Chen didn’t grow up in America, is loud and open by nature, and doesn’t exhibit Jin’s self-doubt and insecurities. At times, this causes Jin to feel embarrassed being associated with Wei-Chen.
Wei-Chen is revealed to be the son of Sun Wukong (portrayed by Daniel Wu), commonly known as the Monkey King, a legendary figure in Chinese literature. Wei-Chen had a dream that the mythical Fourth Scroll can stop an uprising against Heaven. The dream also told him that an ordinary teenager is destined to aid him in his search. So Wei-Chen stole his father’s magical staff and is now, disguised as a high schooler, searching for the scroll in earthly California, convinced that Jin is the ordinary teenager from his prophetic dream.
