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Let me begin my review by stating that I did not see this movie as a kid, and therefore have zero nostalgia goggles to work with. Saiyuuki, for lack of a better term, is not a very spectacular movie. The music is, for the most part, forgettable, and doesn't always work. The musical numbers are unneeded. The visuals are passable, but nothing special. The voice work is okay: again, nothing special.

One of this movie's huge problems is getting me to care. I didn't care about the journey. I didn't care about the characters. In fact, I HATED most of the characters. The female love interest ... is a forgettable, bland cinnamon roll stereotype, and Son Goku is kind of a dick until very, very late into the film (and even then isn't that likable). The side characters are kind of neat on occasion, but most of them only show up for a few seconds aside from the guy who wanted to eat them, the pig, and the monk: and the monk is blander than water.

Quite frankly, I went into this movie expecting a classic animation. However, as is sadly often the case with older Japanese animated movies, I instead found myself wondering why I was watching it, and constantly checking how far along I was (as early as 30 minutes into the film!). While not terrible, the film is certainly not good in my eyes. And on my ratings scale, that comes out to a 4/10. While I'm sure some people might enjoy it, with or without nostalgia glasses, I personally think you should give this one a skip.