I'd be curious to know how close this is to the original. As it stands, this is a rather odd tale, very episodic, sometimes surreal and decidedly disjointed. The movie often fails to explain why things are happening, most notably in the beginning when the protagonist is supposed to go through a trail to become the animal king or the monkey king or whatever. Why *him* in particular? What is the point of the trail? Like much in the movie, such information is glossed over.
Still, it is all rather charming. Animals move in a cute way, the main characters are relatable in their stereotypical gender roles and there are some very interesting monsters that show up late in the movie. At the same time, there is something very odd, at least to my Western sensibility, with the odd mix of animals, deities and, incongruously, Hercules.
A lot of the reviews are by people who saw this movie as kids, and at first I thought I was going to be the exception, as it didn't look remotely familiar. But around halfway through or so I realized I had seen this movie. Not all of it, but at least twice I just found it on TV when I was very young. I may have only seen the last half hour.
The weird thing is, I am now 52 and I still thought of that bit of a movie I'd seen as a kid and wished I'd known what it was. I remember that little kid with the horn, I even remember specific moments with him (for some reason I connected with him more than the protagonist). I also remember having no clear idea of what was going on (it's hard to pick up the story from the last third of the movie, especially if you're a kid), but for some reason I found it very compelling. I remember thinking as a kid I'd like to see it again, and as I said before, I still thought of it from time to time as an adult.
I don't know what it is about this movie that is so compelling for kids, but I think there's something about it that is simple and direct and weird and fast-moving that is just very appealing to children. I disagree with the person here who said he didn't think today's kids would like it; I think there's just something very kid-friendly about this. (Although to be fair, the 60s was a terrible time for kid's cartoons and kid's movies in general, which may have lowered my standards.) Some people here are saying this is a terrible movie and the only reason anyone likes it is for nostalgia. I disagree. As I say, I never saw the first 45 minutes to an hour, so for that length there was no nostalgia component at all but I still thought it was really cute. Not great, but definitely entertaining. But I'll admit the main reason I'm glad I watched it is because it turned out to be a phantom memory of my childhood self, and I am so glad I found this at last.