This article explores the potential for producing animated movies based on the Chinese classic novel «Journey to the West». The author traces the evolution of the plot and characterizes the main features of the famous literary work, the adaptation of which was repeatedly used not only by Chinese, but also by Japanese, Korean and other animators. Over the years and centuries, the pilgrimage of the Tang monk and his companions to India in search of the sacred sutras has evolved from historical accounts to folklore tales, and eventually to plays, after which the journey has become the subject of several novels by different authors, with Wu Chen’en’s novel being the most renowned classic. And it is the very process of turning a real story and real people into a legend, a myth, geographical movement and physical travel into a metaphysical path, followed by characters whose image goes back to ancient archetypes that made the novel so popular during different centuries and in different countries. Furthermore, the article highlights the distinctive features of the novel that make it particularly suitable for adaptation through animation. Unlike written art, visual art can directly incorporate the images and forms of various folk art forms such as folk painting, sculpture, popular print, shadow theatre, Peking Opera, and traditional painting. Chinese animation based on the novel has successfully utilized these art forms. Additionally, one should consider the genre of the novel, which is rooted in the collective unconsciousness and rich in formal, plot, and thematic elements. As noted by Russian philologist and semiotician J. Lotman, animated cinema is the most appropriate means for adapting fantastic stories. At the same time, Wu Chen’en’s novel «Journey to the West» has the value of not only a national cultural heritage, but also a global one. The author notes the important idea of the Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan about the relevance in the information society of the Chinese way of thinking with its idea of a net world and a net person. Animated films based on the plots of «Journey to the West», can effectively broadcast the values of the Chinese worldview and mentality and thereby contribute to the mankind’s response to the challenges of the time.