Hello everybody and welcome to a brand new review! For this one I am going to be looking at a film that has been breaking records left and right ever since it premiered in China, Ne Zha 2! The original Ne Zha was an immensely popular and financially successful film in the Middle Kingdom (over $726 million worldwide… almost all of it from there) which made a follow up to it inevitable. It was highly praised as an important benchmark for Chinese animation, and as a strong portrayal of the mythology, traditions, and values present in the culture. Having seen the film for the first time recently in preparation for this follow up, I very much enjoyed it and found it to be an entertaining, and compelling fantasy action spectacular. Thus, I was excited to see what this follow up had in store, especially when it has done monstrous numbers in its home country, grossing over $1.9 billion thus far! That is easily the biggest gross for a movie in any single territory as well as the biggest animated film of all time, and it will crack the top 5 all time list. Having now seen the film, is it really worthy of all of the hype? Let’s jump right in and see just what the chaotic little gremlin had to offer on his second go around!
The film picks up shortly after its predecessor with Ne Zha and Ao Bing’s bodies having been physically destroyed by the heavenly lighting. Now, Master Taiyi Zhenren must try and revive their bodies and prevent their souls from disappearing with the help of the Sacred Lotus. Things get more complicated though, once Ao Bing’s father, Ao Guang, the Dragon King, releases monsters onto the town, which includes the other three Dragon Kings of the Four Seas, believing his son to be dead. Once he finds his son to not be completely dead, a ceasefire is called into order and a deal is made. If Ne Zha and Ao Bing (who have to share a body) can complete the three trials of the immortal Master Wuliang for becoming a Xian (immortal), and obtain a potion that will restore the Sacred Lotus and bring Ao Bing’s body back, then Ao Guang will surrender his army. However that is going to be a journey easier said than done as various complications and revelations arise.
A lot of great sequels tend to take what worked so well about the original and expand upon those elements further, which is exactly what director, Jiaozi, is able to do. Not only are the stakes even higher and the scope larger (common direction for follow ups of this nature to take), but I would argue that the drama is even more compelling. There’s definitely a lot going on, with much being explained in regards to world building and mythology, but even with quite a bit of exposition here and there, the film never gets bogged down in this and the story manages to be engrossing throughout the 2 hour and 23 minute runtime. There’s an increasing escalation that makes one feel the stakes at play and the journey our characters go on is able to provide a nice mix of both drama and comedy. Helping matters is that were quite a few twists and plot turns that I genuinely did not see coming as the movie does a good job in making things seem like they are a certain way, when in actuality, there is far more at play. It also further adds to the emotion of the picture which is quite strong.
This is a film that is not afraid to go to some dark places and there are certain moments that just hit incredibly hard with one moment in the climax especially being affecting due to how well the movie builds up the characters. I also dug how the movie explores the concept of Gods, often viewing the idea of them or immortals with a critical eye in how they just use their powers to make things into their own image. Admittedly, there are times where the comedy can cause an odd tonal shift where things are very serious in one moment and in the other, there’s a joke about eating vomit. The original also shared the same issue, but it helps that A) the comedy is often very funny (a mix of witty dialogue and amusing gross out gags) and B) it is able to work very well despite how hard it leans on either side of the spectrum which is pretty impressive.
One area in which it is very noticeable where the ante was upped is in the animation. That’s not to say that the original was a poorly looking movie, far from it. But this is just a huge upgrade as this is a stunning feast for the eyes. Everything just looks more detailed from the textures to the character designs to the immense backgrounds. One can tell that the production team was given a higher but as they took full advantage of it with even the lighting looking very strong as well. The movements are also exceptionally done with the characters moving at a fast paced during the action and scenes of slapstick. The character expressions also pop off even more here, with the animators doing a great job conveying the different emotions of the characters, with the titular protagonist, especially showing off some fun looks.
We also get more creature designs which is fun, with the Dragon’s army being comprised of various humanoid sea creatures as well as one memorable sequence involving rodent bandits. As for the action… it is a sight to behold at times. Each set piece in the film is something to marvel at with the mass battle scenes being appropriately large in scale yet coherent in terms of seeing what’s going on and some of the one on one battles being neat in terms of how we see the character’s abilities (a battle between Ne Zha and a character who can turn into electricity is an especially impressive showcase of this). It all builds up to a final battle, that may run a little too long and is where the movie starts to feel its runtime, but is still a spectacle for the ages with great fight choreography, stunning visuals, awesome pay offs, and a dynamite score from Roc Chen, Rui Yang, and Wan Pin Chu. It would be enough to make James Cameron proud.
Of course, in order for a movie of this magnitude to work, it has to have some compelling characters and Ne Zha 2 succeeds very well in that regard. The titular character (voiced with much energy by Lu Yanting) is once again a great lead, simultaneously being a bada** warrior and chaos causing gremlin that gets some strong development here. We get to see him evolve as a hero, learning to appreciate those he loves and stand for what is right and it leads to some strong emotional beats. We also get to see more of his relationship with Ao Bing (Han Mo) who works as the more serious, yet sensitive of the two, and it was nice seeing how their friendship developed over the course of the feature, especially with them sharing bodies for a good chunk of it. I also appreciated seeing more the relationship between them and their respective parents. I like how the parents have grown even more with Lady Yin and Li Jing being even more supportive of their son while also being strong characters in their own right. I’ve always appreciated how not only is the former a great caring mother, but also an energetic warrior, showing to be a great strong female character. Ao Bing’s father, Ao Guang (Yu Chen), is also given more material this time beyond spouting exposition as we see just how much he cares for his son and how that love is what informs so much of his actions. He’s more complicated than just someone who wants to destroy Ne Zha’s village, as he has reasonable motives and just wants freedom for his kind.
We also get pretty much almost everyone from the original back in some capacity from players big and small. I once again enjoyed seeing Ne Zha’s master, Taiyi Zhenren (Zhang Jiaming), who is a very fun comedic presence whose frustrations with his student are always fun to watch unfold (the pig that accompanies is also great comedic relief once again). We also get more development for his martial brother, Shen Gongbao (Yang Wei), who I thought was a stand out here. We see a whole new side to him, beyond just someone doing what Ao Guang tells him to do, as we see his relationship with his actual brother, Xioabao, which adds a layer of complexity to his motivations as someone who deep down wants to make his family proud through being an immortal, yet is doing some rather shady acts in the process. We also get to see a lot more of the other dragons that were teased at the end of the last film and they make for very formidable threats with each one having a distinct personality. As for new players, the most notable is Master Wuilang (Wang Deshun), a wise old master who is a very interesting character and I thought it was rather surprising how his character developed as the story went on.
On the whole, I found Ne Zha 2 to be a more than worthy follow up to its predecessor that manages to surpass it in a number of ways. It may run a little too long and can have some odd tonal shifts here and there, I found the story to be even more engrossing, the emotion hits harder, the visuals are spectacular, the action was sensational, and the characters were very compelling. It isn’t hard to see why this has resonated so much in its home country as it truly is a large blockbuster on a scale that isn’t too common nowadays (especially in the realm of animated features) and it works greatly as an immense crowd-pleaser. It serves as a great continuation that manages to generate further excitement in what will go down in Ne Zha 3 (which is as big of a guarantee as any at this point). It’s also just cool to see an animated film (especially one as grand as this one) do as well as it’s doing, showing just how much the craft can be valued by audiences and that those working on them deserve the respect for crafting something that hits on such a large scale.
Rating: A-
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