For the past decade, the highest-grossing animated films have been from Disney (and its now-subsidiary Pixar) or Illumination: major Western animation studios. Now, seemingly out of nowhere, “Ne Zha 2” — from a collection of animation studios in China — has taken this title.
In the first “Ne Zha,” we learn about the chaos pearl, a destructive and unpredictable force that threatens the order of the gods in heaven. The pearl is split in two leaving a spirit pearl (the “good” part) and a demon pearl (the “bad” part). Since the demon pearl cannot easily be destroyed, a curse is placed on it so that a bolt of lightning will appear and destroy it three years later. The spirit pearl is supposed to be given to a mortal general so that his son will carry its power, but the pearls are swapped. The spirit pearl is given to the son of the dragon king, Ao Bing, and the general’s son, Ne Zha, is born with the demon pearl’s power. Unfortunately, this means Ne Zha will die on his third birthday. Many of the first movie's main themes center on the question of whether Ne Zha is truly evil and whether his behavior is because of the demon pearl or because everybody treats him like a demon.
The second film opens with a retelling of the first movie in an art style so beautiful that I was left speechless. When my mind could find words again, all I could think was, “OK, I get the hype.” Without giving too much away, this film takes the themes of good and evil from its predecessor an extra step further, especially with the idea of demons and immortals (“xians”). There is not much of a difference between the two except that some are seen as good and others bad.
There wasn’t a single moment in which the drama was over-manufactured for the sake of a third-act emotional climax. The stakes were really high in this film, and I got a sense of that at every moment. It got shockingly dark and graphic at times, but there were still some genuinely hilarious moments, and I never felt like I was experiencing a drastic tonal shift.
The final battle of this film could honestly rival many live action blockbusters, especially from Marvel or DC. The scale and magnitude of all the characters as they fought and the force of each impact were wonderfully executed. It also occasionally depicted each side of the final battle not as individuals but rather as a collective unit, leading to some stunning visuals.
The action alone in this film is a good enough reason to watch it. On top of it being really fluid, it never feels like the same fight scene twice. There’s so much creativity in the moves, the effects and the camera angle. As a person who sometimes gets action fatigue when watching movies, I never felt tired or bored with the many different fight sequences in the film. Despite there being multiple fight scenes throughout the film, it manages to steadily and consistently build up the tension until the final climax. One of the ways it does this is through its outstanding soundtrack which grows in intensity as the film goes on.
Similar to the previous film, at the end of “Ne Zha 2,” Ne Zha transforms into his true form (taller, hair standing up like a flame, more slender like Ao Bing and with a red mark on his forehead) which I was expecting to see again. Even then, I could not help geeking out in the cinema when we got the transformation as well as Ne Zha’s signature guitar riff playing in the soundtrack.
To me, “Ne Zha 2” felt like the blockbuster I have always wanted: amazing action, humor that lands, characters I care about plus an actually good and intriguing story with all these elements working towards a clear theme. I hope its reign as the highest-grossing animated film is long-lived.
