After the tribulation, although the souls of Ne Zha and Ao Bing were preserved, their physical bodies would soon be completely destroyed.Tai Yi Zhen Ren plans to use the Seven Colored Lotus to resh...
Quick history lesson: Ne Zha is based off of the rebellious deity in traditional Chinese folklore and Buddhist and Hindu mythology: a baby-faced warrior deity born as the reincarnation of a demon who’s rebellious nature leads him to defy fate to carve out his own destiny. The first movie was pretty solid in its own right but the second movie had some big shoes to fill and based on what I’ve heard and seen…..
…..”Ne Zha 2” OVERDELIVERED.
Just like the actual character of Ne Zha, director Yu Yang was also one to resist fate (and poverty) to make these movies possible and this sequel is where he doubles down on that celebratory bug for individuality. He operates very broad strokes with everything on a melodramatic level that shouldn’t realistically work for this story, but it does; so much contagious energy balanced out with humanism and pathos.
Everything about this style of animation moves with cartoon-physics grace and integrity that doesn’t look like what you’d see assembled by a creative committee; a tour de force that orchestrates a near-perfect symphony of artistic sensibility and crowd-pleasing entertainment, shifting from and to both 2D and 3D with a large enough canvas to put ATSV and the Avatar series to shame. This animated marvel may not transcend conventional categorization as some rough patches can be spotted, specifically with the character designs again but despite not being Pixar levels of elegance, everything’s so rich in detail with such beautifully rendered worldbuilding, it’s easy to overlook.
That carries over to the production design and visual aesthetic, capturing both spectacle and grandiosity with the scope, scale and size of its set pieces massively trumping that of the first film. Between a precise grip on the rhythmic composition and impeccable lighting, both the cinematography and editing come as a package deal and the costume design reflects the mythology of each character.
Its tone was already firmly established from the first scene onwards, the combined efforts of Roc Chan, Rui Yang, and Wan Pin Chu result in a musical score nothing short of heavenly and, honestly, I can’t do the action sequences any justice. Every single one of them might as well be a pantheon of insanity that tops the last whether through light-handed gags, slapstick comedy or a pure martial arts-coded balls-to-the-wall barrage of mythological mayhem that demands your full attention; I don’t speak likely when I say these are some of the best action sequences I’ve ever seen, only further enhanced by the 3D.
And that’s on top of the 144 minute runtime, barely edging out on being exhausting thanks to a relentless yet composed pacing.
Massive round of applause to everyone involved in this ensemble cast; everyone functions as a complex ecosystem of conflicting loyalties and shared burdens and the characters they portray reveal in layered personalities that evolve organically across the narrative.
Both this sequel and its predecessor follow the same concept of fighting fate, breaking stereotypes and defining how others see you as, but this one comes with twice as much baggage then before. You have complications with restoring Ne Zha and Aobing’s souls to separate bodies, the states of Chentangguan, the sea dragons’ nefarious plot, a dissection of morality, imperialism, discrimination, class struggle and the unspoken bonds between family members, all of which needed to be locked in and condensed under a lenient two and a half hour runtime. And it knocks it out of the damn park! As an adaptation of Investiture of the Gods and Journey to the West, Zhonglin’s text is so dense and contains so many different thematic underpinnings and storylines to extract from each individual player, the fact that this is equally as overlong, overstuffed and convoluted….honestly feels like a back-handed compliment.
Regardless, it makes for a truly enthralling narrative that amplifies its action and drama while rarely ever sacrificing momentum for the sake of cheapness. Nearly every decision made remains consistently logical within the established parameters, creating a domino effect of cause-and-consequence that heightens dramatic and emotional stakes. Even minor supporting roles receive thoughtful arcs, contributing to the rich tapestry of this fully realized world that plays out like a lesson in Sun Tzu’s Art of War, one that utilizes the “All warfare is based on deception” quote to its utmost potential.
And as a sucker for mythology, there’s also a pretty spotty but bold retelling here of Eastern cultural history and philosophies weaved in with Confucian ethics, Daoist balance, Buddhist values, Mohist resistance and the predictable but ever-so-relevant tale of the masses rising up in resistance under the oppression of hegemony. The very essence of these lessons carry the efficiency of a Swiss timepiece and it truly can be taken at a universal scale wherever you’re from, especially as the sobering reality kicks in that we’re all pawns on some asshat’s celestial chessboard.
Seriously, we need more of these types of movies.
Ascending as a technical showpiece pushing the medium's boundaries as Chinese animation continues to evolve, this tour-de-force of artistic sensibility and crowd-pleasing entertainment is a bold fusion of painterly aesthetics, kinetic energy and emotional apexes. For a film of this magnitude to hit almost two billion in a week….
