Ne Zha 2 Review
Western animation has put out some hits in the past few years, ‘The Wild Robot’ and ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’. Not to be outdone, China has recently released ‘Ne Zha 2’, the sequel to 2019’s ‘Ne Zha’ and its breathtaking scale and heart prove that animation has developed their offerings, and ‘Ne Zha 2’ from China, shows that this field by no means a Western monopoly. Director Jiaozi has managed to improve on everything about the first film, and has set the stage for what will hopefully be an awe-inspiring third film.
The animation is of course the best place to start with a film like this. The scale of the film increases almost immediately, with a huge fight the sets the stage for what’s to come. The final hour of this film is where the animation and fight scenes truly shine with their scope and creativity, delivering on a huge scale that doesn’t lose sight of any of the key characters. It’s not just the fights of the film that impress, but a greatly expanded world, with new and unique locations and factions, such as the heavenly demon hunters lead by Wuliang, and a more expansive role for the dragons underneath the sea. It’s the type of work that will knock audiences out with the sheer volume of what’s on display.
The story ‘Ne Zha 2’ tells isn’t lost under the weight of the animation, and its heart isn’t sacrificed for it either. The film tells a compelling and hard hitting tale about family and friends, and how much that will drive the actions of ourselves and others. It’s as effective as the animation. This emotion comes from two places, the script, written by Jiaozi, and the voice acting, delivered by Lü Yanting as the younger Ne Zha, Han Mo as Ao Bing, and Lü Qi as Lady Yin, Ne Zha’s mother. The use of mythology is something that contributes to the stories success, giving western audiences an eye into other cultures. There are also some twists and turns that are able to stay hidden until the story wants them to, through the use of red herrings.
‘Ne Zha 2’ is really only the beginning of a much grander tale, as it sets up a story that will no doubt be concluded in a third instalment. Thankfully, it doesn’t feel like the story has been arbitrarily chopped half like some two parters can do, but instead it has a clear structure to it and has its own self contained story and arcs. Audiences won’t feel cheated out of a complete viewing experience when they leave, but they will come out of it excited for what’s to come in the future.
This is a film, like its predecessor, aimed primarily at kids, and it’s something that can be most felt in the humour. It’s mostly body humour, fart jokes, pee, and sick, which is unfortunate as these have no way of connecting to anyone above a young age. The joke about sick even rises to the level as to be disgusting. This is definitely not a film that is crafted with both adult and young audiences in mind. There are however the ocassional jokes that do land, like one at the very end, based in mocking technology.
‘Ne Zha 2’ is a film that showcases a high quality of animation done at an impressive scale. It doesn’t sacrifice heart in the pursuit of bigger and grander battles and gives audiences a rare window into a mythology different that they will be used to. While the film’s humor might act as a barrier to older audiences, frequently adding jokes that are borderline disgusting (amid some that are), it doesn’t overload the film, making them an easy thing to put aside. ‘Ne Zha 2’ is a grand cinematic achievement.
