THE STORY – After the catastrophe, although the souls of Nezha and Aobing were saved, their bodies would soon be shattered. Taiyi Zhenren planned to use the seven-colored lotus to rebuild their bodies.
THE CAST – Lu Yanting, Han Mo, Lü Qi, Zhang Jiaming, Wang Deshun, Yu Chen, Li Nan, Zhou Yongxi & Yang Wei
THE TEAM – Jiaozi (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 144 Minutes
If you had to wager what the biggest-grossing animated film of all time might be, you’d probably guess something either from Disney (“Frozen” or “The Lion King“) or from Pixar (“Toy Story” or “Inside Out 2“). Logical choices, to be sure. Truth is, however, a 2025 film holds that title, the Chinese fantasy-adventure sequel “Ne Zha 2,” which has already earned over $2 billion worldwide, more than any other animated film in history (unadjusted for inflation).
Ne Zha what?, you might ask. This animated phenomenon began with the 2019 release of the original “Ne Zha,” the visually sumptuous adventure film steeped in Chinese mythology and brought up to date by writer/director Yu Yang, whose combination of highbrow ideas and lowbrow humor appealed both to cineastes and kids alike. Not only was “Ne Zha” a runaway box office success, but it also opened to critical acclaim and was China’s official submission to the 92nd Academy Awards, marking that country’s first animated film ever to receive such an honor.
In the first film, Ne Zha is a demon child mistakenly born to noble warriors Li Jing and Lady Yin. It seems that an energy-sucking Chaos Pearl is split by Supreme Lord Tianzun into two parts — the noble Spirit Pearl, which was to be destined for the warrior couple but was instead hijacked and given to the Dragon King, where it is reincarnated as the heroic boy Ao Bing. Meanwhile, the Lord and Lady receive the Demon Orb, which was soon born as Ne Zha, a crass, selfish brat who terrorizes his village. Thankfully, his parents try to instill solid values into the mischievous boy, an effort that pays off when he comes face to face with Ao Bing. Though initially seeing his counterpart as a rival, Ne Zha and Ao Bing become the unlikeliest of allies, and together, they seek to reverse a deadly curse placed on Ne Zha upon his birth.
For “Ne Zha 2,” Yu Yang picks up just where he left off, as Ne Zha, having eluded the curse thanks to Ao Bing, vows to protect his parents’ village under threat from evil forces. The battle has so exhausted the boys’ bodies that bumbling warrior/priest Tayai must fashion new, stronger ones. But in order to obtain a life-saving elixir to bring the battered Ao Bing back to health, Ne Zha must undergo a series of trials to become an immortal, which will give him the strength to fight the evil plans of Tayai’s former brother-in-arms, Shen Gongbao. Confused yet? You won’t be when you see the film, as Yu Yang’s storytelling skills make it all clear despite the layers of exposition he throws at us. Concentrate instead on the bond growing between Ne Zha and Ao Bing, one of the sources of the film’s large emotional heart.
One of the most distinctive features of the “Ne Zha” series has been Yu Yang’s ability to thread the needle between highbrow concepts in his creative reimagining of beloved characters from Chinese mythology and lowbrow humor that even a second grader might think is too gross. It’s a blend that somehow sounds contradictory, but instead of pulling audiences apart, his writing skills bring them together. His visuals, in particular, are a striking element of the series, mixing bold, solid colors with illustrations right out of mythological storybooks. As distinctive as the imagery may have been in the first film, Yu Yang tops it here with several images that take you out of the battle you’re watching to pause to admire their sheer beauty (One, in particular — tiny battle warriors encased in bubbles resting on the branches of an illuminated tree — caused my jaw to drop in wonder).
At the same time, this beauty resides alongside the most juvenile collection of scatological humor seen in a wide-release film in years. All manner of pee, poop, and vomit are ingested in admittedly creative but disgusting ways. Yet even amid all this scatology, there is beauty — farts are illustrated as giant puffs of green smoke, sure to make kids (and immature adults, such as myself) squeal with glee.
If there is a drawback to the “Ne Zha” series, it’s an uneven sense of pacing in both films. Even as the 2019 film clocks in at a respectable 110 minutes, its third-act battles feel repetitive at times, slowing the forward motion of the narrative just when it should be hitting its climax. The same problem arises in “Ne Zha 2,” and its 144-minute runtime only compounds the problem. It’s not a fatal flaw, but when your earlier scenes set such a high bar, it’s a letdown when the climax is not everything it could be. A judicious editor would have made both films, especially “Ne Zha 2,” stick the landing more effectively.
Still, in these two films, Yu Yang has created a pair of visual dazzlers that bring legends of Chinese mythology to thrilling life. And if it takes a couple of fart jokes to seal the deal with audiences, that’s all right by me.
