Ne Zha II review

NE ZHA II: 

CHINA’S VISUALLY DAZZLING MAGNUM OPUS IN CINEMA ANIMATION! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

A24

The demon child is back in Ne Zha II

 

            The mythological demon fighting demon child returns in Ne Zha II, the follow-up to the 2019 Chinese animated feature film, Ne Zha. I watched Ne Zha for the first time last night and I have to admit it was a pleasant surprise, sure the English dub’s voices don’t match the lip movements resulting in a rather stilted presentation, but the animation in that movie is absolutely gorgeous, the action sequences are spectacular, and the characters are very endearing, it’s a solid movie. 

            Which brings us to the sequel and boy, did this movie generate a lot of buzz when it came out as not only did it dethrone Pixar’s Inside Out 2 as the highest-grossing animated film of all time, but it became the very first animated feature to cross the $2 billion mark. Really think about this, an animated movie not made by Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, or even Illumination made over $2 billion at the box-office, that is crazy. 

            Well, since A24 just released an English dub of the movie, I thought it’d give me a reason to finally see what all the fuss is about regarding this and its predecessor. After seeing it for myself, I understand the hype it got because damn, this movie is spectacular on both a technical and emotional level while also doing what all great sequels do, progress the story along, expand its world, and raise the stakes. 

            The film follows Ne Zha (voiced by Crystal Lee) and his friend Ao Bing (voiced by Aleks Le) who after being struck by heavenly lightning, their bodies are destroyed and only Ne Zha’s body can be reconstructed while he carries Ao Bing’s soul. However, during their process of reconstruction, numerous obstacles and foes arise and thus Ne Zha and Ao Bing will have to work together to fend them off including the return of the wicked Master Shen (voiced by Daniel Riordan-Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Scooby-Doo: The Mystery Begins). 

            The film also features the voices of Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Wicked 1 and 2) replacing Stephanie Sheh as Ne Zha’s mother Lady Yin, Vincent Rodriguez III (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, White Snake, The Ghost and Molly McGee) reprising his role as Ne Zha’s father Li Jung, and William Utay (Seinfeld, Star Trek: Enterprise, Days of Our Lives) as the leader of the Taoist Chan sect Master Wuliang.

            Overall, Ne Zha II is a gorgeous and kinetic animated sequel that outshines its predecessor and sets a new standard for big screen cinema animation. Like the English dub of the first movie, the voices don’t match the lip movements which at times can be a little distracting and awkward, but to the voice actors’ credit they aren’t half-assing it and it’s only a minor nitpick in an otherwise incredible film. 

            This movie is a visual marvel and looks amazing on the big screen, I was constantly in awe at what I was looking at on the screen. The colors are vibrant and really pop, the character expressions especially on Ne Zha himself are almost Pixar quality (I’m talking good Pixar, not that bean-mouth nonsense!) in terms of their emotions and details, the comedy is very slapstick heavy which lends itself to animation perfectly, the monster designs are insanely creative, and the action is superfast and energized throughout. 

I’ll go on record and say the animation in this looks ten times better than most Hollywood film animation nowadays and I think the best Western animation studios should look at this film and focus on trying to create something of this caliber. This is easily Best Animated Feature Oscar material though I guess between this and the streaming releases, KPop Demon Hunters and Predator: Killer of Killers, it’d be a win for me regardless of the outcome. 

            Animation aside, the movie is also fantastic with its characters and giving them a lot of depth. I was invested in the equally flawed Ne Zha and Ao Bing’s hero’s journeys and the two of them have great banter with one soul inside the other’s body while also selling the emotional and sentimental moments as well, the kinds of protagonists you want to root for from start to finish. 

            I also thought Master Shen who was the initial villain in the first movie had a lot more to do this time around and really made me care about him as a character with him taking an antihero role here and a brotherly figure to another character that’s introduced. Despite not sounding anything like Stephanie Sheh, Michalle Yeoh as Ne Zha’s mother is the emotional anchor of the film with some genuinely heartfelt scenes that nearly made me cry, no joke. 

            The movie is longer than the first Ne Zha clocking in at 2 hours and 23 minutes and it doesn’t feel its length, nothing drags, everything that happens is important, and it keeps this momentum all throughout the film. This is also a movie that throws a lot at you yet I was able to follow it well and be intrigued and captivated by where it was going. 

            My knowledge of Chinese mythology is paper thin, but I found the world-building and lore of Ne Zha II and its predecessor very fascinating. This is a movie about a boy created from a demon orb who’s friends with a dragon prince created from a spirit orb and goes to a palace in the clouds with shape-shifting dragon Gods; all of it is interesting and ironically it did a better job at teaching Chinese mythology than Disney’s live-action Mulan remake from a while back. 

            Ne Zha II is a breathtaking, exciting, and compelling animated epic that puts some of the best Hollywood animation studios to shame. It’s a technical achievement that doesn’t overshadow its story and characters and becomes a new landmark in the animation industry that’s absolutely worth watching in theaters if you can. 

            After seeing two truly spectacular animated movies back to back, I will be there for Ne Zha III and given the massive success of this one, not doing a third film would be criminal. Not counting the recent Sing-Along release of Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters, this is easily the best animated film I saw in theaters this year and that’s quite an accomplishment.