‘Ne Zha 2’ does more than break records (and our hearts)

Last summer, the Golden Joystick Awards winner, Black Myth: Wukong, brought the Monkey King, Sun Wukong into the limelight. Now it's time for another Chinese mythological legend to shine. Like the Monkey King, Nezha the Third Lotus Prince is a cultural symbol of rebellion, individualism, and chivalry. Bringing in more than $2 billion, the recent Chinese blockbuster Ne Zha 2 has become the highest-grossing animated film worldwide. My parents have been pushing me to watch the film for the billionth time: “Do your due diligence as a Chinese person!” Admittedly, I felt very neutral about the first movie, so I tempered my expectations for Ne Zha 2.

Long story short, I was blown away. Short story long, Ne Zha does not begin to prepare viewers for its sequel. Compared to its child-friendly prequel, Ne Zha 2 contains darker elements befitting of a wartime story, including a considerable amount of bloodshed and even major characters’ deaths.

Although spontaneous moviegoers can understand Ne Zha 2 without ever watching Ne Zha (2019), viewers who have watched the prequel might appreciate the nostalgia factor of returning voice actors. Reprising their performances from the first movie, the titular character Ne Zha is voiced by Yanting Lü, with his final form voiced by Joseph Cao. 

The exquisite performances of all the voice actors elevate the impactful animation to the next level. Lü’s performance especially steals the show. In the most heart-wrenching scene of the movie, Ne Zha sobs with reckless abandon while his dying mother embraces him for the last time. Before I could process the point-blank emotional damage the film had dealt me, the woman sitting next to me in the theater had (justifiably) begun to bawl into her popcorn bucket.

The returning cast also features the deuteragonist Ao Bing (Mo Han), Ne Zha’s master, Taiyi Zhenren (Jiaming Zhang), and Ne Zha’s parents Lady Yin (Qi Lü) and Li Jing (Hao Chen). I was ecstatic to see the movie expanding on the prequel’s complexity by delving much deeper into the supporting characters’ motivations. For one, the Dragon Court occupies a bigger role in this film and the designs for the dragon monarchs are stellar.

In my opinion, the most compelling minor character is Shen Gongbao (Wei Yang). In the first movie, we see that he suffers prejudice from the heavens for being a tiger spirit. In Ne Zha 2, we see his family beaten, brutalized, and killed based on their race, which introduces us to the idea that the heavenly forces may not be as good as they seem. His little brother Shen Xiaobao, a bright-eyed cinnamon roll too pure and good for this world, is caught in the crossfire and becomes cold and limp in his arms. When Gongbao’s painstaking efforts to support his family are met with tragedy, I cannot help but sympathize with him.

The most shocking scene is the death of all of the villagers of Chentang Pass. Except for Ne Zha’s parents, everyone is incinerated, with their charred, cracked bodies on display—yes, even the waddling toddler who invites Ne Zha to play jianzi in the first movie.

In the words of Jiaozi, also known as Yu Yang, “The prequel was a big surprise to the audience, because they had no expectation for it, but Ne Zha 2 was produced amid rising expectation, which put us under pressure and kept pushing us forward. So, we set high standards for Ne Zha 2 and pushed ourselves to the limit.” The film’s focus on familial love and sacrifice may be inspired by the director’s gratitude towards his parents, for their unfaltering support of his work during the three years he was unemployed.

As the film comes to a close, Ne Zha declares that labels such as “demons” and “celestials” are nothing more than tools for the people in power to defend the status quo. The Celestials are the oppressive villains of the story in the context of Ne Zha, but are they truly fictional? Astute reviewers have pointed out how the Celestials bear specifically American characteristics, such as the antagonist’s emblem resembling the United States’ national emblem and the mastermind Wuliang’s furnace for cooking demons being marked with the dollar symbol. Whether the resemblance is intentional or not, I couldn’t help but feel the film’s unexpectedly radical message is extremely relevant to its American audience. There’s a macabre humor in watching Ne Zha 2 in an American theater that made me want to laugh.

If you enjoyed Ne Zha 2, you might want to check out New Gods: Nezha Reborn and New Gods: Yang Jian featuring another mythological icon, Erlang Shen. I, for one, couldn’t be happier to see the rise in popularity of Chinese myths in the public eye. Will the next wave of animated films be able to meet the high standards set by Jiaozi? If there’s one thing to learn from Ne Zha 2, it’s that nothing is impossible.