'Ne Zha 2': A Stunning, Overstuffed Animated Epic

PHOTO: A24

The average filmgoer might not realize that the highest-grossing film of the year worldwide isn’t a Marvel movie, a Disney movie, or A Minecraft Movie, but a Chinese animated film about a mythological figure. Ne Zha 2 has made over 2 billion dollars at the time of writing, and is currently the highest grossing animated film of all-time. With it becoming a smash hit in its native China, it makes sense that American audiences would want to see what the fuss is about. Enter A24, who nabbed the distribution rights, gave it an English language dub, and got the film a sizable theatrical run in the US. For me, the film wasn’t really on my radar until I read an article about its box-office success, and I immediately became interested. A phenomenon like this doesn’t happen often, so I was curious to say the least. After watching Ne Zha 2, it’s clear to see why it has made such a splash, as it boasts some serious spectacle throughout. But beyond the glorious animation and fight sequences, the film does suffer from feeling a bit scatterbrained and a lack of narrative depth that kept it from fully living up to the hype for me. It is a classic case of style over substance, but when the style is as stunning as it is in Ne Zha 2’s best moments, one can’t complain too much. It may be flawed, but it is still solid and entertaining despite this.

Ne Zha (voiced by Crystal Lee) is a rambunctious young boy who has powers that he is still learning to use and control. After becoming a spirit in the previous film, his body is recreated. His friend, Ao Bing (voiced by Aleks Le) also became a spirit, but complications that arose while recreating his body leads Ne Zha to carry both of their spirits. The two must work together in order to continue Ne Zha’s fight against the evil Master Shen (voiced by William Utay), who threatens to destroy Chentang Pass, the village where Ne Zha and his family live. This leads them on an adventure to restore Ao Bing’s body and save Chentang Pass, all while Ne Zha tries to harness his powers and become the hero he was always meant to be.

Maybe I’m just used to a more Westernized form of storytelling, but the film’s structure did feel a little off to me. It meanders heavily, which is one of the issues I had with the first Ne Zha film. In both instances, the film takes a relatively simple story and stretches it a bit thin. One can’t help but feel that both narratives could have been streamlined a bit, as it does lead to some lulls that slow down the film’s momentum. Ne Zha 2 at least tries to pad out the rest of the film by expanding the cast and the use of Chinese mythology, but everything is dispensed in such a scattered way that everything kind of runs together. The core plot is easy to follow, but it feels a bit patched together and spends a lot of time on details and characters that may not make complete sense to those unfamiliar with the characters we encounter or their legends. 

At least the film offers some incredible animation and some great fight scenes that often feel inspired by Wuxia films. These scenes are easily the best thing about the film, and are wonderfully dynamic and frankly beautiful. It is at its best when we are focused on one-on-one fights, as some of the big showdowns can get a tad muddled. This is certainly the case with part of the film’s big finale, which involves a massive battle that kind of looks cool but mainly looks messy. But the rest of the fighting is pretty great, with my personal favorite being one where Ne Zha and Ao Bing fight Master Shen’s father near a waterfall. As for the animation, this is a huge step up from the first film, as everything looks sharper and more fluid by comparison. The design for some of the animal characters is also quite good, especially the abyss monsters who look like anthropomorphic sea creatures. On a purely visual level, this film is excellent and is worth seeing on the big screen. I just wish that there was more to it under the surface and that the sections between the big fight scenes were a bit more compelling.

I think part of my issues come from the film’s tone, which felt a bit inconsistent to me. The first film has an energy to it which I call “Elevated Dreamworks”, as it has plenty of juvenile humor while also having just enough to appeal to older audiences. Ne Zha 2 definitely feels like it is trying to be a Marvel movie, but still retains some of the childish ways of the previous installment. It does pull off the thrills and action very well, but the film feels a bit torn between leaning into its more comedic roots and being more of a serious fantasy epic. One could make the argument that this mirrors Ne Zha’s character arc as he matures and hones his powers, but these warring tones feel too extreme in both directions to fully coexist within the film. It does help that the film jettisons the toilet humor about halfway through, but it still makes for a bit of a tonal clash when viewing the film as a whole. The comedy and the action/adventure portions of the film work fine on their own, but the stark contrast between the two causes some issues in establishing what the film is going for. It finds its footing in the back half, but I can’t help but wish that it would have reached a better balance far sooner than it does. 

I can’t help but wonder if viewing the film in its original Mandarin as opposed to the English dub would affect my opinion on it. The only version available to watch in theaters is the dubbed one, but I must admit that the dub isn’t half bad. The dub for the first Ne Zha is borderline awful, so it’s not a hard bar to clear, but the dub for this film utilizes some good voice acting and matches the animation for the most part. Part of me wondered if the dub also included added dialogue to help provide exposition, as this is a feature throughout the film. Some of it went along with the animation, so I would assume these instances are present in the original version. However, some bits of dialogue seem to be overlaid in certain scenes, as if they were added in while recording the dub or doing ADR. Whether this is specific to the dub or not, I wasn’t a fan of this, as it feels very lazy and took me out of the movie. I get that we need some of the exposition, but there are much better ways to get it across than the film does. 

The thing about Ne Zha 2 is that it isn’t a bad movie in the slightest, but beyond looking rather cool, a few laughs, and one extremely heartfelt moment in the third act, it didn’t hit me on the level I was hoping for. I still liked the film overall, but it didn't fully live up to the hype for me. As pure spectacle, this is a must-see, but aside from that, it is merely decent. There are moments where the film really works, but there are also stretches of the film that draw themselves out a bit and weaken its momentum. And yet, it is so clear why this has become such a massive success, as it is rewarding to see it on the big screen and it is very entertaining for the most part. It probably won’t get the same reception in the States that it did in China, but it will likely find its fans. Ne Zha 2 isn’t as cohesive as I would have liked it to be, but it at least has a distinct personality and some genuinely great animation to majorly redeem it.

Rating: 3.5/5