Before receiving the invitation to this screening, I had never heard of the Chinese animated movie Ne Zha. However, after reading the synopsis of the film, I was definitely intrigued. One day before the Ne Zha 2 screening, I watched Ne Zha, the first installment of this Chinese fantasy saga, and fell in love. The story subverts the concepts of good and evil and actually makes a strong case for the heroic potential of what is traditionally considered an evil character. The film does an exceptional job of developing the Ne Zha character, a child granted the powers of a demonic entity, but through his upbringing, finds a way to channel his power for the good of his people.
In this second installment, Ne Zha (Crystal Lee) and his opposite, but dear friend, Ao Bing (Aleks Le) have lost their human forms, but their spirits remain intact. The immortal Master Taiyi Zhenren (Rick Zeiff) figures out a temporary solution to bring them back to flesh and blood. This solution doesn’t exactly work out as planned, and both Ne Zha and Ao Bing are forced to share a temporary body. Taiyi Zhenren decides to take them to his immortal colleagues, where he hopes they can solve this issue. Unfortunately, Taiyi and his friends discover that there is more at stake than they anticipated.
Written and directed by Jiaozi, Ne Zha 2 is mostly captivating with its fantasy concepts, action, humor, and animation, but it attempts to do too much in one movie. Though I had a great time with this adventure, there is so much story material here that would have been better presented in more than one movie. Much of the heart, humor, and thrills that make the first film so lovable are present, but the imaginative ideas would have played out so much better if Jiaozi had broken up this story into two movies.
That said. I had a great time overall, but when a filmmaker or storyteller rushes and stuffs the kitchen sink into one singular work, the impact suffers as a result. What made the first Ne Zha so great is that Jiaozi kept his story more simplistic despite his imaginative world-building. Keeping his story less complex and dense had a better effect on me and will have a similar impact on his audiences.
I still highly recommend Ne Zha 2, especially to fans of the first movie, but also to fans of fantasy cinema. For those who haven’t watched the first installment, I highly recommend it before watching the second film. This sequel does have a recap of the first events, but it doesn’t have the same impact as experiencing the whole movie.