Ne Zha 2 哪吒之魔童闹海 Review: Jiaozi’s Epic Animated Sequel Packs Stunning Action, Stephen Chow-Inspired Humour and Emotionally Resonant Drama

Here’s the biggest question surrounding Ne Zha 2: Is the sequel as great as the China box office, which already made, at the time of writing, a staggering 14.6 billion RMB (that’s over US$2 billion) and still counting strong, resulted in the highest-grossing animated feature worldwide? Sure, a huge box-office hit doesn’t automatically justifies how good the quality of a movie is.

But then again, with such impressive box-office numbers that I’m sure no one saw it coming when the sequel was originally released in China during the lucrative festive holiday last month, this certainly piques my curiosity. Besides, the first Ne Zha released six years ago, which gave us the promising future of a Chinese animation, was visually spectacular but frankly, an overall decent entry hampered by expository dialogues and a bloated third act. The erratic pacing also poses a problem in Ne Zha, making its nearly two-hour length longer than it should.

This kind of worries me since returning director Jiaozi chose to increase his sequel’s duration by an extra 34 minutes, totaling a 144-minute runtime. Well, the last time I’ve seen an animated feature with more or less the same length was Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse two years ago, which turned out to be one of the rare superhero sequels that even managed to surpass the already amazing first movie. Can Jiaozi pull off such a feat?

I finally managed to catch Ne Zha 2 on the big screen after an excruciating wait for a longer-than-expected international rollout. Not to mention, securing a ticket was just as frustratingly time-consuming as getting a concert ticket. I’m glad Jiaozi improves by leaps and bounds in Ne Zha 2.

For a brief recap, the last time we saw the titular mischievous demon child (voiced by Lü Yanting) and his only best friend, Ao Bing (Han Mo) no longer possess physical bodies but their souls remain intact after Taiyi (Zhang Jiaming) managed to preserve their lives using the Sacred Lotus.

The sequel picks up from there as the previously under-threat Chentang Pass village town is now safe from total annihilation. But not for long since Ao Guang (Li Nan), the dragon ruler of the Eastern Sea and also the father of Ao Bing, presumed his son already died, which triggers him to launch an attack against Chentang Pass with the help of Shen Gongbao (Yang Wei) and the three other imprisoned Dragon Kings.

This leads the spirit forms of Nezha and Ao Bing to protect the town once again. The result causes Ao Bing’s spirit to scatter, but thankfully, he doesn’t have to disappear forever since he can retain his spirit by sharing with Nezha’s new body. But there’s a catch: Such a method can only last for seven days and it’s now up to Nezha to save his best friend’s spirit by completing the elderly immortal Wuliang’s (Wang Deshun) three trials. If he succeeds, he will obtain the all-important potion, which not only restores the aforementioned Sacred Lotus but also grants Ao Bing’s spirit a new body.

Of course, for a movie that runs 144 minutes, you can expect a lot of setbacks and whatnot along the way. Like the first Ne Zha, Jiaozi took a lot of creative liberties to mix and match with his modernized take and the traditional narrative loosely inspired by the oft-adapted Investiture of the Gods novel.

The first half is dedicated to Nezha and Ao Bing’s shared identities within a single body as they try their best to work together, albeit in a series of Stephen Chow-inspired mo lei tau (nonsensical) slapstick humour. At one point, there is one of the trials where Jiaozi manages to slip in a recognisable meme, resulting in one of the most hilarious moments in the sequel. The obligatory toilet humour from pee to fart and puke may have been offensively juvenile. But they somehow work well to please both kids and even adults, thanks to Jiaozi’s impeccable comic timing without going overboard.

Once the fun is over, even though not entirely, Jiaozi effectively transitioned his story into a darker, yet emotional second half. Themes like betrayal, manipulation and rebellion are strongly incorporated into the movie, and what I like the most about it is the sense of unity fighting against the imperialism. The second half somehow reminds me of Tsui Hark’s directorial efforts in the past and not the current one, particularly his Hong Kong heyday during the director’s peak form mixing sociopolitical undertones with a rousing, mainstream-friendly entertainment.

The latter is especially true with the epic scope of the sequel’s action set pieces. The opening scene alone is a testament of how Jiaozi has evolved after the six-year gap since the first Ne Zha, giving us a large-scale battle between Shen Gongbao, the dragons and an army of Abyss monsters against the people of Chentang Pass. Then, there’s the third act, which culminates in an all-hell-breaks-loose manga-style battle.

Jiaozi doesn’t forget the core themes already established in the first movie, which continue to carry forward in the sequel: Amidst the chaos and obstacles, Nezha remains a wild child who values the importance of love and togetherness with his human parents. Case in point: A minor but resonant moment where he and his human father share their first time kicking the shuttlecock.

We also get to see the ongoing friendship angle between Nezha and Ao Bing and how the subsequent situation changes everything. Jiaozi’s all-encompassing storytelling also finds the way not to turn this into a straightforward, classic good vs. evil narrative, and this can be seen from Shen Gongbao’s character arc.

The sequel may have run nearly 2 1/2 hours, but never once did I feel the pace drag with unnecessary fillers or expository-heavy moments. Instead, it just flies by as I watch the movie packed with enough action, heart and laughs. The animation pops with vibrant colours while the overall visual palette looks remarkable on the big screen.

Although some scenes tend to meander with awkwardly misplaced humour, it was just the minor shortcomings. Ne Zha 2 surpasses my expectations and then some and don’t forget to stick around for the cheeky mid-credits scene (trust me, it’s really worth it). I can’t wait to see what Jiaozi and his co. have in store for the next sequel.