Review: Ne Zha 2 gives the three-year-old demon a bigger, more beautiful playground to smash up

If you're at all into following the box office, you've likely seen the biggest story happening there right now: in China, Ne Zha 2 has been breaking records left and right. It's become the biggest single-country gross for a movie ever, and within the next couple days, it'll also become the highest-grossing animated movie of all time, snatching the title from the recently-crowned Inside Out 2. (Shout-out to Catsuka for being really on top of this story -- so many of the updates I've gotten have been courtesy of their Twitter.)

For those who aren't familiar with Ne Zha, the first movie came out five years ago and was also a big hit, making just shy of $750 million worldwide. It's a great movie -- I re-watched it yesterday to prep for seeing the sequel, and it holds up beautifully. It's the story of two mystical orbs that are given human forms -- the Demon Orb becomes Ne Zha, whose parents and master try to overcome his demonic nature to become a force for good in the world. Meanwhile, the Spirit Pearl is whisked away to the Dragon Palace, where it becomes Ao Bing, a young dragon whose father seeks to escape his assignment of guarding demonic prisoners, which itself is basically a prison for him.

Obviously, it behooves you to see the first movie before catching Ne Zha 2 (the first one is streaming on Kanopy, and available to rent digitally), but if you don't, the new one does a nice job of catching you up. The opening minutes of the film nicely recap its predecessor, allowing you to jump right into the action, which picks up shortly after the first.

It becomes immediately apparent that Ne Zha 2 is operating on a much bigger scale than the first movie. Very quickly, we're thrown into a massive battle that dwarfs anything that came before, and the animation is absolutely stunning. There are so many moments that inspire awe, both in design and execution. Part of this is thanks to the more varied locales we get here. While the first movie took place almost entirely within and around Chentang Pass (Ne Zha's home), here, our heroes venture far beyond, allowing for some really gob-smacking production design. Grandeur, color, scale -- this movie is a true feast for the eyes. I particularly loved the jade birds that fly around the divine palace where Ne Zha undergoes various trials, a scene of gold-hued warriors becoming leaves on a massive tree, and the inner lining of a magical cauldron being lined with heat-breathing skulls. There are so many fascinating and gorgeous details that make this a pleasure to watch.

The larger canvas also means a more epic story. Something that really shines about the first movie is how intimate it ultimately is -- even though there are mystical beings at play, it's largely a story about a boy trying to overcome his nature in order to be accepted by his community. For Ne Zha 2, the stakes are much higher, as he becomes a pawn in a complicated web of lies, deceit, and chaos designed to bring about full-blown war. There are some surprising twists along the way -- I thought I knew where we were heading, but I got got -- and a ton of brilliant action scenes. The three trials Ne Zha has to undergo to get a magic potion (a not-quite-a-McGuffin that keeps him occupied for a lot of the movie) are particularly fun, with unique settings, foes, and comedic beats. This movie always finds time for a joke, and while some of it is pretty gross (plenty of fart, vomit, and poop jokes find their way in), most of it lands regardless.

I love how strongly the themes shine through in this movie, picking up on thematic threads that were in established in the original movie, emphasizing and underlining them. There's a strong push for self-determination, fighting against fate to stand up for what's right, challenging authority and fighting against injustice. Ne Zha continues to be such a compelling character because of how he embodies but also grates against these ideas. He's mostly trying to do what's right, fight the good fight, etc., but sometimes, he can't quite control himself, and it's fun to watch him go off the deep end once in a while.

My main knock against the film is that it ends a tad abruptly, even with its long runtime (this one clocks in at nearly two-and-a-half hours). Clearly, there's going to be a third chapter to this story, and I can't wait to see it, but I wish there had been a little more closure to this chapter. That said, the final battle sequence is so epic, exciting, and stunning that it's a pretty minor quibble, and with how many blockbusters lately have ended on blatant, sometimes rude cliff-hangers, this one is pretty easy to forgive.

Now don't mind me as I impatiently wait for Ne Zha 3 and hope that, in that one, Ne Zha and Ao Bing will finally kiss. Probably not likely, but a guy can dream, right?