★★★★☆ Ne Sha, Ne Zha II, by 饺子 Jiaozi
Animated masterpiece with too much of everything
Ne Sha, Ne Zha II
饺子 Jiaozi
Animated masterpiece with too much of everything
I’m a huge fan of animation. For me, the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies of Chuck Jones represent the apex of all artistic achievement. I do not, however, scorn modern animation technology—big Pixar fan here. Thus, when I saw that Ne Zha II had a critic’s score of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, audience score 99%—well, obviously, I was going to see that. I had not previously seen the first film, Ne Zha, so I watched it on iTunes. I then saw Ne Zha II in a local theater in 3D IMAX, and if you have that option, I recommend it.
Here’s the backstory. There was a thing called the chaos pearl that threatened to ruin everything. The Supreme Lord split it into two parts called the Spirit Pearl and the Demon Pearl. The Supreme Lord put an expiration date on the Demon Pearl—it would be automagically destroyed after three years. The plan was to put the Spirit Pearl in a human boy and the Demon Pearl in a Dragon child. One of the Supreme Lord’s servants, Shen Gongbao, screwed it up (so difficult to get good help!), putting the Demon Pearl in the human child.
The doomed Demon Pearl human child is Ne Zha. It is he that you see grinning devilishly in the poster above. The picture gives you a pretty good idea of what Ne Zha is like. If you have ever lived with a child going through the Terrible Two’s, imagine him/her with supernatural demon powers, and you have some idea of Ne Zha’s personality in the first film. The Spirit Pearl becomes a Dragon child named Ao Bing.
The first thing to tell you about both films is this: they’re funny. Chuck Jones would have approved much of what Jiaozi does here. A high point for me was a scene in Ne Zha II in which Ne Zha (and also Ao Bing—it’s complicated) battle a band of bandits who look like prairie dogs. Both films are Chinese martial arts film and contain many spectacular battles that take full advantage of modern animation technology.
The first film is about Ne Zha and Ao Bing’s fight to escape destiny. The second is about their attempts to win back to something like normality. The plots are very complicated. Ne Zha II in particular, felt overstuffed to me. It could easily have been two films and would, in my opinion, have been better so. There was a natural dividing point that was obvious, even as I watched, where the plot took off in a new direction.
If you enjoy animation, you should see these films. (I will also see Ne Zha III when it comes out. There is a post credit scene that hints at more to come.) You could see Ne Zha II alone—there’s a recap at the beginning that will put you in frame. I cannot say, however, that these are the best animated films I have ever seen. They’re good, but expect to be overwhelmed and confused.