The Legend of Hei 2 is charming, with cute characters and some nice lessons. But it poses some difficult philosophical and theological questions. Add in a ton of Chinese spirituality, as well as a bit of violence, and it might be a nonstarter for some Christian families.
Hei used to believe that all humans were evil. His beliefs weren’t entirely unjustified either: He’s a cat spirit whose forest home was destroyed to make way for a human city. Hei tried to defend his home, but his mystical powers weren’t strong enough to make a difference.
But then Hei met Wuxian, a human with the same supernatural abilities as himself. Wuxian introduced Hei to the Guild, a coalition of humans and spirits who live together in harmony, using their powers to keep the peace.
Through Wuxian, Hei learned to control his own powers (which turn out to be some of the rarest and most powerful of all spirit abilities). And because of their friendship, Hei decided that maybe all humans weren’t evil. In fact, learning to live alongside humans in peace might be the better choice after all.
So for the past few years, Hei has continued his tutelage under Wuxian. And he hopes to one day become an Enforcer for the Guild, just like Wuxian.
Unfortunately, not everyone upholds the Guild’s beliefs about peaceful coexistence.
Following an attack on one of the Guild’s branches, resulting in the deaths of dozens of spirits, Wuxian is summoned to the Yao Ling Guild (home of the Guild’s headquarters) for questioning. It turns out that humans were responsible for the carnage, and Wuxian is their No. 1 suspect.
Of course, Hei and Wuxian know this isn’t true. Even the Guild’s elders (the oldest and most powerful spirits) doubt his involvement. But the evidence suggests otherwise.
So, Wuxian agrees to cooperate while the Guild sends Enforcers to investigate. And he puts Hei into the care of Luye, his previous pupil.
But Luye isn’t willing to stand by while her former teacher’s name is dragged through the mud. She decides to conduct her own investigation on the side, and Hei tags along, too.
They’ll have to move quickly though, since the humans who attacked the Guild branch also stole its supply of Ruana wood, a material capable of killing spirits. If they don’t clear Wuxian’s name and recover the wood, there could be an all-out war between humans and spirits, which would be devastating to both sides.
Hei learns that the true secret to peaceful coexistence isn’t about one side ruling over the other. Rather, it’s about mutual respect. Right now, spirits are still more powerful than humans. However, that doesn’t make it OK for spirits to subdue them. All that does is breed contempt and incite rebellion.
The Guild knows this truth all too well. Failure to respect humans has led to war in the past. So as humans become increasingly more powerful, as they develop more and more technology, it becomes even more important to establish friendships between the two groups.
Wuxian is one of the best teachers of this philosophy, especially considering who his two pupils are. Humans took everything from Hei and Luye (both inadvertently and intentionally). So, as a human himself, Wuxian had a hard time earning their trust. He could have easily overpowered his students, forcing them to submit to his tutelage. Instead, he was patient. He let them feel their anger but taught them to control their reactions to those emotions. He showed them the value in seeing disagreements from another’s perspective. And he never lost patience with them, even when they might have deserved it.
Luye, admittedly, hasn’t fully adopted Wuxian’s way of thinking. She asks Hei which side he would chose in a war between humans and spirits. Hei determines that he would pick the “right” side, but Luye says she would side with spirits, regardless of who was right. Hei is deeply troubled by this. However, he realizes that yelling at Luye and telling her that she’s wrong won’t fix things. Rather, he needs to love and support her, to make himself someone she can count on and trust. And his actions do eventually affect Luye for the better.
Hei and Luye don’t get along, initially. However, after working together and learning a bit about each other’s pasts—not to mention realizing how much they both care for their master—they warm up to each other and start acting like brother and sister, just as Wuxian hoped.
A Guild elder scolds spirits who started a fight with some superhumans, essentially telling them that true leadership means setting a good example.
When several Enforcers assert that their own teacher should hold the honor of being the Guild’s most powerful Enforcer, their teacher berates them, telling them to respect their elders. Besides being polite, there seems to have been some wisdom in this stance, since Wuxian instantly subdues that teacher in a fight later.
The spirits we see here come in all shapes and sizes. Hei, for instance, spent most of his life in the guise of a black cat. But when danger arose, he could swell to an enormous size and grow monstrous teeth and claws. These days, he mostly adopts the appearance of a young boy with cat-like ears and a tail. Other spirits, such as Luye, don’t look like spirits at all but humans.
Each spirit (and superpowered human) has his or her own unique powers, too. Hei, Luye and Wuxian all share the ability to control metal, but they also have “space” powers, which differ. Essentially, these bonus powers allow them to operate on a different plane of existence. Hei’s ability (called the “Void”) allows him to create a ball of empty space where he is essentially the god—he controls everything that happens on that plane. Luye’s, on the other hand, allows her to see and track other spirits’ “Ling,” a sort of supernatural energy that exists in all spirits and superhumans.
Hei wears a bracelet created by Wuxian to control his Void powers, since they aren’t fully developed and can cause quite a bit of destruction if left unchecked. Luye’s eyes glow red when she uses her space powers.
Spirits and superhumans have created portals that can instantly travel from one Guild branch to another. Spirits can live for hundreds of years.
We aren’t told how Wuxian and other superhumans got their powers. When Hei calls Ling a bad person, she contradicts that this isn’t possible, since she isn’t a person at all.
None.
Tensions are high between humans and spirits. We learn that every spirit was killed at the Guild branch that was attacked. And a few spirits attack superhumans at the Yao Ling Guild out of retaliation and fear.
We learn that humans and spirits have gone to war in the past. In one district, the humans completely wiped out all spirits, eliminating most of that land’s Ling. Luye is from that district, and several flashbacks show the death and destruction that took place. Luye watched everyone she loved die. Wuxian first met her there, bleeding and traumatized, shortly after the battle. Luye attacked Wuxian (since he’s human), hitting him with her fists but causing little damage.
Chinian, a Guild elder, enters a human fortress with two of his acolytes to recover the Ruana wood. The battle that ensues isn’t bloody, but Chinian uses his powers to kill every human there, usually by crushing them with blocks of earth.
Elsewhere, Chinian organizes another attack, planning to send roughly 30 of the Guild’s strongest Enforcers to fight against the humans who stole the Ruana wood. However, Wuxian stops Chinian, believing that this action would cause humans to declare war against spirits. He battles against the Enforcers, preventing them from entering the portal, but he doesn’t cause any permanent damage—just a few bruises and scrapes.
Some rival spirits try to kill Luye and Hei. The two of them fight back, but Luye is gravely injured (though she survives). At one point, she spits up blood.
In a battle, humans fire at spirits with guns, missiles, lasers and more. Wuxian uses his metal-controlling abilities, harmlessly redirecting those projectiles. Other spirits use their abilities to create shields.
Some spirits (including one that adopts the guise of a dragon’s skeleton) attack a plane in order to save their captured comrade. Luye, Hei and two other spirits are onboard and fight back. However, the fight damages the vessel. Hei and the others control the ensuing crash, saving the humans inside.
Hei and Luye fight a shape-shifting spirit. Hei laughs as he overpowers the spirit and bloodies the guy’s nose, and Luye captures the whole thing on camera.
Luye and Hei risk their lives to help one another. Luye stops short of beheading someone, opting instead to imprison the antagonist.
Note: The Legend of Hei 2 is currently only available in Chinese with English subtitles.
There is a single use of “p-ss.”
None.
Chinian hates humans and is therefore prejudiced against Wuxian from the start. He worries that with all the technology humans are developing (and which spirits are using) they’ll eventually overpower spirits and essentially turn them into zoo exhibits.
Hei initially ignores his master’s order to stay with Luye, forcing her to drag him away from Wuxian. Elsewhere, Hei uses his powers to pickpocket someone. Luye likewise uses her powers to render a taxi driver unconscious so that she can commandeer his vehicle. However, Hei returns the stolen object, and Luye eventually wakes the taxi driver, giving him back his car.
Hei almost vomits on a plane ride.
[Spoiler Warning] The film’s antagonists believe that war between humans and spirits is inevitable. So rather than wait for humans to develop technology powerful enough to destroy spirits, they preemptively instigate a war now, hoping that it will give spirits a fighting chance.
The Legend of Hei 2 (and its predecessor, The Legend of Hei) is a prequel to the popular Chinese series The Legend of Luo Xiaohei. So there’s some Chinese mythology in the mix here, especially the story’s concept of spirits.
Hei 2 is just a bit more violent than its predecessor (the original never showed us bloodshed). And it’s not nearly as cute—though I only say that because Hei doesn’t spend nearly as much time as a little black kitten. Overall, the story features some nice lessons about the importance of love, friendship and respect. And the animation is still quite charming, even if I didn’t get my cute-kitten fix.
But more importantly, The Legend of Hei 2 seems to ask viewers one important philosophical and theological question: Is there an absolute right and wrong?
In the context of the film itself, Hei struggles with the answer. He hates that humans wiped out Luye’s homeland and his own forest home. But he loves his human mentor, Wuxian. But he loves his spirit sister, Luye, too; and she tells him that if humans and spirits go to war, she’ll side with spirits, no matter what. Could Hei fight against Luye? Could he fight against Wuxian?
As Christians, we sometimes face moments where discerning the right answer is similarly difficult. Truly, the only One who can answer is God Himself. As humans imbued with the Holy Spirit, we can follow His Word and make our best judgments. But the fact of the matter is that we’re still sinners. We are still corrupted by the fall. So even when we think we’re doing the right thing, we can still be impacted by that sin. We can still find ways to justify objectively wrong actions. Sometimes we stray from the path. Often, we make mistakes.
So if you decide to take your littles to this sequel, that’s something you should consider talking about with them. What does God say is right or wrong? How do we tell the difference? And why is it important to pray about these things, asking God to reveal the Truth?
And those are also important questions to talk about with your family even if you conclude that this film’s spiritual content ultimately strays too far from a Christian worldview to use it as a teaching tool.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
