Ne Zha 2

Movie Review

Ne Zha doesn’t like to do what he’s told.

Hey, lots of kids are like that, right? But in Ne Zha’s case, the results can be … bad.

See, Ne Zha is a demon, and not just any run-of-the-mill, dime-a-dozen Chinese demon, either. He’s part and product of the Demon Orb, and as such he’s incredibly powerful and destructive. Why, if left to his own demonic nature, he just might be so destructive as to threaten heaven and earth themselves. So the orb was slated for destruction by the Supreme Lord, Yuanshi Tianzun. And what the Supreme Lord says, the Supreme Lord does.

But through a series of adventures and surprising relationships (as chronicled in 2019’s Ne Zha), Ne Zha saved his parents and his hometown of Chentang Pass. And thanks to help from his enemy-turned-friend, Ao Bing (a reincarnation of something called the Spirit Pearl and the son of a very important dragon), Ne Zha even staved off the Supreme Lord’s destructive curse. The only downside? He and Ao Bing lost their corporeal bodies. Bummer.

But as Ne Zha 2 opens, good news! Master Taiyi Zhenren uses (and exhausts) his sacred lotus to regenerate both Ne Zha and Ao Bing.

Bad news. Chentang Pass is soon under threat again: Ao Guang, Ao Bing’s very important dragon father, believes his son died in the last movie, so he unleashes a few other dragon rulers from their lava-y locale, which are ushered into the fray by the demonic Shen Gongbao. Before Ne Zha and Ao Bing can truly get their bodies back, they must defend the town—and Ao Bing’s corporeal form is quickly destroyed. (Naturally, Ao Guang feels just terrible about this strange turn of events.)

But more good news! Ao Bing’s spirit doesn’t need to dissipate forever! Taiyi says that Ne Zha can host the spirit of Ao Bing for seven days. During that time, if Ne Zha can pass three trials and become one of the immortals, he can claim a potion that will restore the sacred lotus and, thus, give Ao Bing another shot at having a real-life body again.

But more bad news. Demons aren’t allowed to perform these trials. In fact, the trials are all about fighting demons—something that gods and immortals love to do. And if anyone detects Ne Zha’s true nature during these trials—inescapable if he fights as Ne Zha—he’ll certainly get booted out of heaven.

The only solution: Ao Bing’s spirit must take over Ne Zha’s body during these critical trials. And he can only do that if Ne Zha knocks himself out somehow.

Follow all that?

Well, in truth, we learn all of that within, like, the first 15 minutes of the movie, and then things get much more confusing. But in short, Ne Zha—the spirit of Ao Bing in tow—and Taiyi mount a flying pig and fly to heaven to embark on a series of spectacular adventures. And perhaps they’ll right a few long-festering wrongs along the way, too.

Positive Elements

Underneath all of its narrative complexities, Ne Zha 2 is rather a simple story: It’s about love, family and—ultimately—doing the right thing.

Ne Zha doesn’t do what he’s told. Because if he followed his own fate, he would’ve either been destroyed or become a destroyer—and a destroyer of, like, everything. But instead, Ne Zha chooses a better way forward, in part due to his (at least mostly) mortal parents, Li Jing and Lady Yin. They both love their little boy a lot, despite the fact that he’s a little terror at times. And in what might be the movie’s most touching scene, Lady Yin insists on hugging Ne Zha, even when Ne Zha is porcupined with ice quills: The pain she suffers is nothing compared to the love she feels for him.

That’s not the only touching familial moment we see. Ao Guang loves his son so much that he’s willing to shake heaven and earth to protect him—or to avenge him. Apparent bad guy Shen Gongbao runs into his little brother, and he tries his best to be a good role model.

Ne Zha and Ao Bing are a little like family, too, born as they were from the same sacred lotus. They’ve had their issues, of course, but Ne Zha sees Ao Bing as his best—and—only friend. He’s determined to help get Ao Bing a body back; and he aims to follow through on that promise, no matter what.

In the course of the story, Ne Zha, Ao Bing and others discover some deep duplicity working in the courts of this movie’s many deities. They work like crazy to right wrongs and save as many innocent entities as they can.

Spiritual Elements

I’m far from an expert in Chinese folklore and mythology, but I’ll do my best to summarize what we see here.

Ne Zha 2 is, essentially, a mythological adventure story—not that different from, say, the adventures of the demigod Hercules or of Jason and the Argonauts. Pretty much everyone here is a god, demon, immortal or monster: Only Ne Zha’s parents seem remotely human, and even they are clearly a cut above your average Joe or Jane. (In Chinese mythology, Li Jing is a human general who becomes the god Li the Pagoda Bearer.)

Ne Zha and his small clutch of adventurers make their way up to the “heaven,” of the Supreme Lord, a realm located among the clouds with gorgeous buildings made of white jade. (On the floor of one massive room, we see a yin-yang symbol, a fitting inclusion given Ne Zha and Ao Bing’s own symbiotic-but-combative relationship.) A sage-like immortal named Wuliang seems to be the Supreme Lord’s primary assistant. He communes with other immortals during an astronomical alignment of stars, and he commands a bevy of angel-like demon hunters. Those hunters capture demons, which they then stick in a magic cauldron to churn out pills of immortality.

The demons we see here, by the way, are not exactly analogous to the Christian understanding of what a demon is. They’re not typically good, by any means; but they’re not in league with some sort of overarching evil entity, either. They can make their own choices for good or evil, and their defining characteristic (though this itself is extraordinarily fluid) is that they often incorporate some sort of shapeshifting, animalistic element to them. (Shen’s little brother, for instance, often manifests as a leopard or leopard/man-like creature; he’s still learning how to look human all the time.)

In addition to demons, you’ve got straight-up monsters. They can’t shapeshift, but they do incorporate elements of the animal world into their visage. One is very much like a walking octopus. Another comes with a sharklike head. And so on.

And then, of course, we meet the dragons, beings that can also transform at will between their human-like forms and their dragonish selves. Ao Guang, Dragon King of the East Sea, rules over his dragon siblings (each of whom rules a directionally named sea) and guards an underworld filled with lava and monsters.

While the movie’s underpinnings are inherently spiritual, the film doesn’t seem to be out to convert anyone. This Chinese film pays plenty of homage to both traditional folklore and Chinese literature, and we do hear a reference or two to Taoism. But this does not seem to be a grounded theological treatise in either Taoism or traditional Chinese beliefs.

Sexual & Romantic Content

Ne Zha steps on the hem of a woman’s dress, ripping it. Though nothing critical is seen, the woman covers herself and quickly dashes off to change.

Characters are sometimes shirtless. Ne Zha occasionally drops his drawers to urinate, and we see his exposed backside.

A demon is obsessed with her beauty.

Violent Content

Ne Zha 2 is an unrelenting, animated adventure story, and violent conflicts are a huge part of the film. Rarely does the story even stop to catch its breath. I can’t detail every clash we see here; in fact, I can’t even get close. But I do want to note some particularly intense or disturbing scenes.

A human city is destroyed, and the people who lived there, we’re told, are massacred. In flashback, we see parts of the attack, most especially the fire and lava that pour through the streets and destroy most of its buildings. We watch as people run for their lives, and one mother is seared on the shoulder by a falling bit of ember or lava. She ushers her two terrified kids to a rooftop, and they wait as the lava slowly rises—presumably consuming the small family off camera.

Two characters are struck by a curse that shoots small spikes through their skins. If they move, those thorns will rip their bodies apart. (We see bloody tears develop at the slightest gesture.) One does indeed move, and the curse does indeed destroy the body (though the scene itself is not bloody, it is an emotional one.)

Scores of creatures vanish in a poof while trapped in a magical cauldron, turned into pills of immortality. Two characters are shot with a single arrow, and one dies as a result.

At times, the action in Ne Zha 2 is essentially an all-out supernatural war. We see countless beings engage in combat. One character shoots barrages of shining arrows as if he was a machine gun. Swords and other weapons are wielded and used. Because most of the characters here are immortal (or, at least, extremely durable), few seem to die during these sequences. But those scenes can be frenetic and chaotic.

During a one-on-one battle, a character’s arm is bloodlessly torn off. Other instances of single combat include punching combatants in the face, throwing them repeatedly on the ground or wadding them up into balls. (We’re talking about Looney Tunes levels of slapstick violence here.)

Someone gets seriously battered and bruised after a battle. Accessing a secret room armed with magical facial recognition software requires some reprogramming. But when the bruises go down, the character’s henchmen must then try to beat him up again—replicating the bruises—so they can successfully activate the same software and exit the chamber.

Characters get turned to stone. Another is pelted, harmlessly, by lava. A couple of people are tied up in a secret lair. A character is knocked out by boulders. A demon wrestles with a magic mirror.

Crude or Profane Language

One use of the s-word and a surprising allotment of other profanities (at least according to the subtitles), including “a–,” “b–tard,” “crap,” “d–n,” “h—” and “p-ss.”

Drug & Alcohol Content

I mentioned in the introduction that Ao Bing could only take over Ne Zha’s body if Ne Zha was unconscious. Taiyi’s solution? Sleeping pills. Very strong sleeping pills. Ne Zha swallows several at the very outset before Taiyi explains that one would suffice. But as the adventure proceeds, both discover that Ne Zha has developed a tolerance for the pills, meaning that he wakes up earlier and earlier.

Another set of pills seems to grant both power and immortality to those who take them.

Other Noteworthy Elements

In a fight with a rodent demon king and his minions, Ne Zha accidentally dumps sleeping pills into the rodents’ communal stew. He’s forced to drink the concoction, but he vomits it up. Then he declares the only way to save the situation is by drinking the vomit—but the sight makes him vomit again (which we see).

A nearly blind man tries to say goodbye to Ne Zha before the latter goes on his adventure, but he addresses his concerns to the backside of a flying pig. When the pig releases some gas (seen as a green cloud), the man tells Ne Zha to remember to brush his teeth. (With that, the pig releases more gas.)

In heaven’s jade palace, Ne Zha drops his drawers and attempts to urinate in one of the palace’s many beautiful pools. The kid is quickly paired with a guide to usher him to an actual bathroom (leading to some conversation as to whether the Supreme Lord needs it for No. 1 and No. 2), but the guide leaves Ne Zha to fend for himself (while she changes the clothes Ne Zha accidentally ripped).

Ne Zha wanders around the palace until he finds what he thinks is a bathroom, and we see him relieve himself. Alas, the room is actually where a very special dew drink is crafted: When it’s served to Ne Zha and Taiyi, they make faces and refuse to drink. But Wuliang, a bigwig in the palace, does drink (obviously, not knowing the beverage’s literally secret ingredient). He likes the taste and suggests that it be brewed like that forever more.

Conclusion

Ne Zha may be, technically, a demon. But his namesake 2025 movie has been heavenly for its Chinese creators.

As of this review’s publication, Ne Zha 2 is, globally speaking, the highest-grossing animated movie of all time, passing Inside Out 2 for that honor and becoming the first non-American movie to reach such heights. It has earned $1.9 billion so far—most of that haul in China. (The film has earned a comparatively tiny $13.9 million in North America in two weeks.) Part of the movie’s success is, apparently, a Chinese sense of national pride. “It’s become a litmus test of whether you’re patriotic or not,” Stanley Rosen, a political science professor at the University of Southern California, told Variety.

But the movie, at least visually, is also pretty impressive. This may be an animated film, but its scope can often feel more akin to the world of Star Wars or the Marvel Cinematic Universe than a “cartoon.” And while its story may be rooted in Chinese culture, many of its themes—those of family, doing what’s right and carving out one’s own destiny—are universal.

Alas, some of its content problems are universal as well.

Ne Zha 2 is not rated, but I’d guess that the film itself would push past a PG rating in the United States and land squarely in PG-13 territory. Its language alone might necessitate that rating. Its violent, frenetic and sometimes disturbing fight sequences can feel, at times, pretty disturbing. Its reliance on toilet humor is disappointing, too.

But perhaps the biggest issue—at least for those who come to Plugged In—might be its spirituality.

While the film doesn’t seem intent on converting anyone, Ne Zha 2’s supernatural cast—filled as it is with gods and demons, immortals and dragons—will certainly give many parents pause. And while the story might spark plenty of great conversation afterward, it could also trigger questions and even doubts. With Ne Zha 2 turning a spiritual war between heaven and demons into a light, morally fluid romp, it just might cause some viewers to think about whether they should take their own religion seriously.

Ne Zha 2 comes with box-office bona fides and some nice bit of craftsmanship, too. Still, everyone in the film knows that when you hang out with a mercurial demon, some problems are bound to crop up. And that might go for the audience, too.