The Chinese animated film Ne Zha 2 became the highest-grossing animated movie of all time this year, making $2.2 billion at the global box office since January (for reference, Inside Out 2 is in second at $1.69 billion). It set this record without much help from us in the U.S., where the film grossed around $20 million after a limited release in February. But the hit sequel about a superpowered demon-child now has the potential to reach even more Stateside Letterboxd junkies thanks to A24’s new English dub of the film, out on August 22. “This is an important movie because it is creating that global cultural bridge,” Michelle Yeoh, who voices Ne Zha’s mother in the rerelease, told USA Today. “We need more stories from different parts of the world.”
But are American moviegoers prepared to embrace heroes who don’t remind them of K-pop idols or characters from Marvel and DC comic books? Ne Zha 2’s mythological world might feel especially foreign, considering that it is a sequel to a movie that a lot of people in this country haven’t seen. (The first film in this fantasy franchise was released in select theaters in the States in 2019, where it grossed $3.7 million — only about 0.5 percent of its worldwide box-office sales.) Although early scenes in Ne Zha 2 do recap the events of Ne Zha, finer details are easy to miss no matter how much you lock in and listen. Here’s what to know.
Where did this story come from?
The Ne Zha films pull characters and concepts from multiple religions and philosophical systems including Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. The franchise is also loosely based on the 16th-century novel The Investiture of the Gods, one of the representative works of the gods-and-demons fantasy genre known as shenmo (which itself is rooted in the ever-complex world of Chinese mythology). On top of all that, it also takes some inspiration from the well-known Chinese myth Ne Zha Conquers the Dragon King.
That’s a lot. How much do I really need to know about this world?
Thankfully, you don’t need to catch every reference. Without getting too into the weeds, it’s helpful to know that there is an established hierarchy in this universe where heavenly immortals are on top. In Chinese myths, being an immortal can sort of feel like being a government employee — celestial bureaucracies make decisions that affect both the heavenly and mortal realms, and leaders of different immortal sects can engage in power plays and politics.
So how do you become an immortal? In a process that involves training the mind and body, it’s possible to “cultivate” yourself into higher, more powerful states of being and get closer to immortality. Not all life forms are created equal in this system, though. Humans get a head-start over nonhuman spirits or creatures called yaoguai. They’re often called demons in English translations, but it’s worth distinguishing them from the type of demonic energy that would be considered inherently bad — while yaoguai may be stigmatized as evil, they can be good or evil. In fact, they can even become immortal. It’s just a much longer and more strenuous process for them because they have to cultivate into humanoid forms first.
There are other ways to get closer to immortality, too. For example, magical immortality pills can serve as a shortcut by granting years of cultivation. Meanwhile, a key plot point of Ne Zha 2 is that the titular main character is trying to complete three heavenly trials to win his immortality.
So who is this Labubu-looking kid?
Please, show some respect. His name is Ne Zha, and he is a well-known protection deity in Chinese mythology who has already been immortalized in multiple other books, movies, and TV shows. In director Jiaozi’s take on his story, the rebellious little boy sports space buns, dark under-eye circles, and a Labubu-esque grin. If he looks a little more demonic than some other depictions of him in popular media, that’s the point — in these films, his character is the reincarnation of the Demon Orb.
The reincarnation of the what now?
Okay, let’s back up a bit. In the first Ne Zha film, a force called the Chaos Pearl started eating up divine and demonic energy from the universe. (It lived up to its name and caused a lot of chaos.) Yuanshi Tianzun, the Supreme Lord of Heaven, eventually intervened and split the Chaos Pearl into two parts: the Spirit Pearl and the Demon Orb. He cursed the Demon Orb to be destroyed by heavenly lightning after three years but had different plans for its counterpart. Mortal military general Li Jing had earned the Supreme Lord’s favor in battle, so as a reward, Li Jing’s third son, Ne Zha, was supposed to be born as the pure, heroic reincarnation of the Spirit Pearl but, instead, was reincarnated as the aforementioned Demob Orb.
How did this get messed up?
Yuanshi Tianzun asked one of his disciples, Taiyi Zhenren — a full-bellied immortal with an enchanted paintbrush and a love for liquor — to watch over the Spirit Pearl. Once it was successfully reincarnated as Ne Zha, the Supreme Lord promised that he would appoint Taiyi Zhenren as the final member of a powerful heavenly group known as the Twelve Golden Immortals. Fellow disciple Shen Gongbao, a stuttering leopard turned immortal, was upset that he had been passed over for the opportunity and orchestrated a switcheroo. Thanks to Shen Gongbao’s shen-anigans, Ne Zha was instead born with fiery powers as the reincarnated Demon Orb. Ne Zha’s parents still loved him, and Taiyi Zhenren stuck around to train him in magic. But the people of Ne Zha’s hometown, Chentang Pass, shunned him out of fear of his demonic origins.
Shen Gongbao then brought the stolen Spirit Pearl to the dragons, who are referred to in the Ne Zha 2 English dub as the Loongs (from the Mandarin word for “dragon”). The Spirit Pearl was then reincarnated as Ao Bing, a dragon who also has a human form with shampoo-commercial-ready hair and small horns. He is the son of the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, Ao Guang. Don’t expect this to be a family of fire-breathing creatures from Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, though: Chinese dragons are typically associated with powers over water and weather. As the opposite of the hotheaded Ne Zha, Ao Bing fittingly has ice powers.
The Loongs have been trapped in an underwater prison for a loooong time. By heaven’s orders, they’re technically the jailers who keep sea monsters from breaking out, but in practice, the dragons are just as confined as their supposed prisoners. The dragons hoped that Ao Bing, training as Shen Gongbao’s disciple, could use all the powerful “good” energy that he’s imbued with as the Spirit Pearl to become immortal and secure a spot in heaven that he can leverage to finally free his race from their watery purgatory.
What else happened in the first movie?
To make a 110-minute-long story short, Ne Zha and Ao Bing saved each other’s lives. They met while fighting a sea demon with petrification powers and became each other’s first friends. Ultimately, they still ended up battling because Ao Bing felt that because the dragons’ plan relied on keeping the people of Chentang Pass from spreading the news of his true identity. When the fated lightning came to destroy the Demon Orb, Ne Zha was ready to be zapped to death. But he got a different kind of shock when Ao Bing decided to join forces with him. Ao Bing’s dad assumed that his son was killed in the process and vowed to take revenge on Chentang Pass in a mid-credits scene. But like the Chaos Pearl they both came from, Ne Zha and Ao Bing were able to absorb energy together. Although the lightning still destroyed their physical forms, Taiyi Zhenren helped preserve the boys’ souls — and in this fantastical universe, that meant they weren’t dead yet. They just need to figure out how to get physical bodies again. That’s where the sequel picks up.
How long is Ne Zha 2?
The sequel covers even more ground than the first film, both metaphorically and literally. Ne Zha’s run time comes in at two hours and 24 minutes. If you enjoy it, make sure to stick around in the theater for a mid-credits scene that pretty clearly lays the groundwork for Ne Zha 3.
Anything else I should know?
The real name of the director of Ne Zha and Ne Zha 2 is Yang Yu. Professionally, he’s known as Jiaozi, which means dumpling. This is not essential information to the plot at all, but it’s more fun to discuss the franchise when you know that Director Dumpling is the one cooking it up, isn’t it?
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