Review: Ne Zha 2

Ne Zha 2 is currently the highest grossing film of 2025, and the highest grossing animated film of all time. This has proven unbelievable to some, if not outright uncomfortable to many. I’ve never seen so many conspiracies surrounding the box office of a film, even something like Sound of Freedom – one of the most successful independent films of all time – which is rooted on some level by literal Q-Anon conspiracies. 

There is a strong contingent – whether they are the majority or not they certainly exist – of Americans who seem to struggle with the idea that American culture is not always, and entirely the dominant one everywhere. This seems hyperbolic, but if you were to tell someone that The Untamed, the danmei aka Boy Love adapted Chinese novel has more views than Netflix’s Wednesday and Stranger Things by miles, with a whopping 10 billion views to date they’d be reluctant to believe you. Furthermore, the original novel on which The Untamed is based on, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi, has seen a rare global success most best-selling American titles dream of. Translated into 16 different languages, a New York Times best seller, various collectors editions, mobile games, audiobooks, audio dramas, two different animated series adaptations, and a web comic. 

Author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, or MXTX as called by fans, is up there with Brandan Sanderson and Casey McQuiston though there may be some reluctance, bafflement, and/or befuddlement to believe it. 

The recent discussion surrounding the upcoming Demon Slayer film further showcases this befuddlement though less so than with Ne Zha as a franchise because of the anime moniker. Anime has a strong American base of nerds to back it, so while there may be arguments on whether Demon Slayer or Chainsaw Man is “better” there is less conspiracy on whether Demon Slayer is well-liked by audiences. That said, there is still a strong disbelief that the upcoming Demon Slayer Infinity Train will do better globally than American fare like Superman and F1 which are both at 594 million and 590 million respectively as of this writing. 

But is the idea so ludicious? 

In 2020 Demon Slayer: The Mugan Train shattered box office records. It was the highest grossing film of that year globally at 507 million beating out American films such as Michael Bay’s Bad Boys for Life, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, and Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog. It became the highest grossing film of all time in Japan beating out Oscar award winner Spirited Away; a film that had held the record for almost twenty years. It was a hit in Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and North America. 

So is the idea, the mere theory, that the highly anticipated beginning of the finale trilogy of the series could do better than its previous theatrical run? That Demon Slayer could be a box office rival to American giants like Superman and F1? That for all that James Gunn’s Superman has done well domestically, Demon Slayer will do much better than it internationally? 

Much praise has been justifiably lobbied at Superman’s impressive domestic gross, especially in an era where the comic book films shine is beginning to fade. Whilst it may not reach the same financial heights as 2016’s Man of Steel, the fact that it has done better domestically than longtime rivals Marvel’s three entries this year – Thunderbolts, Captain America: Brave New World, and Fantastic Four – speak to the film's positive reception stateside. 

So the question then arises, why do we look at the domestic success of Ne Zha 2 so suspiciously? Simply because the number is too high? For a film that lacks general global appeal? When the reality of this year has shown much superhero fare also lacks said global appeal?  

If the root causes are because of government based reasons, well, I ask stones not be cast from glass houses. Whilst the CCP has and do censor television broadcasts – from everything to explicit queerness, to the benign existence of time travel – and foreign films, there’s been little to no credible reports that the Chinese government simply makes up box office numbers. 

Why would they even need to? Is it so shocking that a country of almost 1.5 billion people simply go to the movies? With these conspiracies we strip context from country, and humanity from the populace. With context in place we see Ne Zha 2’s success is neither surprising nor especially suspicious. 

Ne Zha was already a top earner in China in 2019, currently sitting at number 5 on the charts of highest-grossing movies of all time at the Chinese box office. Ne Zha is also not necessarily an “original” story at its core. The character has a longstanding history in China; though to Americans few may immediately recognize him on the same level as The Monkey King or Sun Wukong. Who has appeared in more media period, and more global media at that via comics such as Akira Toriyama’s Dragonball where Son Goku was inspired by and loosely based on Sun Wukong, or the many adaptations of Journey to the West, and video games such as Warriors Orochi, and the recent Black Myth: Wukong. 

Yet NeZha is a prominent figure in Taoism, Buddhism, and Chinese folk religion, and is a figure featured in Investiture of the Gods, as well as Journey to the West. He even fights the Monkey King. Many of his media appearances however, have been mainly within Chinese households both in film and television. Such as his 1979 film Nezha Conquers the Dragon King which is considered a great classic of Chinese animation. 

So what we have in 2019 is an interest in a long-standing, beloved cultural icon getting a big blockbuster film treatment, the first in decades. The fact that 2019’s Ne Zha (2019) is good is the icing on the cake. Ironically, Ne Zha (2019) has a lot in common with Superman (2025) with audiences clamoring for a true-blue well done adaption of a beloved cultural icon. While Ne Zha (2019) may be a bit of a cultural gap for audiences unfamiliar with Nezha’s core legend, nor pick up on the film's subversion of that same legend it is still an enjoyable film. 

Having that context, specifically in the depiction of Ao Bing and Nezha’s relationship, makes the film all the richer. 

In the original legend, Nezha kills Ao Bing, tearing out the dragon prince's tendons and gifting them to his father. Ao Bing operates as much more of a direct antagonist for Nezha before he’s slain. Ne Zha (2019) provides the character not only with much more pathos, but also connects him to Nezha spiritually as they both come from primordial essences of heaven and earth known as The Chaos Pearl. They are separated into two entities: the Spirit Pearl and the Demon Pill; reborn as Ao Bing and Nezha. 

Throughout Ne Zha (2019) our protagonist is shunned by his fellow villagers for being a demon, until he meets Ao Bing. They become each other's first friends, but through circumstance Ao Bing does end up becoming Nezha’s antagonist at the end of act two. However, unlike legend, Nezha chooses not to slay Ao Bing. Ao Bing then takes heaven’s curse alongside Nezha; holding hands the two face heaven’s lightning strikes and by coming together unleash the Chaos Pearl’s ability to absorb energy. Their bodies are destroyed by their souls and survive now contained in a sacred lotus flower. 

This revamping of the original story must have been so exciting for audiences familiar with the original mythology and folklore. That the core of the film isn’t simply an epic tale of gods and demons but rooted rather in the very human desire of belonging, acceptance, community and love makes the story all the more enjoyable. Throw in some great animated set pieces – a personal favorite is the magical painters brush – and strong voice acting, well it's no wonder Ne Zha (2019) was such a smash hit. 

So would it therefore be surprising the follow-up reached even further? Especially when it not only built upon the groundwork of its predecessor but enhanced the film on every level? 

Ne Zha 2 is in the same realm – for myself anyway – as Terminator 2, Aliens, and Spiderman 2. Sequels that not only built upon their first films, but did so-so phenomenally it is no wonder they become icons all to themselves. Heralded as some of the best movie sequels of all time. 

Ne Zha 2 picks up right where the first film leaves off, with Ao Bing and Nezha as spirits and Nezha’s master, Taiyi Zheren, helping to get their physical bodies back. Nezha is a much more assured character here having undergone the growth of the first film. His home has now accepted him, his relationship with his parents is mended, and there is no longer a desire to change himself into someone more palatable for others. Now his mission isn’t one of acceptance, but in helping out his closest friend and contributing to his family. The latter a sentiment Ao Bing shares – literally, as in they share a body this film really bringing home the soulmates aspect of their relationship. 

The responsibility towards and love for your family and community is a major theme in Ne Zha 2. Nezha and Ao Bing wish to join the ranks of the immortals of heaven, to both repay and make their parents proud. This encourages them to work together to overcome the struggles of sharing the same body, and pass heaven’s trails. Nezha is determined to help Ao Bing get his physical body back – it was reduced to stone upon creation and without a body his soul will disperse – thus their journey for the heavenly trails. 

We also see Ao Bing’s father, dragon king Ao Guang, and his love for Ao Bing repeatedly throughout the film. Alongside the expansion of returning character Shen Gongbao, Ao Bing's own master. 

Whereas in the first film these two were one-note villains, particularly Shen Gongbao, in Ne Zha 2 they are humanized. Shen Gongbao’s younger brother – a truly adorable addition – Shen Xiaobao provides a humanizing reason why Shen Gongbao has worked so tirelessly to the point of bitterness. The demon plight he spoke about in the first film is further expanded to reveal a truly despicable plot by heaven’s supposed greatest clan for their own ill-gotten gains. 

Entering mid-way into act two is truly where Ne Zha 2 picks up and the threads begin to come together. The set piece of Wuliang’s giant cauldron swallowing the Dragon Palace is incredible. Perhaps one of the best animated sequences put to screen thus far. The massive weight of it, the threat of it, shakes one in their seat. That it is so horrifying in nature, boiling its living occupants alive until they are nothing but spirit pearls for the consumption of cultivators only adds to the stakes of the situation. 

The sequences in which the cauldron begins to “heat up” features walls of human skulls screaming and screaming as they begin to set aflame. It's deliciously horrifying and something you would never see in a Disney animated feature. 

I specify Disney because Ne Zha 2 is not an “adult” animated film in the same way the aforementioned Demon Slayer may be considered – it was given, perhaps bafflingly, an R rating by the MPAA. Ne Zha 2 is easily a family film, the violence is at worst on the lower end of a PG13 rating with a few splatters of blood, the scary imagery of the cauldron, and some very mild if crude humor. But if parents feel able to take their children to any Spider-man or Superman film of the last decade, Ne Zha 2 will do them just fine. 

What perhaps prevents the recent Pixar and Disney features from seemingly hitting with audiences recently is the lack of risk and scale. Both of which Ne Zha 2 has in spades. 

The scene in which Nezha’s mother, Lady Yin, sacrifices herself to hug Nezha one last time, is beautiful and tearjerking. Disney has killed parental figures before but they are more often than not animals – Mufasa in Lion King, Bambi’s mother in Bambi – any human deaths are typically shown off screen such as the death of Elsa and Anna’s parents in Frozen 2. While Lady Yin’s death is far from graphic – she disappears into pink/purple smoke condensed into a spirit pearl – the emotion of the scene resonates all the more because it is an active decision. Not something implied or happening off screen.  

That the following sequence of Nezha ripping his body apart into pieces due to the grief of losing his mother and rebuilding it into his real form so he and Ao Bing can save the remaining cauldron captives is so creatively brilliant only adds to the emotional heights of the sequence. 

Connecting to the thematic of family comes the generational aspect as well. It is important to protect your family and community, sometimes that means doing things your parents wouldn’t do. Ne Zha 2 has a real rebellious subtext to it. 

Rise up even if you fail, rise up against oppressors even if you may fail, rise up and fight even if the generation before you failed. 

Ao Guang’s final conversation with Nezha evokes this, as he tells him he did his fighting when he was younger, he lost. Now he seeks instead to find simple refuge for what is left of his people. Meanwhile his siblings, fellow dragon royalty, join the oppressors for their own self-protection and benefit. They fought, they failed, now they side with their oppossors if it means their own survival damn any of their own family in the process. 

Nezha and Ao Bing reject these notions, they are “too young to fear” the evils of the world choosing instead to to fight against those same evils together. 

Why did Ne Zha 2 make almost 2 billion dollars at the box office? That it was the follow-up to an already highly successful movie, about an already beloved cultural icon, and even better than the first, makes this film's success to me a no-brainer. 

This is the type of film you want to see more than once on the big screen. It is simply that beautiful. The animation is top-notch, some sequences make you wonder just how powerful the computers used to render them are and if they shut down a city block. 

[If you listened to the conspiracies you’d think this film was some high-grade government propaganda but as someone who has watched both American and Chinese government propaganda films Ne Zha 2 just doesn’t fit the bill at all.] 

The lack of curiosity about the world outside of ours is an interesting one to me. A film such as My Daughter is a Zombie, currently the highest grossing film in South Korea of 2025, is not a film that would do gangbusters here in the states. Likewise, Superman, Thunderbolts,  and Sinners pulled in low numbers comparatively internationally. International audiences more than likely couldn’t get over the culture gap of Sinners, and are simply growing more and more disinterested in comic book fare. While each film did relatively well and absolutely better overall domestically.

There are simply films that will do better domestically in their own countries than everywhere else – including American films. 

Part of what makes the world exciting for me is looking into the reasons why; why did Ne Zha 2 do so well in China? I believe I found the answer, and I’m glad I did. I’m glad I got the chance to watch Ne Zha 2. I would love to see it again and implore others to try and see it on the big screen if they can. It's a film that deserves to be experienced at the cinema. 

I hope as we gain access to the media of other countries, from music, to books, television and film, we approach it with open hearts and minds. There’s some truly amazing stories out there in the great big world beyond our own borders. Instead of eyeing them with suspicion and ignorant contempt, I hope we can eye them with both curiosity and compassion. 

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