Ne Zha

• Chinese: 哪吒之魔童降世; pinyin: Nézhā zhī Mótóng Jiàngshì
• Also spelled Nezha
• Directed and Written by Jiaozi
• July 11, 2019 (Beijing) / July 13, 2019 (IMAX, CFGS) / July 26, 2019 (China)
• Loosely based on the 16^th century novel Investiture of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin

Voice Cast

• Ne Zha-Jordan Cole
• Adolescent Ne Zha-Griffin Puatu
• Ao Bing-Aleks Le
• Li Jing-Vincent Rodriguez III
• Lady Yin-Stephanie Sheh
• Taiyi Zhenren-Mike Pollock
• Shen Gongbao-Jaden Waldman

A young boy that is the reincarnation of the demon orb, destined to bring destruction to the world, must choose his own fate.

Hearing about the success of Ne Zha II, I decided to give the first film a look. I found the animation and character designs of Ne Zha a touch on the generic side. Loosely based on the 16^th century novel Investiture of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin this film is certainly rooted in Chinese culture. Not a bad thing. The bad thing is, I don’t think they ever thought it would go beyond the borders of China. Elements are portrayed in a way that communicates the viewer should be aware.

Sometimes it can be almost inaccessible to those not born in China. That’s not a bad thing. You should be able to tell the difference between an American movie or a Chinese movie or French movie or a movie from any country. The issue is that nothing is done to assist a little bit. A little bit of context or perhaps a demonstration.

There are information dumps, moments where a character stops and tells things that you would think those involved in the story would know as deeply as the information that’s given. In hindsight maybe this was their way of informing outside audiences.

There’s certainly a storyline that proceeds in this, but it’s a slow moving one with what can be best described as side quests making the pace a little slow. There is not a steady rhythm towards the climax.

Biggest sin for me though is Ne Zha often talks down to the audience. There are plenty of side characters that are pure comic relief. They are silly and goofy and you are left trying to figure out how they got into whatever position they are in. They lack distinct personalities or personality quirks for them to stand out strongly.

In keeping with being aimed at kids, there is a kid friendly theme of choosing your own path. Ne Zha and his friend Ao Bing are both supposedly destined by forces beyond their control to be this or that but both are destinies neither desires. How do they become friends? Ne Zha after burning down a village while chasing a child-eating water demon meets Ao Bing who saves him and then they play lilies which looks a lot like hacky sack but with, well, a lily.

This is a movie that’s almost intentionally or not crafted to be background noise. I enjoyed it even a little better understood it when I lost focus and was playing with my dogs or got distracted by my phone but once I turn my attention back to it, I just became dull and borderline incomprehensible. It is best when not thought about and only absorbed.

As a treat for little kids Ne Zha is fine but adults may find Caillou vastly superior. If you’re an adult pass. If you’re very small child, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.