Ne Zha (2019 film)

A Chaos Pearl, birthed from the primordial essences of heaven and earth, begins siphoning energies gluttonously. The Supreme Lord Yuanshi Tianzun dispatches his disciples Taiyi Zhenren and Shen Gongbao to subdue the sentient pearl, but they are unable to due to its ability to absorb energy. Using the Seven-Colored Sacred Lotus, Tianzun separates the pearl into two opposite components: the Spirit Pearl and the Demon Orb. He then places a heavenly curse of lightning upon the Demon Orb that will destroy it in three years time, and instructs Taiyi to take the Spirit Pearl to be reincarnated as the third son of Li Jing in the town of Chentang Pass; the son will be named Ne Zha. Motivated by jealousy, Shen steals the Spirit Pearl and causes Li Jing's pregnant wife Lady Yin to give birth to Ne Zha as the reincarnation of the Demon Orb. Taiyi tells them that Ne Zha's fate is sealed: in three years' time the heavenly curse placed upon the Demonic Orb will kill him, so Li travels to Heaven with Taiyi in an attempt to plead for Ne Zha's life, but is told the curse is irremovable. Meanwhile, Shen brings the stolen Spirit Pearl to the Dragon King of the East Sea. The Dragon King infuses the Spirit Pearl into an egg, giving birth to his third son Ao Bing whom the Dragon King allows Shen to take as a disciple. The dragons resent how they are confined to the ocean floor by the Heavenly Court, and hope that because Ao Bing is born from the Spirit Pearl, they will be allowed to leave. To tame his demonic nature and make him happy, Ne Zha's parents lie to him, telling him he was born of the Spirit Pearl and is destined to be a great demon hunter, while enlisting two boundary beasts to keep him from leaving their property. Ne Zha studies under Taiyi and acquires great skills, but is still not allowed to hunt demons. Becoming impatient, he escapes his confines to hunt demons on his own. While chasing an aquatic yaksha trying to devour a little girl, Ne Zha burns down a fishing village. Ao Bing joins Ne Zha's fight but is petrified by the yaksha. Ne Zha cleverly defeats the yaksha and rescues both Ao Bing and the little girl, and he and Ao Bing become friends. However, his actions are misunderstood by the townsfolk of the destroyed village, who attack Ne Zha until Ne Zha's parents and Tai Yi arrive to stop the fight. After Li learns it was all just a misunderstanding, he plans to prove Ne Zha's innocence on his upcoming birthday party. Ten days later, the Li household organizes a lavish birthday party for their son, inviting the townsfolk to attend while the boundary beasts keep an eye on the captive yaksha. Shen visits Ne Zha before the party and reveals the truth of Ne Zha's nature to him. Furious at his parents' deception, Ne Zha unleashes his true demonic form and nearly kills his father until Ao Bing intervenes. Feeling betrayed, Ne Zha leaves to await his fate. While thanking Ao Bing, Li discovers he is a dragon and the reincarnation of the Spirit Pearl. Knowing that if this is revealed, all of dragon kind will be condemned forever, Ao Bing acts on Shen's command, creating a massive sheet of ice above the town, intending to bury the town and eliminate all witnesses. Meanwhile, Ne Zha learns that when his father visited Heaven to plead for his life, he accepted an enchantment that would allow him to trade his life for Ne Zha's. Moved by his father's sacrifice, Ne Zha returns to the village to stop Ao Bing. Unleashing his full demonic form, Ne Zha defeats Ao Bing, but spares his life for being his only friend. When the heavenly lightning approaches, Ne Zha surrenders to his fate but is unexpectedly joined by Ao Bing. Linking hands, they unleash the Chaos Pearl's ability to absorb energy. Their mortal bodies cannot withstand the full energy of the strike and are destroyed, but with Taiyi's help, they survive as spirits. The citizens of Chentang Pass approach and kneel in gratitude to the two for saving them. In the mid-credits scene, the Dragon King vows vengeance on Chentang Pass for what happened to Ao Bing. The other three Dragon Kings of the Four Seas appear and use this as an opportunity to make a deal with him. Meanwhile, in an unknown location, a sneak peek of the movie Jiang Ziya is introduced. == Voice cast ==

Mandarin Chinese • Lü Yanting as the child Nezha, son of Li Jing and Lady Yin • Joseph Cao (囧森瑟夫) as the adolescent Nezha • Han Mo as Ao Bing, the Dragon King's third son • Chen Hao as Li Jing, Nezha's father and the village chief who governs Chentang Pass. • Lü Qi as Lady Yin, Nezha's mother and the chieftess who also governs Chentang Pass. • Zhang Jiaming as Taiyi Zhenren, Nezha's master, a Taoist immortal who lives on the Kunlun. • Yang Wei as Shen Gongbao, an Indochinese leopard spirit who is Taiyi's brother and Ao Bing's master • Yuxiang He as Yuanshi Tianzun, the Supreme Lord of Heaven who Taiyu and Shen work for. • Li Nan as Ao Guang, the Dragon King of the East Sea • Mo Qian as Chang Shengyun, a cloud spirit who works for Yuanshi • Jungpeng Ren as the Sea Yaksha, a monster who can turn into water and shoot petrifying bubbles. • Joseph Cao as Boundary Beast #1, one of two barrier-controlling creatures enlisted by Taiyi to protect Li Jing's house and keep Neza in • Yuxang He as Boundary Beast #2, one of two barrier-controlling creatures enlisted by Taiyi to protect Li Jing's house and keep Neza in • Tao Yuan as Li Xing, a servant of Li Jing and Lady Yin. • Liu Menghan as Bully #1, the leader of the bullies that try to cause trouble for Neza English • Jordan Cole as Ne Zha • Griffin Puatu as adolescent Ne Zha • Lexi Foley as infant Ne Zha • Aleks Le as Ao Bing • Vincent Rodriguez III as Li Jing • Stephanie Sheh as Lady Yin • Mike Pollock as Taiyi Zhenren • Daniel Riordan as Shen Gongbao • Lexi Foley as Yaya • Matthew Moy as Boundary Beast #1 • Jamieson Price as Yuanshi Tianzun • Adam Sietz as the Sea Yaksha • Dana Snyder as Cheng Shengyun • Christopher Swindle as Ao Guang == Crew work ==

English dub • Stephanie Sheh - Voice Director == Production ==

Inspiration The film tells the mythological origins of Nezha, who is a protection deity in Chinese folk religion, and its story is loosely based on the literary version of the myth that forms two chapters of Investiture of the Gods, a Ming-dynasty shenmo novel, traditionally attributed to Xu Zhonglin, which incorporates various existing myths into a wider narrative. whether on its own (as in the 1979 traditionally-animated film Nezha Conquers the Dragon King) or as part of adaptations of the whole of Investiture of the Gods (such as the 2016 live-action film League of Gods). In addition, the film's character design draws scholarly attention. For example, Ne Zha as the major character is depicted as ugly, unlike his appearance in the myth. He is depicted as a destructive devil boy, which resulted in people being afraid of him. This character design, according to Wang, is intentional. On the one hand, it sets the contrast for the character before and after his awakening towards the end of the story. On the other hand, it sets a stage for the audience to sympathize with him when they come to his inner world. Pre-production Director Jiaozi spent two years in total to write the screenplay, and the film was in production for three years. Animation production The film has more than 1,318 special effects shots, and it took over 20 Chinese special effects studios, employing more than 1,600 people, to realize the film's fairy tale setting, the mysterious Dragon King's Palace, and a complex fight between fire and water. One scene alone took two months to complete. == Release ==

Theatrical Domestic Executive production company and distributor Beijing Enlight Pictures International The film was released in cinemas in English-speaking regions in Mandarin with English subtitles around the end of August and beginning of September 2019. It was released in Australia on 23 August and in New Zealand on 29 August, distributed by CMC Pictures. It was released in the United States and Canada in select IMAX 3D venues on 29 August, followed by other cinemas on 6 September, distributed by Well Go USA Entertainment. It was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland, including in select IMAX 3D venues, on 30 August, distributed by CMC Pictures in collaboration with Cine Asia. ==Reception==

Box office The film grossed 600 million yuan (est. $84 million) in its first three days alone. It broke local records with a $91.5 million opening, the highest ever for an animated film in China. On 2 August 2019, Ne Zha became the highest-grossing animated film of all time in China, a record held by Zootopia ($235.6 million) since 2016. On 7 August 2019, Ne Zha became the fastest animated film to reach $400 million (in 12 days). It is currently the highest-grossing animated film of all time in a single market ($703.71 million in China) Upon reaching $700 million (in 46 days), it became the first animated feature film in film history to reach that milestone in a single market. Critical response The film gained highly positive reviews from critics. Douban, a Chinese media rating site, gave the film 8.4 out of 10. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that of critics have given the film a positive review based on reviews, with an average rating of . On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 56 out of 100 based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". In 2019, the film was awarded Best Animation, Best Animation Director and Best Animation Screenplay in the 16th China Animation & Comic Competition Golden Dragon Award. In 2020, the film was awarded Best Animated Feature in the 33rd Golden Rooster Award. The same year, the director Jiaozi has been awarded Best Screenplay in the 35th Hundred Flowers Award. In 2023, the film was awarded Excellent Feature Film in the 18th Huabiao Film Awards. Scholarly reception Scholars have interpreted Ne Zha (2019) as a significant shift in the Chinese individual identity. According to Chen and Lau (2021), Ne Zha, who is the protagonist in the story, represents Chinese individuals who are multi-layered and trying to control their own future. As the plot of the story goes, the Chinese young generation, who are just like Ne Zha, must "negotiate the public and private, individual desires and communal needs.". Domestic audience reception Having overtaken Monkey King: Hero is back (2015) as the top-grossing Chinese animated film of all time and Zootopia (2016) as the highest-grossing animation of all time at the Chinese box office, Users on multiple platforms such as TikTok and YouTube were attracted by the main theme of the film - "Challenging fate", and they voluntarily participated in the discussions and explanations of various Chinese cultures in the film. Some respondents mentioned that the movie analysis videos on YouTube helped them understand the Chinese cultural symbols in the movies by deeply analyzing the meanings of various Chinese cultures in the movies. Wang and Lin, by analyzing the successes and flaws of Ne Zha, suggested that increasing investment in original scripts and integrating film production resources could all contribute to the development of China's film industry in the future. Shi et al. say that the movie shows how planned aesthetic and narrative choices can turn national cinema into transnational cinema. ==Sequels==

It was confirmed that Ne Zha would be the first instalment in a cinematic universe based on Investiture of the Gods. A second film, Jiang Ziya was slated for release on 25 January 2020 in China, but following the COVID-19 pandemic, all Chinese New Year releases were cancelled. It was released on 1 October 2020, which aligned with China's national day, in both China and the U.S. A direct sequel to the film, Ne Zha 2, was released on 29 January 2025. ==See also==