Currently the highest grossing animated film ever, this Chinese box-office obliterator is being touted as the long-awaited crossover point for the country’s mainstream industry. Forget the adulterated, Communist party-sponsored attempts at blockbusters of the past, self-taught animator Jiaozi’s film is an utterly self-assured pageant of Chinese mythology that, with head-spinning visuals, is a fine technical advertisement for what the country is capable of, in this case on a comparatively small $80m budget. Even if, with its hectic flurry, there’s still room for improvement dramatically.
Demonic tyke Ne Zha (voiced by Lü Yanting) and do-gooder squire Ao Bing (Han Mo) – born from two halves of the same celestial pearl – are rebuilding their physical forms through the power of a sacred lotus. But they’re interrupted when their town Chentang Pass is invaded by razor-sideburned demon Shen Gongbao (Yang Wei), colluding with a gaggle of exiled dragons. One of them is Ao Bing’s father, who should be embarrassed to find that interrupting the lotus ritual apparently dooms his son. So Ne Zha, with Ao Bing squatting his body, must make for Yuxu Palace to ask ovoid-headed immortal Master Wuliang (Wang Deshun) for help.
Yes, keep that Chinese mythology Wikipedia page open while watching. Jiaozi effectively juggles lofty wuxia heroics with down’n’dirty humour among the commoners, like the demon octopus who barbecues his own tentacles for his troops to eat. The main comedy outlet is Ne Zha – a kind of gremlin Astro Boy – bursting back into his own body when his supply of magic suppressant pills runs low. Him and Ao Bing alternating as they battle a gang of club-wielding outlaw marmots is a highlight. Amid a flurry of allegiance-switches and betrayals that only make semi-sense, the film’s sympathies increasingly align with demonic idiosyncrasy over immortal righteousness.
If the story is Chinese, this rather token plea in favour of misunderstood outsiders and acknowledging difference feels pure Hollywood. But so overwhelming is the artistry, it barely matters. The main characters’ sassy mannerisms suggests Jiaozi has basic mastery of the Hollywood school of animation scripting. But his visual range extends thrillingly: there’s a sublimeness to the work here, from the pagoda mountain of Yuxu Palace to a dazzling watercourse fight, that builds into almost scary extremes reminiscent of the apocalyptic leanings of Japanese anime. It remains to be seen if the film will become a box-office bridgehead into American cinema, but the global dope-smoking contingent is surely one demographic that will love this wild and funny phantasmagoria.
• Ne Zha 2 is in UK and Irish cinemas from 21 March.
