Sumptuous Chinese mega-hit Ne Zha 2 ironically suffers from Hollywood-style bloat

When Ne Zha 2 finally graces North American movie theaters this week with an English dub, most families who venture out to give it a try likely won’t know that it’s the most successful film of 2025. A sequel to 2019’s Ne Zha, Chinese writer-director Jiao Zi’s debut, Ne Zha 2 continues to adapt and remix aspects of the mythology-rich 16th-century Chinese novel The Investiture Of The Gods. The animation turns the text into a bold world overflowing with supernatural powers, convoluted history, and the big emotions that motivate Ne Zha, a little demon boy just trying to fit in. As venerable as the source material may be, Jiao Zi has crafted a timeless, relatable antihero and expands upon the original film both visually and conceptually—though his film will leave audiences emotionally underwhelmed.

Ne Zha 2 continues the story of fated enemies reincarnated as warriors known as the Demon Orb, Ne Zha (Crystal Lee), and the Spirit Pearl, Ao Bing (Aleks Le). In the final moments of the previous film, the two saved one another but their bodies were disintegrated. However, their spirits were protected by Ne Zha’s master, Taiyi Zhenren (Rick Zieff), who uses a Sacred Lotus to regenerate their bodies so they can return to the mortal coil and help fight against a new attack on their home of Chentang Pass. This attack is happening because the Dragon King Of The East Sea (Christopher Swindle) didn’t get the message that his son Ao Bing still exists, albeit in a more ephemeral form. Seeking vengeance, he commands Master Shen Gongbao (Daniel Riordan) to unleash demons and dragons upon the people of the Pass—which includes his son, whose new body falls apart under his extreme exertion in battle. 

A truce is then made: Ne Zha will share his body with the spirit of Bing for a week, where they’ll complete three heavenly trials that will essentially allow them to power up the spent Sacred Lotus, rebuild Bing’s body once more, and (eventually) achieve immortality. While Ne Zha 2 doesn’t turn into an animated version of Steve Martin’s All Of Me, the funny comes from feral demon Ne Zha hosting the more balanced spirit of Bing within him, which makes them an all-the-more formidable team. 

For all of the complexities and twists inherent to their quest (and boy, it gets dense), there’s always a fart or barf joke waiting in the wings to bridge any cultural divides. Jiao Zi lets both rip frequently and passionately, which is the baseline for the base comedy, and the only real kiddie stuff in Ne Zha 2. Though the central trials include plenty of anthropomorphized critters, the film is mostly centered on serious subject matter. Gravitas is the point, with some atonal sidebars that get corny or break tension using buffonish characters.