Ne Zha: A Bizarrely Stunning Study on Anticonformism
The chinese animated phenomenon, Ne Zha, hits IMAX 3D theaters this weekend for one week only — a movie that demands to be seen for people who seek out terrific visual animation that take-over the film’s mediocre story. Ne Zha (Lü Yanting and Joseph) was born out of a “Demon Pill” that curses a child with a 3-year lifespan. In three years, Ne Zha will be struck by lightning after causing havoc to his village — however Ne Zha doesn’t want to accept fate, and will have to draw his own destiny when the village is attacked by Ao Bing (Han Mo), who posesses the “Spirit Pill”, controlled by Dragons want to rise from Underwater and their master Shen Gongbao (Yang Wei) who manipulated Ao Bing in destroying Ne Zha and his village.
The biggest strongsuit of Ne Zha is its stunning animation, beautifully presented in IMAX 3D. The film looks absolutely gorgeous and there are many eye-dropping sequences in IMAX 3D that arouse your eyes and widens them, for a truly visual eyegasm, particularly the sequence in which Ne Zha enters The Immortal Realm with his master, Taiyi Zhenren (Zhang Jiaming), and sees the possibilities of what he can create with the powers of an Immortal. The sequence is visually eye-stopping and looks absolutely gorgeous in 3D. I’m not the biggest fan of 3D, but when used well, it can enhance the filmgoing experience. In the case of Ne Zha, it’s the latter. Without the 3D, this movie wouldn’t be as enthralling as it was. The IMAX 3D experience is a must for people who love unique theater experiences.
The action sequences complement the film’s terrific visual style, especially the film’s climax — the film’s best part. The climax of the movie pits Ne Zha against Ao Bing. Before, they became friends and played together on the beach after Ne Zha saved Ao Bing’s life. The scene in which Ne Zha breaks down in front of Ao Bing is incredibly emotional and powerful to hear. Ne Zha is a demon who acts constantly like a self-entitled asshole the entire time doing some vile and mean-spirited acts of bullying, and no one wants to play with him, because everyone thinks he’s going to destroy everything and everyone, even though he doesn’t want to do that. When you call Ne Zha a “demon”, he snaps angrily and attacks everyone who dares call him a demon. He doesn’t want to be associated with being a “demon”. When Ao Bing sees Ne Zha for who he really is, a misunderstood human being who loves to play jokes on people and has a bright energy, wanting to slay monsters/demons and preserve peace to the village, he decides to befriend him and play with him, something Ne Zha has never been able to do until now.
Even though Ne Zha acts like a total asshole most of the time, a completely unrelateable character gets redeemed during the final act. Ne Zha shows the world that didn’t accept him for who he was that it’s OK to NOT conform to:
a) Your predestined fate; Ne Zha has a 3-year lifespan. His father (Chen Hao) prefers to perform a switch-spell to sacrifice himself and save his son, but Ne Zha shows the world that his predestined fate is just “bull-crap”, when you have friends who can stand up to predestined fate and say “up yours” to it and decide that, by using demon powers, you can do good with them because you have judgement to learn from your mistakes, you don’t need to conform to your predestined fate that the “gods” sealed you. Ne Zha’s fate is not accepting his fate and painting his own, the same for Ao Bing when he realizes that Gongbao manipulated him.
b) What people think of you: No one liked Ne Zha because he has the “demon pill” inside of him, (it’s also worth noting that the demon pill is red, spirit pill blue…one of MANY meta movie references) until he gets the respect he deserves once he saves the village. Everyone kneels before him and you know that he has the respect he always wanted since his inception. It’s one of the most emotionally rewarding sequences in the movie and evolves Ne Zha from total and complete out of control asshole to someone who learns the error of his ways and uses his “curse” to good use.
Ne Zha uses a demon and decide to make it its hero — by giving us one of the most refreshing studies of anticonformism in recent years. It’s got beautiful animation that look absolutely NUTS in IMAX 3D, fantastic voicework, some laugh-out-loud (albeit unexpected) hilarious comedy (I will say that some of the comedy is pretty innapropriate and the “fart” bit was extremely childish and vile for me to laugh at it) and absolutely stunning action sequences. The action sequences are the heart of Ne Zha; Kinetic, visually creative and visually moving. It’s one of the most beautifully animated films of the year, one I encourage you to see on the biggest screen possible for full appreciation. The humor can be inappropriate, and some of the situations that Ne Zha puts its characters in are a tad bizarre and I was taken aback by how foul Ne Zha behaved at the beginning of the film. The meta-movie references; direct references from The Matrix and Terminator 2: Judgement Day are weird — and completely take you out of the movie, but it doesn’t matter. Ne Zha needs to be seen to be believed; a film that will teach your child good life lessons that he/she will carry until the rest of his/her life.
✯✯✯✯
