Ne Zha 2, the phenomenon that dominated the Chinese box office earlier this year, has received a new English-language dub for a theatrical release from A24, and it is essential to see in cinemas this weekend. Already the highest-grossing animated film in history, the 2025 sequel has been an unprecedented hit, drawing attention from all around the globe.

With the new movie being a sequel, many are wondering if watching Ne Zha is necessary before checking out the sequel. The simple answer is no, but the new film does pick up right after the events of its predecessor. Both films are worth watching, but the second is an absolute must-see.

Ne Zha 2 may not have been among the most anticipated 2025 movies with domestic audiences, but the new film deserves a place in the pop culture canon. With such hype built around the film in recent months, it is rewarding that Ne Zha 2 exceeds its potential, resulting in one of the best movies of the year.

The Movie Represents An Enormous Change To Global Animation

China used to add a significant sum to the international release of American films, and that has slowly decreased in the past decades as the nation has spared no expense in building up high-quality film studios of their own. This has resulted in a slew of top-grossing international movies recently entering the all-time lists, including Hi, Mom and The Mermaid.

Ne Zha 2 is perhaps the most impressive of these. The film has set several Chinese box office milestones, and while reporting for international cinema like this is complex and occasionally disputed, especially out of China, the film is reported to have earned nearly $2 billion, making it among the ten highest-grossing movies of all time overall.

While there has been success for live-action movies, the astonishing grosses for Ne Zha 2 makes it the first international animated feature to break out on such a large scale. With that considered, it is unlikely to be the last.

Whereas high-quality animation, especially in computer-animated features like this, used to be ᴀssociated only with American brands like DreamWorks, Disney, and the like, the industry is in the midst of undergoing a mᴀssive change. More studios from around the world, like Ne Zha‘s Chengdu Coco Cartoon, are growing increasingly relevant.

The studio only has a handful of films behind them, but it is ᴀssured that more releases will follow. With such large-scale success set up by Ne Zha 2, the film reflects what is sure to be a big change in animation in the coming years.

Ne Zha II Boasts A Feast Of Incredible Visuals

Ne Zha 2 is among the most beautiful animated movies of 2025, and it spares no expense in crafting a visual feast. The film’s combat is inspired, and the designs of various peoples and creatures are jaw-dropping. One particular scene where an immortal shoots a bounty of arrows is especially visually striking.

While the first Ne Zha looked great, the sequel more than doubles down in its visual quality. Astonishingly colorful, and with incredible fight scenes that see dragons and spirits filling the sky amidst fire and ice, the film is worth seeing even just for the uniquely breathtaking visuals.

It is rare to see an animated feature that is this full of compelling and original sequences. The character designs are immediately accessible, and the way that the models interact uses tremendous visual clues to tell its story. The duality between Ao Bing and Ne Zha, trapped with the same body and swapping faces, contributes significantly to this.

Still, it is the immortals in Yuxu Palace, and the dragons hidden in the sea, that add so much to this visual treat. Brining in state-of-the-art animation, but infusing it with a unique cultural design, the movie goes a long way to being perhaps the best animated film in years.

The Movie’s Humor Is Refreshingly Original To Western Audiences

While Ne Zha contains a lot of humor that is accessible to young audiences, it is a different brand of comedy than many Western audiences are used to. Some of the images and ideas are more than a little bit gross, but overall they act as a very refreshing and idiosyncratic kind of humor that helps bolster the film’s appeal.

During one scene, Ne Zha is seen peeing into a fountain. The following scene shows him and the immortals drinking that same urine, believing it to be a sweet nectar. These kinds of bodily humor are very present in the first film, which featured Taiyi Zhenren using his farts as tool, but are ratcheted up in the sequel.

Even featuring a soup of vomit that must be drank in order to summon Ao Bing inside him, there are many unsettling images and ideas in the humor of Ne Zha 2. With that said, they are also satisfyingly unusual to see in a film of this scale

The Lore And The Dragons Make Ne Zha A Rich Entry Point Into Chinese Mythology

Much of Ne Zha 2 is deeply steeped in Chinese culture, religion, and myth. Primarily, the movie draws on the 16th century novel Invesтιтure of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin, a major work that chronicles gods and demons near the fall of the Shang dynasty all the way through to the Zhou dynasty’s end in 256 BC.

The origins of the Ne Zha, or Nezha, character are too long and complex to explain simply. A deity from Chinese myth, Nezha is generally seen as a god of protection in Chinese Taoism, Buddhim, and folk religion. He has appeared in various important works, including Journey to the West.

These films give the character a different kind of idenтιтy, but they also draw from all kinds of myths and legends. In the films, Ne Zha is born from the demon orb, and other similar spiritual ideas pulled from Chinese culture come into play.

Grounded in a unique cultural outlook and featuring demons, beasts, dragons, spirits, immortals, and so much more, the film is a very special experience. Watching Ne Zha 2 gives a great and entertaining primer on Chinese religion and myth, and seeing how the characters of folklore fit into an entertaining story like this is incredibly compelling.

Ne Zha Is A Compelling Character Who Will Persist In The Pop Culture Landscape

Ne Zha is an endearing character with a spunky edge. The character’s debut in 2019 saw him being hated and feared by the people of his town due to his origins from the demon orb. Ne Zha worked hard to prove himself, and became a hero in their eyes by the end of the film.

Fortunately, even in his valiant return in the sequel, the character has not lost any of his mischievous charm. With rounded teeth and bulging eyes, Ne Zha’s design is perfect for his character as an unusual and ill-fitting master of magical arts. He is a destructive and violent trickster, but he also has a very good heart.

More complex and multifaceted than many animated characters in history, audiences will almost certainly see more of Ne Zha in the future. The character’s next story is hinted at in the ending of Ne Zha 2, and the film’s box office success makes a sequel essential from a commercial standpoint.

With more stories to draw from Invesтιтure of the Gods and other Chinese folklore, religion, and myth, there will likely be much more Ne Zha ahead. Ne Zha 2 sets up a bright future for the wonderful character, who will hopefully become as endeared to Western audiences as he has to the East.