.png)
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. despite the fact that despite the frantic flurry, there is still significant room for improvement. Two halves of the same celestial pearl, demon tyke Ne Zha (voiced by Lü Yanting) and do-gooder squire Ao Bing (voiced by Han Mo), are rebuilding their physical forms with the help 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. Therefore, Ne Zha must travel to Yuxu Palace with Ao Bing squatting to request assistance from the ovoid-headed immortal Master Wuliang (Wang Deshun). 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.
This insignificant plea for misunderstood outsiders and recognition of difference smacks of Hollywood, even if the story is set in China. 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.
Beginning on March 21, Ne Zha 2 will be showing in movie theaters in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
0 comments: