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Review: Ne Zha (哪吒之魔童降世) (2019)
Finally got around to this movie, and it was not what I expected but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. This movie was definitely an adaptation. Instead of sticking to the cultural canon of Nezha, the story was adapted so that the story line was more insulated. Overall I think the movie was good. Not perfect, but it was still enjoyable.
Spoilers.
Story
I didn’t expect this movie to be as comedic as it did. It felt like this movie was following the old Pixar model where the main story was meant to be something that would engage kids, but there’d be jokes sprinkled throughout the movie that are more complex and obviously for the adults.
As mentioned, this movie didn’t strictly stick to the canon of Nezha and instead developed a smaller story. I understand why they did it, so that they could have more control over the story beats. That being said, I can’t tell if I’m being lenient on the writers because I like Chinese mythology.
Anyway, the story of the movie was that there was a sentient pearl that was causing ruckus. It was split into a spirit pearl and a demon orb. The plan was for these two components to be planted in a human child, who would then be destroyed in three years by lightning. This responsibility was handed to Taiyi Zhenren. However Shen Gongbao intercepted the process and stole the spirit pearl to give to the dragon king who imbued the pearl into his son. He hoped that his son would be born with a somewhat elevated status due to the orb, and would help bring legitimacy to the dragon tribe, who lived a hellish existence in the deep sea. Meanwhile, Madame Yin gave birth to a demonic Nezha.
Nezha was a very naughty child and was put under house arrest because he would cause a lot of trouble around town. It was a feedback loop. The townspeople knew of his demonic nature and thus shunned him from the beginning, so Nezha would act out due to the others’ shunning and bully the kids and townspeople.
Nezha’s father Li Jing lied to Nezha and told him that he was born of the spirit pearl, hoping to give him purpose and to guide him onto the path of cultivation. Taiyi trapped him in a painting, and there, he taught Nezha skills. But Nezha was still naughty and unsympathetic to people.
Nezha escaped the painting and tried to chase down an ocean yaoguai to save a little girl. In the process, he met Ao Bing, the son of the dragon king who had blessed by the spirit pearl. Nezha was distracted by Ao Bing’s heroics and wanted to defeat him. Ao Bing and the little girl were turned to stone by the yaoguai, and in the end, Nezha defeated the yaoguai and turned Ao Bing and the girl back. Afterwards, they played by the beach and Nezha was moved at finally having a friend. However, the townspeople tracked them down and believed that Nezha had kidnapped the girl, once again perpetuating the narrative that he was trouble.
On Nezha’s third birthday, his parents were to hold a feast, though it was supposed to be the day of the lightning strike. Nezha invited Ao Bing, his only friend. The townspeople who were invited were reluctant seeing as how they feared Nezha. Before the party, Shen Gongbao told Nezha the truth of his birth, and also the words to unlock the collar that inhibited his demonic nature. He turned into his full demon form and wrought havoc at the party. Before he could kill his parents, he was stopped by a disguised Ao Bing. Li Jing unmasked Ao Bing and found out he was a dragon, which turned the townspeople onto him because they saw him as a yaoguai (of an animalistic birth). His shifu Shen Gongbao convinced Ao Bing to kill all the witnesses and Ao Bing relented, feeling burdened by his tribe’s expectations on him.
Nezha had run away after the battle with Ao Bing. He was shown a flashback of his father soon after his birth. His father wanted to ask for help about Nezha’s demonic birth and the fact that he would be destroyed on his third birthday, but was told there was no solution, other than to switch his fate with someone else’s. Li Jing chose to switch Nezha’s fate with his own. That moved Nezha, and he returned to save his family.
Nezha returned and battled Ao Bing, but spared his life. Then he went to the skies to accept his fate of being struck by the lightning. Ao Bing was moved by his friendship and joined him, as they were both supposed to be part of the original pearl that was to be destroyed. While their mortal bodies died, their spirits remained intact, as Taiyi had sent a contraption to save their spirits. The movie ended with the townspeople kneeling before them.
The story wasn’t perfect. I think the part about the pearl was fine because it gave us an added dimension to Ao Bing and Nezha’s relationship, and it also gave us something to anticipate for the climax (the sentient pearl being destroyed by lightning). But the miscommunication drove me up the wall. Of course Nezha was unable to explain himself, he was just a kid, but the townspeople never bothered to understand him, and it was just a constant loop of Nezha acting out. Even his mother acknowledged that he was just lonely but nothing was done about it. I also felt that the ending was too abrupt. I thought the climax was fine but I would have liked to see more of how their lives changed after their mortal bodies were destroyed. As mentioned, there were modern jokes that were for parents. They were fine. I don’t really have a big opinion on them.
I also felt like the number of things that happened in the climax was a bit much and I would have preferred it to be broken up. At Nezha’s party, he found out about his birth and fought before being fended off by Ao Bing and then Nezha ran away. Then soon after Ao Bing was turned on by the people and so he turned around and attacked them, only for Nezha to return to fight Ao Bing again. I felt that the two battles between Nezha and Ao Bing should have been in two different venues to show the change in story and tone.
So I’d say the story was overall a normal action adventure story for kids.
Production
I think the selling point of this movie was supposed to be the animation, particularly the fight scenes, and I thought they were pretty good. I enjoyed them. Nezha in particular is meant to be a very visually striking character because of his association with fire. Ao Bing being a water dragon was a good match for the other counterpart in the movie, and they enhanced that contrast with making them the two parts of the pearl, but also emphasizing colours (with Ao Bing being the blue character and Nezha being the red one).
The other characters were fine, they honestly remind me a lot of Pixar characters. Maybe the reason why this movie didn’t have me foaming at the mouth is because I’m past the stage where 3d animated movies amaze me.
The direction did have some flaws. In particular, there were certain scenes that I thought were framed really weirdly and I know the point was to purposely show several things in a frame, or purposely hide some things, but the way they were framed was really odd. For example, when Nezha was stuffing things in Taiyi's pants, I know they purposely cut him off at the bottom of the screen but it was a weird way to frame it. And when Madame Yin was playing shuttlecocks with Nezha, there were some instances of odd framing that just didn't feel right.
I want to give a shout out to the voice acting. Admittedly Ao Bing’s voice was my favourite, I loved the gentleness of his voice, which really brought out Ao Bing’s internal conflict of being kind vs. trying to elevate his own family. But I enjoyed a lot of the other characters’ voice acting too. Li Jing and Madame Yin were able to show that they loved their son but weren’t really sure what to do about his demonic nature, and dealt with it in their own ways, with Li Jing being stern and Madame Yin trying to bring out the empathetic and happiness in her son.
Characters
Nezha
Nezha was our main character and he was exactly what you’d expect. The naughtiest, brattiest, haughtiest kid you’ve ever known. But we know why he’s the way that he is. He’s locked at home all day when kids should out playing. The townspeople thought of him as a monster right from the beginning, so he thought he might as well be the worst monster he can be if that’s the only way they’ll acknowledge him.
Li Jing tried to instill purpose within Nezha, telling him that he was born of a spirit pearl, and hoping that he would want to become someone who fought evil like his parents. But what frustrated him was that Nezha was only interested in the heroics and not in the purpose of protecting others, which is understandable because other people had only ever bullied and ostracized him.
Nezha was shaken by the revelation of his birth and acted out once more, trying to live up to his demonic nature. It was only when he learned of his father’s sacrifice for him that he had a change of heart. It was a bit sudden, but I can accept that Nezha could at least see his parents’ love for him, and decided to return at least to save his parents.
In his fight with Ao Bing, Nezha emphasized that just because he was born of demonic energy didn’t mean that he had to grow up to be a demon, and that was something his father had taught him. Even though he was born with demonic energy, Li Jing was going to try his hardest to raise Nezha as a child who did good. Nezha was trying to convince Ao Bing that just because he was born a yao didn’t mean that he ha to succumb to his fate, and that he at least had the power to be the kind of person he wanted to be.
I thought we were going to see Nezha cutting off his flesh and returning it to his parents but that might have been too graphic for a kids’ movie. Instead, he lost his flesh body in the lightning strike so I guess he’ll get a new body in any sequel we see.
Nezha’s story arc was fine. To be honest it was a bit abrupt, the way that he suddenly changed his entire demeanour only when he saw the flashback of his father. I know it was meant to be a revelation, but it seemed very sudden. But by the end of the movie, I think at least he decided that he didn’t have to be a demon just because he was born with demonic energy. As for his relationship with the townspeople though, that was unresolved. Yes, the townspeople kneeled to him, but realistically I can’t expect Nezha and them to suddenly be on good terms. Though I wouldn’t be surprised to see it being handled that way in a sequel.
Ao Bing
Ao Bing was the son of the dragon king, the person we’d call 龍王三太子 in Chinese mythology. He was born of the spirit pearl, the morally good part of the original pearl. His father had hoped he’d grow up to be a sort of blessed being who could do good things for the dragons and lift them out of their hellish home in the deep seas. Ao Bing was a student of Shen Gongbao, considered a somewhat evil disciple.
Ao Bing first appeared in the story when Nezha was trying to chase down the water guai. He saved the little girl and defeated the monster. The prideful Nezha refused to accept that narrative and went so far as to give the child back to the monster, and fight Ao Bing for the honour. However, in the meantime, the yaoguai ate the girl so Ao Bing went to save her, only to be caught in his trap, turning into stone. Nezha then defeated the yaoguai and forced him to give up the antidote, saving his own stone hand, as well as Ao Bing and the little girl.
Afterwards, Ao Bing, Nezha, and the girl played by the beach a bit. While Nezha was moved by the happiness, Ao Bing was moved a little as well. Like Nezha, he lived in isolation, and was told to hide his horns because people despised yao. Nezha, not having gone out a lot, had pointed out his horns, but didn’t think anything of it. So I think that Ao Bing was just as moved by their friendship. However, he was warned by his father and shifu about Nezha.
Nezha invited Ao Bing to his birthday and was clearly incredibly excited about it. Ao Bing was conflicted. He instead watched the destruction from afar, caused by his shifu Shen Gongbao. However, he wanted to do something, and he said that he would save Nezha’s parents and Taiyi Zhenren, since they were innocent. Afterwards, his identity was unveiled. Li Jing realized that he held the spirit pearl and the townspeople turned on him for being a yaoguai. So like Nezha, he was somewhat pushed to turn on the people, though in the story it was that Shen Gongbao convinced him to remove the witnesses of Li Jing, Madame Yin, and Taiyi Zhenren.
In a final fight with Nezha, he was spared. Ao Bing was puzzled and that was when Nezha gave him the talk about how just because he was a yaoguai didn’t mean he was innately evil. So when Nezha went to confront the lightning strike, Ao Bing joined him, saying that it was because they were friends. Maybe it was because of the power of their combined orbs that their spirits were able to withstand the lightning strike. It was kind of an unsatisfying ending for Ao Bing though. In a mid-credit scene, the dragon king wanted revenge for the death of his son. The other dragons encouraged him. So in a sequel, I can see him trying to go against his father.
Ao Bing as a character was very lovely. I admit I loved his voice actor which really enhanced his gentle nature. Ao Bing was a good child who happened to be born to an ambitious father and mentored by an ambitious and sly shifu. But in his heart he believed in doing good things and being kind.
Li Jing
Li Jing was Nezha’s father. A stern man who wanted to guide his son on the path of good. He never really had a relationship with his son the way Madame Yin did, stern as fathers are. But in the flashback Nezha saw that his father did love him in his own solemn way.
If I remember correctly, in the Investiture of the Gods canon, there was a time when Nezha was accused of causing trouble and Li Jing accepted it at face value. That is the impression of Li Jing that I have, the kind of strict father that is quick to believe that their naughty child has done a naughty thing. And I do still think he is that kind of dad in this movie. But we also saw in this movie that his father believed that anyone was capable of becoming good. Even if his son was extremely naughty, he was capable of learning to be good, and that was why he worked so hard with Taiyi Zhenren to teach Nezha.
As a side note, I low key wished we’d seen Nezha’s older brothers. I get the sense they would have made Nezha the only child so that the story could focus on him, if not for the fact that he is canonically known to be the third son of Li Jing.
Madame Yin
Madame Yin was pregnant with Nezha for three years, and as we saw, Nezha was born as a weird flesh lump, only growing a human body afterwards. Despite his demonic birth, Madame Yin saw him as her child and protected him thusly.
She understood why Nezha had to be put under house arrest. It was a combination of him being a demon child with powers, and also with him being a menace to the town. As someone who fought demons herself, she knew the dangers, but she also wanted to see her son happy. That was why she was so happy playing with her son because it was the first time she saw him so happy. Over the movie, we saw that she was always a little more sentimental, trying to converse with Nezha to get him to understand things as opposed to more heavy handed methods of Li Jing or Taiyi Zhenren.
Throughout the movie, Madame Yin never treated Nezha any differently. He was always her son, and she always loved him.
Taiyi Zhenren
Taiyi Zhenren was the immortal who was tasked with handling the original pearl, only for Shen Gongbao to take advantage of his love of alcohol and sabotage the operation so that only the demon orb would be imbued into Nezha. From thereafter, he continued to take responsibility for Nezha, with Li Jing’s approval.
That being said, for much of the movie, I felt Taiyi Zhenren wasn’t really a strong character with motivations. He was just there as a plot device, for Nezha to gain powers, and for him to survive at the end.
Shen Gongbao
Shen Gongbao was the other immortal that was sent to control the original orb, though the final responsibility was handed to Taiyi Zhenren. Shen Gongbao had a bit of an inferiority complex due to his background also as an animal guai. He wanted to accomplish great things so that he’d be acknowledged.
So Shen Gongbao stole the spirit pearl and gave it to the dragon king. I guess his plan was that he also wanted to raise a blessed dragon child and by virtue of his student being well-received, he would be too. However, Shen Gongbao’s plan came at the expense of others. He didn’t care if he’d kill other people to reach his goal of enlightenment for himself.
Themes
This is a kids’ movie, so it’s not going to be super complex, but the major one here was what Nezha said at the climax, that every person has the power to be whomever they want, and that they weren’t locked into their fates.
Overall
A decent movie. Not perfect, but it fulfilled its purpose which was to be fun and entertaining.
Spoilers.
Story
I didn’t expect this movie to be as comedic as it did. It felt like this movie was following the old Pixar model where the main story was meant to be something that would engage kids, but there’d be jokes sprinkled throughout the movie that are more complex and obviously for the adults.
As mentioned, this movie didn’t strictly stick to the canon of Nezha and instead developed a smaller story. I understand why they did it, so that they could have more control over the story beats. That being said, I can’t tell if I’m being lenient on the writers because I like Chinese mythology.
Anyway, the story of the movie was that there was a sentient pearl that was causing ruckus. It was split into a spirit pearl and a demon orb. The plan was for these two components to be planted in a human child, who would then be destroyed in three years by lightning. This responsibility was handed to Taiyi Zhenren. However Shen Gongbao intercepted the process and stole the spirit pearl to give to the dragon king who imbued the pearl into his son. He hoped that his son would be born with a somewhat elevated status due to the orb, and would help bring legitimacy to the dragon tribe, who lived a hellish existence in the deep sea. Meanwhile, Madame Yin gave birth to a demonic Nezha.
Nezha was a very naughty child and was put under house arrest because he would cause a lot of trouble around town. It was a feedback loop. The townspeople knew of his demonic nature and thus shunned him from the beginning, so Nezha would act out due to the others’ shunning and bully the kids and townspeople.
Nezha’s father Li Jing lied to Nezha and told him that he was born of the spirit pearl, hoping to give him purpose and to guide him onto the path of cultivation. Taiyi trapped him in a painting, and there, he taught Nezha skills. But Nezha was still naughty and unsympathetic to people.
Nezha escaped the painting and tried to chase down an ocean yaoguai to save a little girl. In the process, he met Ao Bing, the son of the dragon king who had blessed by the spirit pearl. Nezha was distracted by Ao Bing’s heroics and wanted to defeat him. Ao Bing and the little girl were turned to stone by the yaoguai, and in the end, Nezha defeated the yaoguai and turned Ao Bing and the girl back. Afterwards, they played by the beach and Nezha was moved at finally having a friend. However, the townspeople tracked them down and believed that Nezha had kidnapped the girl, once again perpetuating the narrative that he was trouble.
On Nezha’s third birthday, his parents were to hold a feast, though it was supposed to be the day of the lightning strike. Nezha invited Ao Bing, his only friend. The townspeople who were invited were reluctant seeing as how they feared Nezha. Before the party, Shen Gongbao told Nezha the truth of his birth, and also the words to unlock the collar that inhibited his demonic nature. He turned into his full demon form and wrought havoc at the party. Before he could kill his parents, he was stopped by a disguised Ao Bing. Li Jing unmasked Ao Bing and found out he was a dragon, which turned the townspeople onto him because they saw him as a yaoguai (of an animalistic birth). His shifu Shen Gongbao convinced Ao Bing to kill all the witnesses and Ao Bing relented, feeling burdened by his tribe’s expectations on him.
Nezha had run away after the battle with Ao Bing. He was shown a flashback of his father soon after his birth. His father wanted to ask for help about Nezha’s demonic birth and the fact that he would be destroyed on his third birthday, but was told there was no solution, other than to switch his fate with someone else’s. Li Jing chose to switch Nezha’s fate with his own. That moved Nezha, and he returned to save his family.
Nezha returned and battled Ao Bing, but spared his life. Then he went to the skies to accept his fate of being struck by the lightning. Ao Bing was moved by his friendship and joined him, as they were both supposed to be part of the original pearl that was to be destroyed. While their mortal bodies died, their spirits remained intact, as Taiyi had sent a contraption to save their spirits. The movie ended with the townspeople kneeling before them.
The story wasn’t perfect. I think the part about the pearl was fine because it gave us an added dimension to Ao Bing and Nezha’s relationship, and it also gave us something to anticipate for the climax (the sentient pearl being destroyed by lightning). But the miscommunication drove me up the wall. Of course Nezha was unable to explain himself, he was just a kid, but the townspeople never bothered to understand him, and it was just a constant loop of Nezha acting out. Even his mother acknowledged that he was just lonely but nothing was done about it. I also felt that the ending was too abrupt. I thought the climax was fine but I would have liked to see more of how their lives changed after their mortal bodies were destroyed. As mentioned, there were modern jokes that were for parents. They were fine. I don’t really have a big opinion on them.
I also felt like the number of things that happened in the climax was a bit much and I would have preferred it to be broken up. At Nezha’s party, he found out about his birth and fought before being fended off by Ao Bing and then Nezha ran away. Then soon after Ao Bing was turned on by the people and so he turned around and attacked them, only for Nezha to return to fight Ao Bing again. I felt that the two battles between Nezha and Ao Bing should have been in two different venues to show the change in story and tone.
So I’d say the story was overall a normal action adventure story for kids.
Production
I think the selling point of this movie was supposed to be the animation, particularly the fight scenes, and I thought they were pretty good. I enjoyed them. Nezha in particular is meant to be a very visually striking character because of his association with fire. Ao Bing being a water dragon was a good match for the other counterpart in the movie, and they enhanced that contrast with making them the two parts of the pearl, but also emphasizing colours (with Ao Bing being the blue character and Nezha being the red one).
The other characters were fine, they honestly remind me a lot of Pixar characters. Maybe the reason why this movie didn’t have me foaming at the mouth is because I’m past the stage where 3d animated movies amaze me.
The direction did have some flaws. In particular, there were certain scenes that I thought were framed really weirdly and I know the point was to purposely show several things in a frame, or purposely hide some things, but the way they were framed was really odd. For example, when Nezha was stuffing things in Taiyi's pants, I know they purposely cut him off at the bottom of the screen but it was a weird way to frame it. And when Madame Yin was playing shuttlecocks with Nezha, there were some instances of odd framing that just didn't feel right.
I want to give a shout out to the voice acting. Admittedly Ao Bing’s voice was my favourite, I loved the gentleness of his voice, which really brought out Ao Bing’s internal conflict of being kind vs. trying to elevate his own family. But I enjoyed a lot of the other characters’ voice acting too. Li Jing and Madame Yin were able to show that they loved their son but weren’t really sure what to do about his demonic nature, and dealt with it in their own ways, with Li Jing being stern and Madame Yin trying to bring out the empathetic and happiness in her son.
Characters
Nezha
Nezha was our main character and he was exactly what you’d expect. The naughtiest, brattiest, haughtiest kid you’ve ever known. But we know why he’s the way that he is. He’s locked at home all day when kids should out playing. The townspeople thought of him as a monster right from the beginning, so he thought he might as well be the worst monster he can be if that’s the only way they’ll acknowledge him.
Li Jing tried to instill purpose within Nezha, telling him that he was born of a spirit pearl, and hoping that he would want to become someone who fought evil like his parents. But what frustrated him was that Nezha was only interested in the heroics and not in the purpose of protecting others, which is understandable because other people had only ever bullied and ostracized him.
Nezha was shaken by the revelation of his birth and acted out once more, trying to live up to his demonic nature. It was only when he learned of his father’s sacrifice for him that he had a change of heart. It was a bit sudden, but I can accept that Nezha could at least see his parents’ love for him, and decided to return at least to save his parents.
In his fight with Ao Bing, Nezha emphasized that just because he was born of demonic energy didn’t mean that he had to grow up to be a demon, and that was something his father had taught him. Even though he was born with demonic energy, Li Jing was going to try his hardest to raise Nezha as a child who did good. Nezha was trying to convince Ao Bing that just because he was born a yao didn’t mean that he ha to succumb to his fate, and that he at least had the power to be the kind of person he wanted to be.
I thought we were going to see Nezha cutting off his flesh and returning it to his parents but that might have been too graphic for a kids’ movie. Instead, he lost his flesh body in the lightning strike so I guess he’ll get a new body in any sequel we see.
Nezha’s story arc was fine. To be honest it was a bit abrupt, the way that he suddenly changed his entire demeanour only when he saw the flashback of his father. I know it was meant to be a revelation, but it seemed very sudden. But by the end of the movie, I think at least he decided that he didn’t have to be a demon just because he was born with demonic energy. As for his relationship with the townspeople though, that was unresolved. Yes, the townspeople kneeled to him, but realistically I can’t expect Nezha and them to suddenly be on good terms. Though I wouldn’t be surprised to see it being handled that way in a sequel.
Ao Bing
Ao Bing was the son of the dragon king, the person we’d call 龍王三太子 in Chinese mythology. He was born of the spirit pearl, the morally good part of the original pearl. His father had hoped he’d grow up to be a sort of blessed being who could do good things for the dragons and lift them out of their hellish home in the deep seas. Ao Bing was a student of Shen Gongbao, considered a somewhat evil disciple.
Ao Bing first appeared in the story when Nezha was trying to chase down the water guai. He saved the little girl and defeated the monster. The prideful Nezha refused to accept that narrative and went so far as to give the child back to the monster, and fight Ao Bing for the honour. However, in the meantime, the yaoguai ate the girl so Ao Bing went to save her, only to be caught in his trap, turning into stone. Nezha then defeated the yaoguai and forced him to give up the antidote, saving his own stone hand, as well as Ao Bing and the little girl.
Afterwards, Ao Bing, Nezha, and the girl played by the beach a bit. While Nezha was moved by the happiness, Ao Bing was moved a little as well. Like Nezha, he lived in isolation, and was told to hide his horns because people despised yao. Nezha, not having gone out a lot, had pointed out his horns, but didn’t think anything of it. So I think that Ao Bing was just as moved by their friendship. However, he was warned by his father and shifu about Nezha.
Nezha invited Ao Bing to his birthday and was clearly incredibly excited about it. Ao Bing was conflicted. He instead watched the destruction from afar, caused by his shifu Shen Gongbao. However, he wanted to do something, and he said that he would save Nezha’s parents and Taiyi Zhenren, since they were innocent. Afterwards, his identity was unveiled. Li Jing realized that he held the spirit pearl and the townspeople turned on him for being a yaoguai. So like Nezha, he was somewhat pushed to turn on the people, though in the story it was that Shen Gongbao convinced him to remove the witnesses of Li Jing, Madame Yin, and Taiyi Zhenren.
In a final fight with Nezha, he was spared. Ao Bing was puzzled and that was when Nezha gave him the talk about how just because he was a yaoguai didn’t mean he was innately evil. So when Nezha went to confront the lightning strike, Ao Bing joined him, saying that it was because they were friends. Maybe it was because of the power of their combined orbs that their spirits were able to withstand the lightning strike. It was kind of an unsatisfying ending for Ao Bing though. In a mid-credit scene, the dragon king wanted revenge for the death of his son. The other dragons encouraged him. So in a sequel, I can see him trying to go against his father.
Ao Bing as a character was very lovely. I admit I loved his voice actor which really enhanced his gentle nature. Ao Bing was a good child who happened to be born to an ambitious father and mentored by an ambitious and sly shifu. But in his heart he believed in doing good things and being kind.
Li Jing
Li Jing was Nezha’s father. A stern man who wanted to guide his son on the path of good. He never really had a relationship with his son the way Madame Yin did, stern as fathers are. But in the flashback Nezha saw that his father did love him in his own solemn way.
If I remember correctly, in the Investiture of the Gods canon, there was a time when Nezha was accused of causing trouble and Li Jing accepted it at face value. That is the impression of Li Jing that I have, the kind of strict father that is quick to believe that their naughty child has done a naughty thing. And I do still think he is that kind of dad in this movie. But we also saw in this movie that his father believed that anyone was capable of becoming good. Even if his son was extremely naughty, he was capable of learning to be good, and that was why he worked so hard with Taiyi Zhenren to teach Nezha.
As a side note, I low key wished we’d seen Nezha’s older brothers. I get the sense they would have made Nezha the only child so that the story could focus on him, if not for the fact that he is canonically known to be the third son of Li Jing.
Madame Yin
Madame Yin was pregnant with Nezha for three years, and as we saw, Nezha was born as a weird flesh lump, only growing a human body afterwards. Despite his demonic birth, Madame Yin saw him as her child and protected him thusly.
She understood why Nezha had to be put under house arrest. It was a combination of him being a demon child with powers, and also with him being a menace to the town. As someone who fought demons herself, she knew the dangers, but she also wanted to see her son happy. That was why she was so happy playing with her son because it was the first time she saw him so happy. Over the movie, we saw that she was always a little more sentimental, trying to converse with Nezha to get him to understand things as opposed to more heavy handed methods of Li Jing or Taiyi Zhenren.
Throughout the movie, Madame Yin never treated Nezha any differently. He was always her son, and she always loved him.
Taiyi Zhenren
Taiyi Zhenren was the immortal who was tasked with handling the original pearl, only for Shen Gongbao to take advantage of his love of alcohol and sabotage the operation so that only the demon orb would be imbued into Nezha. From thereafter, he continued to take responsibility for Nezha, with Li Jing’s approval.
That being said, for much of the movie, I felt Taiyi Zhenren wasn’t really a strong character with motivations. He was just there as a plot device, for Nezha to gain powers, and for him to survive at the end.
Shen Gongbao
Shen Gongbao was the other immortal that was sent to control the original orb, though the final responsibility was handed to Taiyi Zhenren. Shen Gongbao had a bit of an inferiority complex due to his background also as an animal guai. He wanted to accomplish great things so that he’d be acknowledged.
So Shen Gongbao stole the spirit pearl and gave it to the dragon king. I guess his plan was that he also wanted to raise a blessed dragon child and by virtue of his student being well-received, he would be too. However, Shen Gongbao’s plan came at the expense of others. He didn’t care if he’d kill other people to reach his goal of enlightenment for himself.
Themes
This is a kids’ movie, so it’s not going to be super complex, but the major one here was what Nezha said at the climax, that every person has the power to be whomever they want, and that they weren’t locked into their fates.
Overall
A decent movie. Not perfect, but it fulfilled its purpose which was to be fun and entertaining.