Ne Zha II (English Dub): An Impressive Animated Epic

While Hollywood blockbusters have struggled to reach past heights (the days of the easy billion are well behind us), China’s Ne Zha II has quietly dominated 2025’s global box office, breaking numerous records along the way, while largely going unnoticed in the West. Originally released over the Lunar New Year (with a small theatrical run in North America), the film returns to theatres in North America this weekend with the help of A24, who have assembled a new English dub and have given it a wider, splashier release featuring IMAX 3D. Not just the highest grossing film of 2025, Ne Zha II is currently the biggest animated film in history period, grossing over $2.2 billion at the worldwide box office. Ne Zha II delivers the most epic, eye wateringly beautiful spectacle of the year, with truly nothing else coming close.

2019’s Ne Zha was a smash hit in China, successfully re-adapting and re-interpreting the classic mythological stories of Ne Zha (dating back to the 16th century) for modern audiences. While the original film felt fairly middling overall, with far too much of it focusing on juvenile humour, it ended on a fairly impressive third act blow out, shifting to mythic fantasy proportions and offering a promise of where it’s sequel would expand on tenfold. While Ne Zha II initially opens on some of the same juvenile humour that plagued its predecessor, it very quickly morphs into a far more serious (but no less fun), and emotional fantasy epic. Despite its brief recap in the prologue, audiences will be better served watching the original film beforehand, as not to be too overwhelmed by an already overwhelming experience.

To recap very briefly, Ne Zha and Ao Bing are both godlike beings born from each half of the “Chaos Pearl”, with Ne Zha borne of the “Demon Orb” half, and Ao Bing borne of the “Spirit Pearl” half…the ying to the other’s yang. The former, destined to be evil and outcast from society learns to harness his destructive powers for good and forge his own destiny versus letting himself be defined by it. Picking up shortly after the first film, our titular hero and his friend Ao Bing are rebuilding their physical forms (having been destroyed to save the day following the events of the last film) using the mystical powers of the sacred lotus. Unfortunately, they’re quickly interrupted by returning big bad Shen Gongbao and his monster army, in cahoots with the exiled dragon clan whose leader is Bing’s father. Furious to discover their actions accidentally doomed his son, a deal is struck between warring sides and Ne Zha now sets off on a quest to restore his friend’s physical form by seeking the help of the masters as Yuxu Palace. To complicate matters, Ne Zha and Ao Bing’s spirit have to take turns occupying the same body (leading to a number of comedic action set pieces) as a much more insidious plot unfolds in secret threatening the fate of Heaven and Earth, mortal and immortal alike.

If that sounds very confusing and overwhelming, audiences need not worry because it really isn’t, for the most part. Naturally, some of the intricacies and off hand mentions of certain myths and references will go over the heads of non native audiences, but the appeal of Ne Zha II still shines through, particularly in its action packed storytelling. The biggest film of the year in more ways than one, the back half pivot to full blown fantasy epic is one of the most eye wateringly beautiful and overstimulating examples of spectacle in recent memory.

Words really cannot do justice to the staggering scale and ambition of the animation and visuals on display here, which somehow finds a way to consistently top itself over and over again during it’s breathless extended finale. Delivering one of the craziest cinematic experiences in a long time, amidst all the sound and fury of dragons, gods, demons, monsters, and hundreds of millions of soldiers all duking it out at once, it is the core friendship between Ao Bing and Ne Zha that shines through in this age old tale of misunderstood outcasts forging their own destinies.

In the end, funny, emotional, and epic in a way very few films are, Ne Zha II is why people go to the movies, and one of the most impressive films anyone will see all year, animated or not, and should be seen on the biggest screen possible.

Ne Zha is available to stream on Netflix, Peacock, Roku, and Hoopla in the United States (click here to search for more countries) and to rent on most VOD platforms.

still courtesy of A24

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Alex Josevski

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