Hacker Cinema
Ne Zha 2
哪吒之魔童闹海
2025 · Film · 144 min
Part of Ne Zha Collection
Directed by Jiao Zi
AnimationActionFantasyAdventure
After a catastrophic event leaves their bodies destroyed, Ne Zha and Ao Bing are granted a fragile second chance at life. As tensions rise between the dragon clans and celestial forces, the two must undergo a series of perilous trials that will test their bond, challenge their identities, and decide the fate of both mortals and immortals.
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7 comments on Hacker News
Myself during the pandemic I was really turned off by the idea they were going to keep doing concessions the way they usually did because the idea of a popcorn and coke mess would turn my stomach.
Since then I've seen Barbie and Superman and it was cool but I'm not in a rush to see more movies in a theater. We were worried that the chain theater in town was going to go out of business because it had been leveraged by an Israeli company just before the crisis. The art house theater downtown is starting to show those tentpole movies but the art house movies in the trailers seem all the same to me and don't catch my eye. If they wanted to get me in they should have shown Ne Zha 2. The big chain theater is actually getting interesting because they show all kinds of unusual thing such as live opera performances, anime movies, etc.
Just can't see it beating streaming though, also I think somehow television has outpaced movies in terms of the scope of stories it can tell. I find it so boring that they keep making three-packs of superhero movies and then reboot and tell the origin story over and over again, one thing I liked about the latest Superman was that they didn't retell his journey from Krypton and his upbringing in farm country but just jumped into it -- I mean, Superman has been around 87 years we know his origin story.
In a TV show they couldn't get away with rehashing the origin story and the first few books over and over again -- I could care less if Spiderman was bit by a radioactive spider or a GMO spider, I just want to seem him slinging webs and punching bad guys and mostly being loved by the community and occasionally feared.
Ne Zha 2 was huge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ne_Zha_2
Like its predecessor, the film received highly positive reviews from critics, and achieved even greater commercial success at a gross of $2.2 billion worldwide against a production budget of US$80 million. Ne Zha 2 broke numerous box office records inside and outside China, including becoming the highest-grossing film in a single box office territory, the highest-grossing animated film, being the first adult animated film in this position, the highest-grossing non-English language film and the first animated film in history to cross the $2 billion mark, as well as being the highest-selling animated film based on ticket sales. It also ranks as the highest-grossing film of 2025 and the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time. and that immediately sprang to mind for a 60+ Australian english speaking mathematician / geophysicist not of asian descent. No Google / Bing / AI required.
Having grandchildren made it hard to avoid.
As for China in Africa:
Global power dynamics in Africa are shifting, with China eclipsing the influence of the US and France. China has become Africa’s single largest trading partner. is true, but has been overstated by some to raise fear of Red Menace.
Source: https://theconversation.com/maps-showing-chinas-growing-influence-in-africa-distort-reality-but-some-risks-are-real-249454
FWiW China has been a significant employer of US mercs in Africa.
eg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Services_Group
Look I get how Ne Zha 2 was a big success and showed signs of good production quality, but lets be honest: The movie was boring. I'm sure the mostly Chinese audience that sat with me in the theater enjoyed it but I fell asleep halfway in.
The "east" has more work to do to capture that magic that the western imperial order (Hollywood) has wrought upon the world.
I will continue to watch and observe how things play out.
The second screen effect is largely overstated when it comes to why movies suck. While it’s true for some movies and TV shows that end up being streaming exclusives, the same problem doesn’t exist in theatrical releases or even shows for TV for streaming services like HBO.
Modern movies suck mostly because of Hollywood mostly being risk averse and prioritizing profit over everything else. This leads to IPs being sequels, prequels, remakes, “parts of the universe” or adaptations of existing successful IPs. This also leads to creative directions that are “designed to pull maximum audiences” or in other words average. Almost every single Marvel movie has the same plot with a few changes in characters. It also translates to situations where ideas that would otherwise be successful being tabled. K-POP demon hunters is a great example, an original IP, that audiences want, being sold to Netflix because the executives somewhere did a couple of focus groups and came to the conclusion that this won’t work. Another side effect is lack of innovation. Pixar animation has largely been stale for years now, meanwhile Ne Zha 2 is taking in billions worldwide, Demon Slayer is was one of the most popular movies in the US despite its limited release and Arcane is one of the best rated TV shows ever. There’s a lot more like fewer stand ins to save money that make scenes look “empty and soulless”, overuse of CGI, overuse of Pedro Pascal, etc.
All in all, it’s enshittification if movies because less profit is unacceptable.
Trump always hated foreign movies - I remember him disparaging an Academy award winning movie purely because it was non-English language. Wonder what prompted this outburst - the success of Ne Zha 2 (china bad), or No Other Land (can't say Palestine)?
here's an example.
https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1901133641746706581
I finally watched Ne Zha 2 last night with my daughters.
It absolutely lives up to the hype: undoubtedly the best animated movie I've ever seen (and I see a lot, the fate of being the father of 2 young daughters ).
But what I found most fascinating was the subtle yet unmistakable geopolitical symbolism in the movie.
Warning if you haven't yet watched the movie: spoilers!
So the story is about Ne Zha and Ao Bing, whose physical bodies were destroyed by heavenly lightning. To restore both their forms, they must journey to the Chan sect—headed by Immortal Wuliang—and pass three trials to earn an elixir that can regenerate their bodies.
The Chan sect is portrayed in an interesting way: a beacon of virtue that all strive to join. The imagery unmistakably refers to the US: their headquarters is an imposingly large white structure (and Ne Zha, while visiting it, hammers the point: "how white, how white, how white") that bears a striking resemblance to the Pentagon in its layout. Upon gaining membership to the Chan sect, you receive a jade green card emblazoned with an eagle that bears an uncanny resemblance to the US bald eagle symbol. And perhaps most telling is their prized weapon, a massive cauldron marked with the dollar sign...
Throughout the movie you gradually realize, in a very subtle way, that this paragon of virtue is, in fact, the true villain of the story. The Chan sect orchestrates a devastating attack on Chentang Pass—Ne Zha's hometown—while cunningly framing the Dragon King of the East Sea for the destruction. This manipulation serves their divide-and-conquer strategy, allowing them to position themselves as saviors while furthering their own power.
One of the most pointed moments comes when the Dragon King of the East Sea observes that the Chan sect "claims to be a lighthouse of the world but harms all living beings."
Beyond these explicit symbols, I was struck by how the film portrays the relationships between different groups. The dragons, demons, and humans initially view each other with suspicion, manipulated by the Chan sect's narrative. It's only when they recognize their common oppressor that they unite in resistance and ultimately win. The Chan sect's strategy of fostering division while presenting itself as the arbiter of morality is perhaps the key message of the movie: how power can be maintained through control of the narrative.
And as the story unfolds, Wuliang's true ambition becomes clear: complete hegemony. The Chan sect doesn't merely seek to rule—it aims to establish a system where all others exist only to serve its interests, where the dragons and demons are either subjugated or transformed into immortality pills in their massive cauldron. These pills are then strategically distributed to the Chan sect's closest allies (likely a pointed reference to the G7).
What makes Ne Zha 2 absolutely exceptional though is that these geopolitical allegories never overshadow the emotional core of the story, nor its other dimensions (for instance it's at times genuinely hilariously funny). This is a rare film that makes zero compromise, it's both a captivating and hilarious adventure for children and a nuanced geopolitical allegory for adults.
And the fact that a Chinese film with such unmistakable anti-American symbolism has become the highest-grossing animated film of all time globally is itself a significant geopolitical milestone. Ne Zha 2 isn't just breaking box office records—it's potentially rewriting the rules about what messages can dominate global entertainment.
"Despite Ne Zha 2’s success in China, it is unclear if the film will perform as well overseas. The plot relies to a large degree on familiarity with Chinese mythology and with the original Ne Zha film, which was released in 2019."
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/mar/16/ne-zha-2-animation-chinese-box-office-inside-out-2