Ne Zha, to rhyme with Treasure, is a landmark piece of Chinese animation, the first from that country in IMAX, made by debut feature director Jiaozi in his own studio, using voice talent that no one had ever heard of.
There is more back story to Jiaozi – a nickname, real name is Yang Yu – enough for a hundred magazine rags-to-riches feature pieces. Suffice to say he went from living with his widowed mother on her pension to making the highest-grossing film in mainland China in 2019 via a couple of shorts not many people ever saw, then followed up with a sequel, Ne Zha 2, which also broke records.
The nickname, which translates as “dumpling”, is telling. Something that’s understood in both western and eastern cultures, it’s the signifier of Jiaozi’s intent, which is to make films that work for Chinese people on their own terms, but include elements that make them accessible to westerners. Who doesn’t like a dumpling?
The story is lifted from Chinese folk legends, via a 16th-century novel, and tells of a child who is brought up believing he is the reincarnation of the benign Spirit Pearl. He isn’t, and his parents have strong suspicions that this is the case. But they raise him lovingly, fearfully, keeping him away from the villagers, who also fear this ugly little weirdo with a squiggle on his forehead, who is in fact the reincarnation of the Demon Pill, thanks to some mystical shenanigans on the part of the Dragon King, who dwells at the bottom of the ocean.
It’s a complex and sometimes bewildering plot with a lot of key characters, though it’s probably less confusing if you’ve come across it before (as many Chinese people will have done). Jiaozi sweetens the pill with familiar bolt-ons, like sidekicks of the sort that Disney specialise in. Particularly Taiyi Zhenren, a chubby, gluttonous comedic chum for Ne Zha. A blocky, quasi-Disney style of animation. An obvious quest structure. Ao Bing, a horned master of martial arts and Ne Zha’s virtuous counterpart. Tiny moments, like the Terminator theme music playing as Ne Zha is born in fire, designed to raise a smile and make westerners like me feel a little bit loved.
It’s ruder than Disney – snot, piss, farts – and with dragons in the air quite often and lots of lore in the ether, there’s a flavour of Game of Thrones about the whole thing.
I listened to the English dub, which is very good. Jordan Cole – maybe 12 when he did this – makes for a lively and expressive Ne Zha, without wallowing in self-pity or getting too cute. Cole is inside his character, as are the rest of the voice cast, which really helps. What also helps are breakout moments of imaginative animation, when Jiaozi leaves cartoon reality behind and focuses on the beauty of water, the texture of air, clouds, snow and flames. It’s easy to overdo this sort of thing and digress into artsiness but he gets the balance right.
Really, he’s aiming for the epic – how a child comes of age and embraces who he is, while forces beyond his control whirl around him. He achieves it, and right near the end ascends into a glorious sequence involving Ne Zha doing spectacular feats while choirs chorus heroically, dragons circle and smoke and light cascade.
There is an analogue of the Jesus or Buddha stories, or Harry Potter, to be found in here – a child marked out by destiny rising to the challenge – which gives the whole thing a universality that’s undeniable. Clever Jiaozi.
Ne Zha – Watch it/buy it at Amazon
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© Steve Morrissey 2026
