There has been less blogging with some pretty big life changes coming up (including a new [but not so new] job), so here's a quick post to get back into the swing. It's been some time since I have done a movie review (e.g. for Gods of Egyptin 2016, and Aladdin et al. in 2019, so here's one on Nezha 2, viewed in IMAX at Shaw Theatres Lido.
I went for this without having watched the first instalment in what looks destined to be a drawn-out series (I'm holding out for the Nezha vs. Wukong crossover), and to be honest, I was pretty impressed - less by the CGI effects, though they were certainly grand and polished, but by the pacing and humour. Such cultural power by "soft persuasion" has been a department in which China has... not covered themselves in glory previously (a consequence of having a captive audience that's not exactly gonna be able to disagree with whatever messaging is being put out, under a one-party state), but they're getting a lot better, if box-office sales are any indication. It's already the highest-grossing animated film of all time, and fifth overall (above all the Star Wars flicks, to put this accomplishment in some perspective)
The above could be slightly discounted by the fact that nearly all of its earnings (i.e. over US$2 billion of... US$2.1 billion) have been from the domestic market thus far, but let's not take too much away from this eminently-watchable action-comedy. It documents the bipolar hero (with accompanying sleep and dissociative disorders) struggle between the conflicting identities of demon and dragon, which is not resolved by his initial whole-body plastic surgery makeover.
The story begins proper when his icy buddy literally perishes on the operating table (fine, a lotus-shaped table) after the unaccredited surgeon doesn't go heavy enough on the anesthesia, and after said buddy's dad threatens to escalate the matter up the chain of command, Nezha decides to enable a redo by winning the McGuffin, which involves passing three tests (the first trope of many). The first test involves Nezha beating up a bunch of adorable marmots, and after the next test has him chop the hand off an elderly kindergarten teacher in front of his horrified young students, Nezha begins to have serious doubts about whether he is the good guy after all.
The anti-hero turn comes with a "Hello, my name is Nezha/Shen Gongbao/Ao Guang. You killed my father/master/son, prepare to die" triple combo special, in which miscellaneous family members are offed in quick succession to build up the stakes (one supposes possible CCP influence in emphasizing traditional familial ties and filial piety here, rather than the casual romances so prevalent in Western offerings). Enraged, Nezha goes on to kick the (admittedly large) behind of a lady of leisure minding her own business in her mountain retreat (hey, we never said that Nezha was a positive role model), concurrent with a Seafood Lives Matter uprising under the ocean. There's a heartwarming moment as the rehabilitated Red Dragon Army (more possible symbolism) troops exchange tako karaage and shark fin soup between themselves, before beating off the conniving White hegemons - or is that reading too much into it?
While it has been said that Nezha 2is best enjoyed with a deep understanding of its Chinese underpinnings, it takes care to throw in (and up) some universal fart and pee jokes; local Sichuan pride aside, there are numerous references (or maybe even rip-offs, if more uncharitably put) to global popular culture. For example, how can one miss the spin on the Evil Queen's famous scene in Snow White (or is it Fashionably Light Mochanowadays?), where she questions her faithful magic mirror as to whether she is the "fairest of them all" (or, in these wokeist DEIs, the most fabulously tanned of all)?
Telling the truth doesn't pay...
And, in these trying times of rising unemployment and anti-immigrant sentiment, it's nice to see fellas reinvent themselves:
