Ne Zha Blu-ray Review
Michael A. Smith
May 27th, 2020
Before I begin let me preface this review by stating that this is the kind of film I rarely see. Not that I don’t enjoy the genre’, it’s just that I’m pretty sure the majority of these films aren’t made with a 59 year old man in mind. That being said, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed NE ZHA.
As the film begins we are introduced to two brothers, Taiyi Shenren and Shen Gongbao. They are as different as night and day. Taiyi prefers drinking heavily and traveling on his flying pig. He is pretty much the “human” equivalent of Po, the cuddly, Jack Black-voiced title character of the KUNG FU PANDA films. Shen is the opposite, and you can’t help but sense the evil inside him. They have come together to battle an item known as the Chaos Pearl. Failing to defeat their nemesis, the Peal is split into two parts, each signifying either good or evil: the Spirit Pearl (good) and the Demon Pill (bad). I’m actually sure the latter should be called the Demon PEARL but that is how it’s identified in the subtitles. Each item has a planned journey. The Spirit Pearl is meant to help reincarnate the third son of Li Jing and his wife, Lady Yin while the Demon Pill/Pearl’s fate is to be destroyed in three years. Speaking of three years, this apparently is how long Lady Yin has been pregnant. Things go badly when, instead of the Spirit Pearl, the Demon Pill/Pearl is utilized during the birth. The off-spring is a strange looking boy they name Ne Zha.
Beautifully animated and much funnier than I expected, NE ZHA is a story whose plot points best be forgotten less the viewer strains his mind trying to put everything together. Though he is destined for evil (at least for three years when, we discover, he will be destroyed by a bolt of lightning) Ne Zha’s mother thinks that she can change his career path by raising him in a loving and supportive home. Yet no matter what she does or how she dotes on the young boy, he grows up a pretty bad egg. The ensuing adventures, taking our main characters into various fantasy lands, is entertaining to watch if you continue to ignore the film’s terrible plot continuity.
As I mentioned above, the film is subtitled (sadly I do not speak Mandarin) but the voice actors tackling the parts are quite good. Unfortunately I could not find a credit crawl for who provided the dubbed voices but they are all invested in their characters and add to the humor of the film, which sometimes does not translate from one language to another. Though pretty convoluted, the story somehow manages to flow pretty smoothly and the beautiful animation and enjoyable music score keep the film consistently entertaining. As I noted above, this is definitely the kind of film I would seek out on my own, but that being said, I’m glad that I had the chance to watch it.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: The film is presented in its original 2:39:1 aspect ratio and is as bright and colorful as a bag of Skittles.
Audio: The English soundtrack is available in both Dolby ATMOS and Dolby TrueHD 7.1 and sounds fine. The voices are well recorded and mix in well with the musical soundtrack.
Three trailer for the film, including both the US and International versions of the theatrical release trailer.
