'Ne Zha 2:' 'If not accepted, I will overturn'

Ten years ago, I asked a friend in the Chinese animation industry – I'll call him James – why China hadn't developed its own distinctive style of animation in the same way that, say, Japan and South Korea had.

He looked a little melancholy, smiled and said, "Due to our complicated history, during the years from 1966 to 1976 almost everything in the animation industry – and many other creative fields – pretty much just stopped." He then added, "We lost our voice. And ever since then we've been trying to find it. It's been a slow process. But we'll get there."

I thought a lot about James while watching "Ne Zha 2" last weekend in New York City.

"Ne Zha 2" is a profoundly great film. It's funny. It's meaningful. And it's filled with so many images we've never seen before and that we'll never forget: A flying pig who carves effigies with knives held by his ears. Two armies crashing together like waves in the sky. And a boy who pees into a "fancy" urinal only to learn that it was a sacred urn for collecting ceremonial drinking water.

I was delighted by "Ne Zha 2" but I was not surprised. I have a long history of co-producing animated series in China including "Super Wings!" with The Alpha Group so I've seen first-hand the caliber of animation that Chinese teams can create. But "Super Wings!" was not a particularly Chinese show. It was essentially a hybrid of South Korean design, American storytelling and Chinese animation so, in the end, it had no unified voice. Culturally, it was a bit of a mess.

By contrast, "Ne Zha 2" is a purely Chinese film from the first frame of animation to the closing credits. It is rooted in Chinese legend and its cultural references – with the exception of a very funny "mirror, mirror on the wall" poke at Disney – are entirely Chinese. And the underlying theme of balancing responsibility to one's destiny with devotion to one's family is also uniquely Chinese. In years past, some have criticized Chinese animation for being derivative. "Ne Zha 2" is not derivative in any way. It is a wholly original Chinese film. It is, in fact, a timeless work of art.

While watching the movie, I couldn't help but compare the titular character of Ne Zha – a small, fearsome, rambunctious but good-hearted kid – to the rather scrappy and independent Chinese animation industry itself. The two have much in common. And the extraordinary success of "Ne Zha 2" – it has become the highest grossing animated film ever – is not just a triumph for the film's brilliant young director, Yang Yu, but it's a triumph for China's entire animation industry.

At the start of the film there's a scene in which a magnificent Dragon asks, "Maybe you had forgotten what I was capable of?" "Ne Zha 2," along with other recent Chinese success stories like the game Black Myth: Wukong and DeepSeek, have reminded the world exactly what China is capable of: Originality, sweeping vision and technical prowess.

This virtuosity may surprise some in the West, but it doesn't surprise the Chinese who've worked tirelessly for decades to develop their creative and tech industries and are now reaping their hard-earned rewards.

There's a line at the end of "Ne Zha 2" which keeps playing in my mind. It speaks directly to what James had said about China trying to find the voice it had lost during the "cultural revolution." Ne Zha says, with a firm and quiet confidence, "Now, I finally know how to move forward."

Josh Selig is the Founder and President of China Bridge Content (www.chinabridgecontent.com). He has won 12 Emmy Awards and was the Executive Producer of "Super Wings!" and many other hit global TV series. The views are his own.