[Weekly Update] Creation of the Gods II + Ne Zha II

If I have a dollar for every Nezha movie I've seen this month, I'll have two dollars, not enough to pay taxes on movie popcorns in this economy, but still.

CHANNEL UPDATE

Next Video:
Editing for our next film is complete. Now I just need to finish the subtitles and the thumbnails. The complete project comes out to about 18 minutes, not as long as I thought, but still a pretty big for our channel standards. A lot of the details about our research process were left in the cutting room floor, buried under piles of Dorito dusts. Next update, I think I'll just talk about all the nuances of the cited sources.

March Video:
As stated before, we'll be doing something fairly simple for March, and talk about African Kung-Fu Nazis. Maybe I'll also talk about African cinema in the process, or talk briefly about Ghanaian cinema.
The point is, I want to save some production time for our April Fool's video, in which we talk about Chinese swear words in movies.

Bonus Video:
Honestly no idea what movies to talk about for this Month. I'll probably do something robot related, since Ai has been in my mind for the past few days. But if you have any suggestions, let me know!

MEDIA TALK

If I have a dollar... wait I already said that.

Don't worry, this review doesn't contain any spoilers.

Writing this inside the movie theater on a Tuesday so I can give you my thoughts right away. Chinese New Year month is coming to an end, and two movies emerged as the biggest winner of the year: Creation of the Gods II, and Ne Zha 2. Despite the cold and the snow storm, I managed to watched both films in theaters. So here are my reviews.

Overall, it is good to see Chinese blockbuster films not only doing well, but also strongly cater towards local Chinese audience, even at the risk of alienating foreign viewers. We have previously discussed this topic when I was talking about Her Story. And while neither Creation nor Nezha are that localized, it nevertheless is very Chinese. The sense of aesthetic, the pursue of a large scale epic, the choice of music, and the meme humor are all partially lost to a Western audience. Even me, as someone who is familiar with Chinese films, can feel a little alienating.

Let's get into the specifics. Creation of the Gods II is a fair sequel, though not as good as the first one. Unlike the first film, which has limited action sequences and mostly focuses on character drama, the second film is nearly entirely action scenes. While the action is pretty decent and inventive, it isn't something Chinese audience haven't seen. This led to a bit of a lukewarm reception. Filmgoers walk out of the theaters satisfied, but have not much to say about it.

The one good thing from the film, I think, is the lead actress. With director Wuershan being ethnically Mongolian, he took extra care in casting ethnic minority actors. Narana Erdyneeva who plays the fox spirit in both films is actually a Buryat descent Russian actress. And Nashi, the actress who plays the general in the second film, is ethnic mongolian, with beautiful facial feature that challenges traditional Chinese beauty conventions.

That is not to say Chinese people don't find her beautiful. It is just that she isn't the type of beauty most Chinese people are used to. That, combined with her ethnic minority background, brings a new flavor that people didn't know they wanted. And broaden beauty definition is most definitely a good thing. This change, however, is lost to most audience in the West, as to Western beauty standards, she is just beautiful, with no added context.

Ne Zha 2 may appear similar to a filmgoers from the West. This is one hyped up animated action film, with scores of fight scenes. That may not sound like much, but think back to the animated films you've scene before, how many of them have satisfying fights, and how many of them have full on war scenes?

In this sense, Ne Zha is breaking new grounds for Chinese animation by carving out a genre that few other industries have attempted. Japan has plenty of action anime, but in the niche that is 3D animated action epic, the Chinese film industry is leading, and Ne Zha is one hell of a flex.

This, however, is contrasted against past Chinese animated efforts, many of which aimed for a more late teen audience, with stories that feel more angsty and mature. Because of that, Chinese animation tend to be quiet artsy, or at least the genre attempts to be. For the most part, it was the blockbuster, the mainstream entertainment that's lacking when compare to other industries. And Ne Zha 2 is sort of a statement to show that, yes, China can do mainstream entertainment, too.

However, to an audience from the US and Canada who are familiar with entertainment films, Ne Zha 2 will appear as overhyped. For filmgoers in the West who are willing to check out foreign films, they are more than likely hoping to see something different. With that expectation, Ne Zha 2 may fall flat.

Anyway, that is my current thought on these two films. It's becoming easier and harder to recommend Chinese films. Easier, because they are getting better each year. Harder, because it require more and more cultural context to fully appreciate the films. I supposed that's my job, right? To introduce these films to you?

Well, we are still just 2 months into 2025, and I already have so many movies I want to share. Can't wait to give you more of my thoughts!