Poster © Beijing Enlight Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreFeature film
RatedPG-13
Runtime2 hr 24 mins
ReleasedJanuary 29, 2025
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorJiaozi
StarringLü Yanting, Han Mo, Lu Qi
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Ne Zha 2 (2025)
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| Ne Zha 2's Details | |
| Genre | Feature film |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Released | 01/29/2025 (China) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 24 mins |
| Budget | $80M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | Investiture of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin |
| Country | China |
| Language | Mandarin |
| Ne Zha 2's Interests | |
| General | Chinese legend, sacred lotuses, dragon kings, immortality trials, Chentang Pass, roommate drama. |
| Music | Roc Chen, Wan Pin Chu and Rui Yang. |
| Movies | Ne Zha (2019). Required viewing before the trials begin. |
| Television | Avatar: The Last Airbender. Kids with big powers and even bigger destinies. |
| Heroes | Taiyi Zhenren. Spent his best lotus on two kids. Master of the year. |
| Ne Zha 2's Crew | |
| Director | Jiaozi |
| Writers | Jiaozi |
| Producers | Liu Wenzhang, Wang Jing |
| Cinematography | Shi Chaoqun |
| Music | Wan Pin Chu, Rui Yang, Roc Chen |
| Edited By | Lin Qiuying |
| Production | Chengdu Coco Cartoon, Beijing Enlight Media, Beijing Enlight Pictures, Chengdu Zizai Jingjie Culture Media, Beijing Coloroom Technology |
| Distributed By | Beijing Enlight Pictures, A24, CMC Pictures (United States) |
Ne Zha 2 runs 144 minutes, and in the biggest battles the screen gets so crowded with dragons, demons and armies that you can lose track of who’s hitting whom. One Chinese outlet also knocked the plot for lacking suspense, and the big betrayal is easy to see coming. Then it wins you over. Jiaozi picks up right after the 2019 film: Ne Zha and the dragon prince Ao Bing have lost their bodies, the rebuilt ones are fragile, and to stop a war the two have to share Ne Zha’s body while passing three trials for immortality. That shared-body setup is the engine. Ne Zha is a demon-born brat, Ao Bing is a proper prince, and stuffing them into one kid is a great comedy machine. The animation is a flex, with set pieces so huge they fill the whole sky. In North America alone it made $23.3 million. An 8.3 because the scale is staggering and the heart survives. $942 says you call your next chore list the three trials and expect a prize at the end.
What works: The animation is spectacular, the body-sharing comedy between Ne Zha and Ao Bing is a blast, and the story still finds real heart under all the noise.
What doesn’t: At 144 minutes the biggest battles get cluttered, and the plot’s big betrayal is easy to spot long before the characters catch on.
Who it’s for: Anyone who loved the 2019 film, and animation fans who want scale they’ve never seen before.
Spoilers
Immortal Wuliang, the leader of the heavenly sect, is the real villain: he ordered the attack on Chentang Pass and pinned the blame on the dragons. Ne Zha is reborn in the fire of Wuliang’s giant cauldron, and he and Ao Bing break it open and drive Wuliang off, setting up more to come.
Picking up where the 2019 hit left off, the demon-born boy Ne Zha (Lü Yanting) and dragon prince Ao Bing (Han Mo) have had their bodies blasted apart by heavenly lightning. Their master Taiyi Zhenren (Zhang Jiaming) burns through a sacred lotus to rebuild them, but the new bodies are fragile. Ao Bing's father, Dragon King Ao Guang (Li Nan), thinks his son is gone and brings war to Chentang Pass. The deal to end it: the boys share Ne Zha's body for seven days and pass three trials set by Immortal Wuliang (Wang Deshun). Jiaozi writes and directs. One hundred forty-four minutes, two souls, one tiny body.
Anyone who has ever shared a room with a sibling. Now picture sharing a body.
| Lü Yanting | |
| Han Mo | |
| Lu Qi | |
| Zhang Jiaming | |
| Wang Deshun | |
| Zhuo Yongxi |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 19 October 2026 DataBot +440 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $2.27B; Domestic box office $23.3M; Opening weekend $7.7M; Profit / loss (est.) +$1.02B; Rotten Tomatoes 91%; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 91% (80 reviews); Metacritic 68 / 100; Rotten Tomatoes audience 98% (1,000+ verified ratings); IMDb users 7.9 / 10 (26,199 votes); movie.guru score 8.8.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 19 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.