HBO Max just added an epic animated film that shattered box office records in 2025

[ad_1] Ne Zha 2 is without doubt one of the finest animated motion pictures I’ve seen in 2025. Sure, that features anime like Demon Slayer: Infinity Fort and Chainsaw Man Film — Reze Arc, and sure, even KPop Demon Hunters and all the opposite nominations for Finest Animated Characteristic on the Golden Globe Awards. It was initially launched in China on January 29 to coincide with the Lunar New Yr, and it was an authorized hit, grossing greater than $2.2 billion worldwide on an $80 million finances. Ne Zha 2 is the highest-grossing animated and non-English-language movie of all time, the primary animated movie to surpass $2 billion, and the top-grossing launch of 2025, rating fifth on the all-time box-office chart. And but, as 2025 attracts to an in depth, the film feels considerably neglected exterior of its native China.

With Ne Zha 2’s English dub, distributed by A24, arriving on HBO Max on Dec. 20, now’s the right time to catch a landmark animated movie that treats Chinese language mythology with the identical reverence and explosive motion as Dragon Ball, whereas delivering honest emotional classes, usually proper in the midst of essentially the most sophomoric gross-out jokes conceivable.

Ne Zha 2 doubles down on the emotional core that made its 2019 predecessor Ne Zha resonate, framing epic, world-shaking battles round intimate fears of loss, failure, and love. Author-director Jiao Zi continues the story of demon-boy Ne Zha and dragon warrior Ao Bing, whose bond of friendship is examined by inconceivable selections as gods, dragons, and former allies collide. As Ao Bing as soon as once more offers his life to guard Ne Zha’s residence, Ne Zha absorbs his pal’s spirit and embarks on a dangerous quest to revive his physique, turning the movie’s colossal clashes into expressions of sorrow, wrath, religion, and the determined want to guard these we love.

<img width="1650" height="692" loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="Ne Zha, the child protagonist of the animated feature Ne Zha and Ne Zha 2, charges toward the camera, snarling, in a burst of flames" data-img-url="https://static0.polygonimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Nezha.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2" src="https://static0.polygonimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Nezha.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2" class="img-brightness-opt-out"/> Picture: Beijing Enlight Photos One of many issues I really like about Ne Zha 2 is how intentionally it builds on the unique film’s themes. Relatively than stopping when the protagonist learns to just accept himself, the sequel pushes him towards full self-ownership, demanding he embrace each flaw, energy, and contradiction with out compromise. Ne Zha and the primary movie’s villain, Shen Gongbao, arrive on the identical fact from reverse paths: It’s higher to reside actually than to grow to be what others anticipate. Gongbao finally learns to reside as much as his rules, whereas Ne Zha realizes he by no means wanted to be something however himself. Fittingly, the movie’s true villain thrives on hypocrisy and lies, underscoring that fact is stronger than pretense. Even Jiao Zi’s unapologetic embrace of crude humor feels purposeful, mirroring Ne Zha’s journey towards absolutely proudly owning who he's.

The movie can be a visually breathtaking spectacle, that includes full-fledged photorealistic CG and eclectic battles that at instances rival Dragon Ball Z's emotional depth. The choreography is unbelievable and will compete among the many finest anime fights of 2025. Ne Zha 2 proves that CGI has matured into its personal artwork kind, able to capturing detailed actions in a means solely this expertise can.

Regardless of the motion and complicated subject material, that is nonetheless a PG-13 film with humor geared toward youngsters: There are sufficient gross-out gags to make dignified aristocrats scoff. The movie contains booger and poop jokes, a boy who drinks a cauldron of disgusting stew, vomits it again up, then drinks it once more, and scenes the place highfalutin aristocrats daintily sip glasses of urine-infused water. The world-shaking battles and the body-effluvia humor ought to conflict, but it surely all coincides with Ne Zha accepting who he's, a demon youngster with a mood and a crass humorousness.

<img width="750" height="1050" loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="Ne Zha 2, the highest grossing animated movie ever, pits breathtaking spectacle against fart gags" data-img-url="https://static0.polygonimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/NeZha2Poster.jpg?q=70&fit=crop&w=750&dpr=1" src="https://static0.polygonimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/NeZha2Poster.jpg?q=70&fit=crop&w=750&dpr=1" class="img-brightness-opt-out"/> Picture: CMC Photos Ne Zha 2 is an achievement in filmmaking, and that’s earlier than we speak about all of the accolades and box-office numbers. However in some way, it received misplaced within the shuffle throughout a big yr for animation: one the place Demon Slayer beat Superman on the field workplace, Zootopia 2 crushed launch data, and KPop Demon Hunters turned the most important animated IP since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Make certain to take a look at Ne Zha 2 for the vacation season. If you happen to haven’t seen the primary movie, it’s additionally out there on HBO Max, and it’s streaming on Tubi at no cost.