New Gods: Nezha Reborn Parent Guide

Li Yunxiang (Stephen Fu) grew up on the mean streets of Donghai City, a metropolis controlled by the ruthless De Clan and under tight water rationing. To make ends meet, Yunxiang has taken up work smuggling essential goods on his motorcycle, but increasing scrutiny and shrinking water supplies mean that something will have to change if the city is to survive.

Following an altercation with Ao Bing (Aleks Le), the son of Ao Guang (Andrew Kishino), leader of the De Clan, Yunxiang learns that he is the reincarnation of the ancient deity Nezha, and a long-time enemy of the Clan. Exciting though it might be, this revelation isn’t going to solve his problems. Yunxiang is now in more danger, and unless he can harness his powers, the De Clan is going to destroy him, his family, and most of Donghai City. His only hope is a mysterious masked man (Jason Ko), a demon living in anonymity who can teach him how to tap into Nezha’s incredible power… but the clock is ticking.

Ok, first things first: This is not a sequel to 2019’s Ne Zha. Don’t go into this expecting the same style, characterizations, or quality. They have different studios, directors, and casts. And, unfortunately for Nezha Reborn, the 2019 version is considerably better in almost every way.

Nezha Reborn has a few major problems and a whole heap of minor ones. The big problems are in the pacing, writing, and editing. These conspire to give the film a near-fatal case of third-act-drag, because the structure of those first two acts cruises along…and then promptly downshifts into neutral for some internal character struggles. This also plays into the other problem: demographics. On Netflix, this movie is rated TV-14, I expect primarily for the violence, which is also the only major concern for parents. But I can’t imagine a 14-year-old who wants to sit through a film this obviously geared at 10-year-olds. The characters are, optimistically, two-dimensional, and the story is predictable.

I imagine that part of the problem, for me at least, is simply a lack of familiarity with Chinese mythology. But I don’t dislike this movie because I don’t understand the 3000+ year history of the Dragon King of the East. I dislike it because it bumbles around, bouncing story elements off of underdeveloped characters, and wasting my time. While I clearly can’t speak to the mythological accuracy, for raw entertainment value you’d do better with 2019’s Ne Zha.