Ne Zha 2

image for Ne Zha 2

Short takes

Not suitable under 12; parental guidance to 13 (violence, scary scenes, coarse language)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Ne Zha 2
  • a review of Ne Zha 2 completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 18 February 2025.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 12 Not suitable due to high level of violence, scary scenes and coarse language.
Children aged 12–13 Parental guidance recommended due to violence and coarse language.
Children aged 14 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Ne Zha 2
Classification: M
Consumer advice lines: Animated fantasy violence
Length: 144 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Based on Chinese mythology, Ne Zha (voice of Joseph) is a demon orb born of the fire element. His friend Ao Bing (Mo Han) is of the water element. The two sacrifice themselves and their bodies are destroyed but their spirits remain. Taiyi Zhenren (Jiamin Zhang) plans to reform their bodies using the power of the lotus flower. Ao Bing’s body fails, however, but his spirit enters into Ne Zha’s body where the two spirits inhabit. Ne Zha soon learns that by taking a sleeping pill, he can transform into Ao Bing, who has better fighting skills.

A wicked Master Shen (Wei Yang) is plotting to achieve dominance over all of the various factions, and he uses his fierce dragons to achieve this. When Chentung Pass is destroyed and all of the people there killed, Ne Zha believes his parents are among the dead. Now enraged, he sets out to destroy all of those who have wronged him and to revenge the death of his parents.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Chinese mythology; Fantasy; Monsters, Demons and Dragons; Revenge; Magic; Betrayal.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is a lot of violence in this movie including continual martial arts-style fighting, using kicking, punching, throwing, swords, axes, bows and arrows. Some other examples include:

  • Shen breaks off a dragon’s claw and creates a sky splitting thunder whip. He cracks the whip causing streams of fire to pour from the sky to the earth.
  • The abyss monsters fight each other with rocks to break their limbs.
  • Ne Zha is seen on fire, screaming.
  • Ne Zha has a game of shuttlecock with his father and throws him into a wall during the game.
  • Shen freezes the water, and in so doing, he freezes his own arm, which breaks off.
  • Shen’s brother, as a large cat, attacks Ao Bing, biting him on the arm.
  • A master is hit by a golden arrow, which causes him to cough up blood. He tries to run away but collapses, coughing up more blood, and he dies.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • Many very scary monsters, dragons, creatures, etc,
  • Lots of loud noises, explosions, fire balls, etc.
  • Shen is a scary character, tall, thin, dressed in black with long fingers and nails, and is very menacing.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • Taiyi tries to reconstruct the bodies by breathing fire into Ne Zha. Ao Bing’s body disintegrates back into a fluid form.
  • The dragons are kept underground, constrained by chains. They are, in turn, in charge of the sea monsters below them.
  • A large octopus has blades on its tentacles.
  • Ne Zha is a very angry character who shouts often at others.
  • One of the dragons turns into an immortal sea dragon king, who is Ao Bing’s father. He can get very angry and fierce.
  • Master Wuliang has a very large head. He doesn’t walk but floats on a cloud.
  • Shen has a younger brother who can turn into a large cat.
  • Chentung Pass is completely destroyed – lava is burning everywhere and there are lots of dead bodies. Ne Zha cries out for his parents but only finds his mum’s helmet. In his mind, he sees her dying in a sword fight. Ne Zha is so distraught, he burns his pet pig.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • Ao Bing kicks Shen into the water, which rises up in a large wave. Shen’s eyes turn blue and he transforms into electric currents and speaks in a very loud, scary voice. He freezes the seawater.
  • Ne Zha sees his Mum and Dad calling him – he cries.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

  • None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • Ne Zha drops his pants to have a pee and his bare buttocks are seen.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Shen is offered some liquor at a meal, which he refuses at first, then drinks it all from the carafe.
  • Pills are used to transform Ne Zha into Ao Bing.
  • Ne Zha is looking for an elixir, which he believes will mend his friend.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Bastards
  • Damn
  • Piss
  • Screw you
  • What the hell?
  • Crap
  • Name calling such as:
    • Boneheads
    • Arrogant spoilt brat
    • You suck
    • Idiot.

In a nutshell

Ne Zha 2 is an animated fantasy movie based on Chinese mythology. The graphics are visually stunning, however, the film is very violent throughout and quite intense. It is also in Mandarin with English subtitles and Western audiences unfamiliar with the Chinese mythological origin story may find it difficult to fully comprehend. The film is therefore not suitable for children under 12 and more suited to older children and teens.

The main messages from this movie are that you control your own fate, which isn’t a heavenly plan; and that you have the power to determine the person you want to be.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Courage
  • Determination
  • Perseverance
  • Self-discipline and control.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Ne Zha’s parents are fair, loving and forgiving of their highly-strung child, showing that a familial bond is strong regardless of character and nature.