The 2019 phenomenon-level national comic film "Nezha's Devil Boy Descending" hit a box office of 5 billion yuan, not only ranking first in the list of animated films, but also becoming the runner-up in the history of the mainland box office.
Fire into such a way, perhaps even the producer Light Media's color strip house and director Dumpling did not dare to think at the beginning.
The same is the Nezha IP, before the release of this "New God List: Nezha Rebirth" produced by Chasing Light Animation, it will be questioned that it is rubbing the heat of "Nezha's Demon Child Descending".
However, in fact, the time of the establishment of the two projects is similar, it is two parallel creative timelines, but "The Magic Boy Descends" is released in front.
Zhao Ji, the director of "New God List: Nezha Reborn", is the director of another word-of-mouth animation in 2019, "White Snake: Origins". Covered up by the dazzling light of "The Magic Boy Descending", "White Snake" only got more than 400 million at the box office.
Now that the original team of the main creator of "White Snake" has made a comeback, in the face of the crushing of the color strip house that year, can the light-chasing animation win back a city?
This article contains spoilers.
1
Whether it is "The Magic Boy Descending" or "Nezha Reborn", it is a new bottle of old wine on the basis of the Nezha myth, which is also the inevitable creation of the ancient mythological IP of the national comic. "The Return of the Great Sage", "Jiang Ziya", and "White Snake" are all beyond the box.
The "newness" of "Nezha Reborn" lies in the creativity of the overhead world view. Compared with the interpretation of the original story of "The Magic Boy Descending", "Nezha Reborn" is more radical.
Using the concept of "reincarnation" in mythology to the extreme, directly placing the background of the era in the modern or near future with high-rise buildings and advanced science and technology, the protagonist becomes Li Yunxiang, who is reincarnated in Nezha.
Created out of thin air, Donghae City presents a unique visual style with its distinct cyberpunk style and cultural conformity and elements mixed into the Eastern way. According to the director himself, Donghae City is a blend of Manhattan in the 1920s and 1930s and the traditional Chinese Beach in the Republic of China.
At this time, Donghai City was ruled by four major families represented by the Dexing Group of the Dragon King of the East Sea, and controlled the fresh water resources. Ordinary people live in the depths of the water, and the unruly Li Yunxiang has become a teenager who loves motorcycles, does smuggling, and occasionally resists the powerful.
And around Li Yunxiang, there are more fathers, brothers, friends, and beautiful girls who are devoted to him and to others.
As the reincarnated Nezha, Li Yunxiang's feud with the East Sea Dragon King is naturally the main line of contradictions and conflicts in the film. The struggle between Li Yunxiang and Ao Bing, the third prince of the Dragon King, still continues the plot trend of thousands of years ago, and the two are doomed to an end as soon as they meet.
With the death and injury of the people around Li Yuanxiang, his contradictions with Ao Bing and the Dragon King continued to escalate. Under the guidance and inspiration of another mysterious figure, he finally realized his identity as the reincarnation of Nezha and grew into a hero who spoke for the people's position and shouldered the responsibility of saving the lives of the people.
2
Making an article on "new" is the obvious creative direction of "Nezha Reborn".
In addition to the "new" of these eras and urban backgrounds, the film starts more from the differences between Li Yunxiang and Nezha to create a new image of Nezha.
The most intuitive difference is that Nezha is a child stepping on a hot wheel, and Li Yunxiang is a dancing teenager wearing a leather jacket and driving a motorcycle.
In addition, it is also necessary to highlight the characteristics and even shortcomings of Nezha through the mouths of others -- selfishness, arrogance, willful arrogance, Buddha blocking the killing of Buddha, God blocking the killing of God's calamity star.
Although Li Yunxiang is also rebellious and unruly, compared with Nezha who cares about the lives of the people and confronts his parents, Li Yunxiang also has a filial piety to his father, brotherhood to his brother, righteousness to his friends, compassion for his sister and love for female doctors. There is also a soft side to the enemy.
It is precisely these characteristics that make Li Yunxiang not only the reincarnation of Nezha, but also a mortal with a more sincere sense of truth from Nezha.
Of course, what Li Yunxiang and Nezha have in common is an innate sense of justice. This is also the basis for Li Yunxiang and Nezha to eventually become one to save all sentient beings, and it can be said that Nezha has achieved self-growth and sublimation through Li Yunxiang.
The appearance of the character of Sun Wukong is also a major novelty of this film.
In various types of anime, the image of Monkey King has been too much. But this Masked, Mixed-and-Match, Fragmented, Spiritual Mentor Sun Wukong is really refreshing. His coexistence and interaction with Nezha added a lot of points of view.
Under the "new" attempt, the main creator did not forget to pay tribute to the old version of the animation "Nezha Noisy Sea".
The film is interspersed with several scenes reminiscing about Nezha in the past life, using a two-dimensional painting style with a little ink, and the image of Nezha's white-clad child is no different from "Nezha Noisy Sea". At the same time, the thrilling clip of Nezha's self-murder is reproduced.
3
If you use one word to describe the "New God List: Nezha Reborn", it is "burning".
The rhythm of the film is extremely tight, the opening car chase scene, several consecutive big battle scenes, the final underwater climax scene, the action and scene design are dazzling and dizzying.
The battle with Ao Bing reproduces the classic bridge section of the dragon tendon, and has a different feeling because of the setting of the mechanical dragon tendon.
In fact, throughout the whole movie, you can easily find that the creators led by director Zhao Ji have a strong straight male attribute.
Whether it is Nezha's locomotive complex, the mech worn during battle, or the wasteland city setting of cyberpunk, fierce battle fighting, it is the manifestation of this straight male attribute.
In addition, the image design of several female characters in the film, the cute and playful Kasha, the sexy and beautiful Dr. Su, the charming and cold female villain Caiyun Girl, and the maid next to Ao Bing, are all typical two-dimensional women who are beautiful as flowers, hot figures, convex and backward, and coolly dressed.
And Li Yunxiang, as the reincarnation of Nezha itself, is nothing more than a superhero who grew up in the city and wants to protect the city. Li Yunxiang is to the East Sea, just as Batman is to Gotham, and Spider-Man is to New York.
There's nothing wrong with you chalking it down to superhero movies, and Chinese movies need such superheroes as well.
The light-chasing animation is also like the color strip house, opening its own "Fengshen Animation" universe. Caitiaowu's "Jiang Ziya" is in front again, but unfortunately, the word of mouth and box office are far less than "Nezha's Devil Boy Descending".
In the Easter egg of "Nezha Rebirth", the next one that can already see the chasing light is the Erlang god Yang Jian. At the same time, its "White Snake" series will also continue, followed by the robbery of the green snake. Stylistically, like "Nezha Reborn", these mythological characters are reconstructed with the modern background.
"Nezha Reborn" and "The Demon Boy Descending into the World" have their own advantages, and the quality is superior. However, the latter's timing and place are favorable, and "Nezha Reborn" is difficult to have, and it is impossible to recreate the box office miracle of "The Magic Boy Descending", which is really emotional.