Watches
April 21, 2022
Another part of the Nezha story. It's a popular bit of folklore that has been featured endlessly these past couple of years. I have to admit though that I'm still not really on board with the broader storyline. Not that it matters an awful lot, apart from a short Nezha cameo in the end, this could've been a stand-alone film.
From what I gather, this is a prequel, with the titular Li Jing being on of Nezha's ancestors (maybe even his father?). He descends from Kunlun mountain to investigate increased demon activity in the human world. With a ragtag band of friends, he is supposed to stop the resurrection of the demon King, not an easy task for the inexperienced Jing.
This is more signature iQiyi streaming fare. The CG isn't that great, other than that it's a lot of fun. A short runtime, excellent pacing, lots of folklore and fantasy elements and quite a bit of action. It's simple genre cinema, that benefits from lessons learned from earlier films. It appears China was smart enough to copy the right bits from the Hong Kong film industry.