The Chinese cinema scene has had many gems, but historically these gems could only be found in relatively small budget independent productions. Diamonds in the rough, if you will. The Chinese blockbuster scene has long been... bleak, to say the least. But here we are, and it is in this context that I find the quality of this film to be kind of unbelievably good. The narrative structure, characters, writing, and animation are all astonishingly well done, and I was left particularly impressed by the very original interpretation of a classic folklore tale. The story of Ne Zha has been portrayed numerous times in the history of Chinese storytelling, yet this one did not obviously rehash them, which is a remarkable decision for a Chinese production. This film is a towering achievement for Chinese cinema.
