Natalie N

Amazing, more mature, and more sophisticated and powerful than Ne Zha. I liked Ne Zha but felt it was very childish in parts and relied way too much on slapstick humor. Jiang Ziya was far more evolved not only thematically, but also visual storytelling and character development. Reviews that say this is "too violent", I do question if these people are also bringing the children they know to Marvel films. The 3D animation is also much improved from Ne Zha. The 2D animated prologue was really beautiful though and I almost wished they had gone with this style. Design of characters is also more sophisticated than American counterparts and I think it's a shame one of the reviews here compares this unfavourably to Dreamworks, who hasn't really produced any animated film worthy of note since The Prince of Egypt (1998). 3D animated films from Hollywood also tend to repeat character designs across studios and lack sophistication, always dumbing down themes, characters and storytelling for audiences, expecting that children are unable to absorb more complex ideas. Meanwhile Eastern animation---powered by the likes of Studio Ghibli, has never shied away from presenting darker themes and harder truths. If you think the "violence" in this film is unacceptable, then is Grave of the Fireflies (1988) and Princess Mononoke (1999) unacceptable too?