Le prince Nezha triomphe du roi dragon

The 25th Anniversary DVD of "Nezha Nao Hai" (Nezha Conquers the Dragon King) is REALLY a well-remastered DVD with (Chinese &) English subtitles! It totally wipes the floor with Disney's Mulan (just my personal fanatical opinion) in terms of Chinese fantasy art and, of course, kung-fu, animation.

In my opinion, this is REAL Peak Achievement of traditional Chinese animation because Shanghai Animation Film Studio built on the achievements of Uproar in Heaven (Da Hao Tian Gong, 1965) and threw in every visual and musical trick available to the studio in 1979.

And the English subtitles are quite well done, except in places where the translation is a bit too literal (i.e. doesn't flow in modern English). Of course, the English subs simplify the story in the sense that some nuances of the Chinese dialogue doesn't come through-- e.g when the red, black and white Dragon King greets the blue/green Dragon King as "Sire", the point that the blue/green Dragon King is the eldest brother is lost in translation.

But then the story is already simplified from the book (and Nezha's mother & 2 elder brothers never appear), so the film is only around 1 hour and is easy enough to follow without subs. But be warned! Unlike Uproar in Heaven which a happy ending to fit a film format (the Monkey King's adventures actually goes on for another 90 chapters or so), all the cruel elements of Nezha's story has been retained....

Here is a link to the you tube that contains this movie, the English version, it also contains the Mandarin version without subs (but original score). I used to watch this as a child too, when I was 5 or 6 (1995/6) but lost my copy.

It's a long forgotten gem, the plot (i think is an old Chinese fable) and the music score is fantastic. I don't think it is still produced for the UK market, however, I did hear of a 25th anniversary edition DVD being released in China.

Hope that helps a little.

Laurence

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Kty_rVj1Va8&mode=related&search=

Like many of the reviewers I thoroughly enjoy this odd Chinese animation. It is well animated and the sound track is particularly enjoyable. I watched this animation numerous times throughout my childhood without recoiling at any of the 'shocking' scenes nor considering it particularly 'disturbing'. That being said, I remember when I first went to University I showed the animation to a few friends and they found the animation to be very disturbing for an animation that children would have watched.

Given this, I would recommend any parent watches Nezha before allowing their kids to watch it. If you were okay with uncensored Dragonball and other Japanese animes then Nezha should be no problem.

I would thoroughly recommend it though - very enjoyable film, and highly memorable.

The English title is "Little Nezha" (Nai-ya), it tells the story of an emperor's wife laying an egg instead of giving birth, the emperor is outraged, however before he cuts the egg with his sword in anger, his son is born from the egg and givin special powers from a wise old man (Tai-yee) to battle the 5 dragon kings terrorising china.

This is superb traditional Chinese animation, the dubbing isn't amazing (what dubs are??), but acceptable. Kids and adults will enjoy this, though there is some shocking scenes, though I didn't mind them at all when I was a kid. The music alone is amazing, very atmospheric and memorable. Find this on VHS on ebay, I did!! You wont regret it.

My family (wife, young boy and girl) saw this on BBC TV one Christmas, (maybe 1990? - they'd have been 6 and 5 then) and videoed it. It has since become a staunch family favourite. Graphically superb and totally psychedelic, it is also one of the most spiritually moving and profound things I have ever seen. Good versus evil, in the form of a child with spirit guides, versus nasty dragons. Some of the lines are fantastic, too: "Now we can grow even more wicked - let's create some new diseases" - (just like they do at Porton Down in Wiltshire.

But that raises an interesting point - I've only ever seen it on sale with a Mandarin sound track, and English sub-titles - but the broadcast version was in English with no sub-titles. Anyone know anything about that? An absolute must-see for anyone with any sort of taste at all.