Nezha Conquers the Dragon King

Nezha Conquers the Dragon King (simplified Chinese: 哪吒闹海; traditional Chinese: 哪吒鬧海; pinyin: Nézhà Nào Hǎi; lit. 'Nezha fights the sea') is a 1979 Chinese animated fantasy film produced by Shanghai Animation Film Studio.

Nezha Conquers the Dragon King
Traditional哪吒鬧海
Simplified哪吒闹海
Directed by
  • Wang Shuchen
  • Yan Dingxian
  • Xu Jingda
Produced byLiu Guimei
Screenplay byWang Wang
Based onInvestiture of the Gods
Music byJin Fuzai[1]
CinematographyDuan Xiaoxuan
Edited byLi Kaiji
Production
company
Release date
  • 19 May 1979 (1979-05-19)
Running time
65 minutes
CountryChina
LanguageChinese[2]

It was screened out of competition at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival,[3] listed under the English title Prince Nezha's Triumph Against Dragon King, and was released in the United Kingdom as Little Nezha Fights Great Dragon Kings.

Plot

The film is an adaptation of a story in Chinese mythology (in particular, the epic fantasy novel Investiture of the Gods) about the warrior deity Nezha. After a gestation period of three and a half years, Lady Yin, the wife of General Li Jing, gives birth to a flesh ball, which becomes a lotus flower, from which Nezha is born. Nezha is born able to walk and talk, and is taken on as a student of the immortal Taiyi Zhenren.

The Dragon Kings of the Four Seas, tired of being peaceful, have become cruel and destructive, plaguing China with destructive storms and a drought. The people beg for rain, but the East Sea Dragon King Ao Guang ignores them, telling the yaksha Ye Sha to go and find children for him to eat. Ye Sha captures one of Nezha's friends as he is bathing by the ocean, and Nezha confronts him, injuring him badly. Ao Guang sends his third son, Ao Bing, next. Ao Bing is killed by Nezha, infuriating Ao Guang.

A variety of confrontations ensue between Nezha and Ao Guang. Ao Guang and the other Dragon Kings wreak havoc on the people, causing storms, floods and all manners of natural disasters. Seeing this, Nezha takes his father's sword, tells his parents that he is returning their flesh and bones to them, and calls out for his master before committing suicide by slitting his throat.

He is reborn with the help of his master, again from a lotus blossom, and is given new weapons and abilities. After breaking into Ao Guang's underwater palace, he confronts Ao Guang and the other Dragon Kings again, and is finally triumphant.

Release

In the United Kingdom, the film was broadcast on BBC Two in England in the early evening on 23 December 1984, in an English-language version directed by Louis Elman for Leah International which titled the film Little Nezha Fights Great Dragon Kings (sometimes rendered in TV listings as Little Nezha Fights Great Dragon King in the singular).[4] As well as replacing the dialogue, it also replaced Jin Fuzai's score performed by the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra with one by Ivor Slaney. This version was released on video by BBC Enterprises in 1986[5] and rebroadcast earlier in the day for a few times during 1988.[6][7][8]

The film was released on DVD with the original Chinese audio English subtitles in 2005, with Nezha Conquers the Dragon King as its English title.[9]

Japanese version cast

Other appearances
Nezha as a Google Doodle on Google Hong Kong and Google Taiwan

On 30 May 2014, Nezha Conquers the Dragon King was featured on Google Search's homepage as an animated doodle.[10][11]

See also

References
  1. "嫦娥奔月 – 步行街主干道 – 虎扑社区" (in Chinese). Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  2. "哪吒闹海 的全部演职员" (in Chinese). Douban. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  3. "Festival de Cannes: Prince Nezha's Triumph Against Dragon King". Cannes Film Festival. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
  4. "Little Nezha Fights Great Dragon King – BBC Two England – 23 December 1984 – BBC Genome". BBC. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  5. "Little Nezha Fights Great Dragon Kings". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  6. "Little Nezha Fights Great Dragon Kings - BBC Two England - 3 April 1988 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 3 April 1988.
  7. "Augusta". 25 June 1988. p. 20 – via BBC Genome.
  8. "Little Nezha Fights Great Dragon Kings". 31 December 1988. p. 23 – via BBC Genome.
  9. "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King (1979)". Dragnix. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  10. "35th Anniversary of Nezha Conquers the Dragon King". Google Doodle Archive. Google. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
  11. Ferreira, Gerald. "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King". 3D Car Shows. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
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