New takes on old characters

New Gods: Nezha Reborn is a 2021 Chinese computer animated fantasy film from Chinese studio Light Chaser Animation. Director Zhao Ji said that it took four years to develop, and involved detailed research on references to the classic character of Nezha.

It is a new take on the story and sees Nezha reincarnated in a futuristic punk world. To best embody the reincarnated Nezha’s changing emotions and make him feel more alive, the crew painstakingly used dedicated facial animation systems to create even the most minor facial expressions. Even various hairstyles were created and discarded many times before they landed on the characters current spiky hair.

“To give him spirit, the character director would edit him again and again, sometimes even just changing the shape of the corner of his eye,” said Zhao.

Tom & Jerry combines live action and animation to bring the classic cartoon duo to modern cinemas. However, compared with the time to develop Nezha,

Warner Bros seems to have been in a rush to bring the characters to the big screen, which has resulted in some issues quality wise.

“I love Tom and Jerry, but why do those characters in the trailer look so cheap and two dimensional, like stickers on my fridge,” said a netizen on China’s Twitter- like Sina Weibo.

“Bad effects, Bad cartoon. Incredible in the 21st century to have such bad technique,” said a netizen who rated it one out of 10 on IMDb on February 18.