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Ne Zha poster

Movies that feel likeNe Zha (2019)

A young boy is born as the reincarnation of a demonic power, into a society that hates and fears him. Destined by prophecy to bring destruction to the world, Nezha must choose between good and evil to see if he can change his fate.

If you loved Ne Zha, the closest films we have are The Painting (2011), Big Fish & Begonia (2016) and White Snake (2019). All three share Ne Zha's whimsical and dreamlike feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is New Gods: Nezha Reborn (2021).

🍅 88% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.3 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Jiao Ziwhimsicaldreamlikeepicdread
8 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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If Ne Zha hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: Ne Zha 2 (2025)

The Painting poster
The Painting
2011 · dir. Jean-François Laguionie
🍅 82%★ 7.3fantasy · animation

Whimsical where it counts, dreamlike underneath

The difference: Trades the scale of Ne Zha for an angle of its own

Three characters living in an unfinished painting venture out into the real world in search of their creator to convince him to finish his work.

Big Fish & Begonia poster
Big Fish & Begonia
2016 · dir. Liang Xuan
🍅 94%★ 7animation · adventure · fantasyRent or buy

Both keep coming back to the same thing: magic

The difference: Easier on the dread than Ne Zha

Beyond the human realm, there is a magical race of beings who control the tides and the changing of the seasons. One of these beings, a young girl named Chun, seeks something more—she wants to experience the human world! At sixteen, she finally gets her chance and transforms into a dolphin in order to explore the world that has her fascinated. But she soon discovers that it's a dangerous place and nearly gets killed in a vortex. Luckily, her life is spared when a young boy sacrifices himself to save her. Moved by his kindness and courage, she uses magic to bring him back to life only to learn that this power comes at a serious price. On a new adventure, she’ll have to make her own sacrifices in order to protect his soul until it is ready to return to the human world.

White Snake poster
White Snake
2019 · dir. Amp Wong
🍅 70%★ 7romance · animation · fantasy

Two things both keep coming back to: dragon and donghua

The difference: Sits closer to romance than Ne Zha does

One day a young woman named Blanca is saved by Xuan, a snake catcher from a nearby village. As they set off an a journey to discover her real identity, the pair develop feelings for each other.

Checkered Ninja poster
Checkered Ninja
2018 · dir. Thorbjørn Christoffersen
★ 7.1animation · comedy · adventurePrime Video

Animation built on scale, twice over

The difference: Leans harder into comedy than Ne Zha does

A possessed Ninja doll teams up with a teenage boy to avenge the murder of a poor child factory worker.

Porco Rosso poster
Porco Rosso
1992 · dir. Hayao Miyazaki
🍅 96%★ 7.7animation · adventure · fantasyMax

Fantasy with a pulse of whimsy, in both cases

The difference: Made in the 1990s, in a different era of the craft

In Italy in the 1930s, sky pirates in biplanes terrorize wealthy cruise ships as they sail the Adriatic Sea. The only pilot brave enough to stop the scourge is the mysterious Porco Rosso, a former World War I flying ace who was somehow turned into a pig during the war. As he prepares to battle the pirate crew's American ace, Porco Rosso enlists the help of spunky girl mechanic Fio Piccolo and his longtime friend Madame Gina.

Howl's Moving Castle poster
Howl's Moving Castle
2004 · dir. Hayao Miyazaki
🍅 88%★ 8.2fantasy · animation · adventureMax

Both are built on the same subject: demon

Sophie, a young milliner, is turned into an elderly woman by a witch who enters her shop and curses her. She encounters a wizard named Howl and gets caught up in his resistance to fighting for the king.

Ronal the Barbarian poster
Ronal the Barbarian
2011 · dir. Kresten Vestbjerg Andersen
★ 6.5animation · adventure · fantasy

Both lean on dream logic more than on adventure

Ronal is a young barbarian with low self-esteem, the polar opposite of all the muscular barbarians in his village. He's a real wuss. However, as fate would have it, responsibility for the tribe's survival falls on Ronal's scrawny shoulders, when the evil Lord Volcazar raids the village and abducts every living barbarian with the exception of Ronal, who is forced to go on a perilous quest to save his enslaved clan and thwart Volcazar’s plot to rule the world.

Tales from Earthsea poster
Tales from Earthsea
2006 · dir. Goro Miyazaki
★ 6.3animation · fantasy · adventureMax

The same preoccupation in both: magic

As crops dwindle and dragons reappear, mankind stands on the verge of total chaos. Lord Archmage Sparrowhawk, a powerful wizard, and Arren, a troubled young prince, search for the force behind this mysterious imbalance that threatens to destroy the land of Earthsea.

Forbidden Empire poster
Forbidden Empire
2014 · dir. Oleg Stepchenko
★ 5.2thriller · adventure · mysteryPrime Video

Common ground: dark fantasy

Early 18th century. Cartographer Jonathan Green undertakes a scientific voyage from Europe to the East. Having passed through Transylvania and crossed the Carpathian Mountains, he finds himself in a small village lost in impassible woods. Nothing but chance and heavy fog could bring him to this cursed place. People who live here do not resemble any other people which the traveler saw before that. The villagers, having dug a deep moat to fend themselves from the rest of the world, share a naive belief that they could save themselves from evil, failing to understand that evil has made its nest in their souls and is waiting for an opportunity to gush out upon the world.

New Gods: Nezha Reborn poster
New Gods: Nezha Reborn
2021 · dir. Zhao Ji
🍅 80%★ 6.8animation · fantasy · actionNetflix

Common ground in both: nezha and chinese folklore

While living as an ordinary deliveryman and motor racing fan, Nezha encounters old nemeses and must rediscover his powers to protect his loved ones.

Upon the Magic Roads poster
Upon the Magic Roads
2021 · dir. Oleg Pogodin
★ 5.7adventure · fantasy

Epic fantasy in both cases

Romantic John the Fool and his friend Foal set out on a series of unpredictable adventures in different magical worlds. The two buddies will have to outsmart an evil tyrant king, catch the firebird, and find John’s true love.

The Legend of Hei poster
The Legend of Hei
2019 · dir. MTJJ
★ 7.4animation · fantasy · actionRent or buy

Dreamlike animation, and it commits to that

When cat spirit Luo Xiaohei's home is deforested by humans, he must find a new one. He runs into a group of other spirit creatures who take him under their wing with dreams of reconquering the land they say is rightfully theirs. However, they run into a human known as Wuxian who separates Luo Xiaohei from the other spirits and the two go on a journey, with the cat spirit learning to control his abilities as well as forming his own thoughts on whether or not he should ally with the spirits or the humans.

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