Michelle Yeoh brings Chinese blockbuster Ne Zha 2 to life in English dub

When Michelle Yeoh first saw Ne Zha 2 in Hong Kong, she walked away dreaming about a dubbed version.

The Chinese blockbuster, which this year became the highest-grossing animated film of all time with over US$2.2 billion (S$2.8 billion) in ticket sales, had seemed to her like an ideal movie for a global, all-ages audience. But even she, who had the benefit of knowing Mandarin, was having trouble keeping up with the subtitles and all the spectacular things happening on screen. How would a kid stand a chance?

The Oscar winner, who is fluent in English, Malay and Cantonese, wasn’t alone in thinking a dub was a good idea. The film studio A24 was already making plans to broaden the audience with an English-language version in collaboration with CMC Pictures. Not too long after, Yeoh got a call asking if she wanted to voice Ne Zha’s mother, Lady Yin. Her response?

“Hell yes,” she told The Associated Press in a recent interview. The English-language dub opens in over 2,500 North American theatres on Aug 22.

The film tells the story of a rebellious little child, Ne Zha, born as the reincarnation of a demon to mortal parents, who is out to prove his fate is not predetermined. In the first film, he sacrifices himself. In the second, he’s put to the test to try to save his friend and his village. Don't worry if you haven't seen the first either – the sequel tells the audience everything they need to know.

And while this character might be new to American audiences, the mythology is well known in China. Yeoh grew up watching various TV and movie versions, but had never seen it done so vividly.

The making of Ne Zha 2 took five years and required the work of some 4,000 people from 138 Chinese animation companies. The finished film, which runs an epic 143 minutes, includes 2,400 animation shots and 1,900 special effects shots.

“I think the director and his amazing team, they pushed all the boundaries,” Yeoh said. “They created this magical world that I hadn’t seen to this level of superb animation before. The intricacies are mind-blowing.”

Yeoh also put her stamp of approval on the translation, which she admits is a tricky art.

“With translation, a lot of the times the nuances are lost, right? Because also you have to sync and find the right number of words to say the same thing. And with the Chinese language, especially with the folklores and things like that, the way they say it is very poetic as well. So it is not easy,” she said. “I think they struck a very good balance of not making it too classical, but also more contemporary.”

North American audiences already showed interest in Ne Zha 2 earlier this year, when the subtitled version earned over US$20 million. Some Chinese communities in the US even rented theatres to screen the film. Now, Yeoh believes that the English version will help it resonate globally.

“It’s such a universal language of family, of love, of the underdog, of someone who’s ostracised, misunderstood just because you’re born different,” Yeoh said. “It immerses you into our culture. And it’s such a beautiful way to cross that bridge.”