Common Sense Media Review
By Brian Costello
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Epic Chinese action-fantasy is too long, complicated.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
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New Gods: Yang Jian
What's the Story?
In NEW GODS: YANG JIAN, Yang Jian (voiced by Wang Kai in the Mandarin original and Nicholas Andrew Louie in the English dub) struggles to earn a living as a bounty hunter. It's been 13 years since the once powerful god imprisoned his sister beneath a mountain. A mysterious woman named Wanluo (Ji Guanlin, Christine Lin) hires Yang Jian to track down and return the Lamp of Universal Contentment. The search leads him to his nephewm Chenxiang (Li Lanling, Luke Naphat Sath). Chenxiang is trying to find the lotus flower that will release his mother from the mountain, even if this action will unleash chaos around the world. Yang Jian -- a lovable, devil-may-care rogue in the Errol Flynn/Han Solo tradition -- must stop him, as well as the hordes of bounty hunters and vigilantes who also want the treasure.
Is It Any Good?
This animated Chinese action-fantasy movie is both overlong and overly complex. It's an epic with more style than substance. The animation in New Gods: Yang Jian is consistently impressive and beautiful, but without a coherent story, the striking visuals only go so far. There's a long introduction that explains what things were like in the proverbial "before time" that isn't really necessary, plus characters who don't really stand out before the actual conflict begins. This could easily have been a 90-minute movie instead of two hours and seven minutes. Sometimes fight scenes inexplicably have goofy big band music as the background, as if we're watching slapstick comedy instead of a fight to save the world. And the characters are little more than action movie archetypes, making it difficult to feel any emotional attachment to the outcome of this bombastic story.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about action-fantasy movies like New Gods: Yang Jian. How is it similar to and different from other action-fantasy movies?
How does the impact of the movie's violence compare to what you've seen in live-action fantasy movies? Did any of it feel gratuitous?
Was this movie easy or difficult to follow? If difficult, what parts were confusing? Do you ever find it frustrating to watch an epic movie with lots of storylines?
Movie Details
- In theaters : January 20, 2023
- On DVD or streaming : April 25, 2023
- Cast : Jason Ko , Nicholas Andrew Louie , Luke Naphat
- Director : Ji Zhao
- Studio : GKIDS
- Genre : Fantasy
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic )
- Run time : 127 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : September 29, 2025
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