Comparing Ne Zha 2 (returning to North American theaters in a new English-language dub) to its predecessor is akin to comparing Pong to The Last of Us or an episode of Mr. Ed to Andor’s series finale. It recalls Hellboy II: The Golden Army or Evil Dead II as a sequel that drastically improves on the original.

Underpinning the two Ne Zha films are works like the 16th-century Investiture of the Gods by Xu Zhonglin and Lu Xixing’s lore and deities. In the first film, the titular Ne Zha (Crystal Lee) is a rambunctious child born of the Demon Orb and granted powers as a result. Most people, obsessed with hating demons, deemed him an outcast. Luckily, Ao Bing (Aleks Le), the son of Ne Zha’s enemy, the Dragon King of the East Sea, befriends the boy. Their friendship grows rapidly, culminating in them offering their physical forms as a sacrifice to save Ne Zha’s home of Chentang Pass.

Writer/director Jiaozi picks up there in Ne Zha 2 as the pair attempt to retain their bodies. With Master Taiyi Zhenren’s help, this proves partially successful. Unfortunately, a snafu leaves Ao Bing’s body in need of more time to regenerate. In the short term, his soul can share space in Ne Zha’s physical vessel. Alas, two souls can only cohabitate for one week. Racing the clock, the two friends in one body work together to complete a trio of trials needed to achieve immortality. Following that success, they can then secure an elixir to complete Ao Bing’s physical regeneration.

As the pair begin their adventure (complete with Zhenren and his flying pig), Jiaozi seems firmly comfortable staying consistent with the first Ne Zha’s DreamWorks/Illumination-esque humor. The first 20 minutes “boast” a booger joke and a lengthy fart gag. Later, after reaching Master Xian Wuliang’s glorious palace in the clouds, the film punctuates the arrival with a urine joke. This humor will get some chuckles from younger viewers, but they’re all very familiar territory.

Thankfully, even in this rougher, early stretch of the story, Jiozi’s grand storytelling scope is still absorbing. Visual jokes surrounding the friends struggling to share a single form while concealing Ne Zha’s powers are much more consistently successful. The epic scope happily leaps to the forefront of Ne Zha 2’s creative ambitions during the second trial. The tone gets much darker. Soon, a shape-shifting leopard gruesomely tearing into one adversary’s neck, complete with blood splattering across the floor, feels appropriate to the film.

These darker elements retroactively add intentionality to the early, broader comedic segments. Shifting from fart jokes to grand battle sequences provides a tonal reflection of the coming-of-age story. Once the greater emotional stakes and heavier struggles creep in, moving the story to grand fantasy epic, Jiozi finds his creative groove.

This filmmaker also excels at delivering hand-to-hand fight scenes, also one of the first feature’s best elements. Extraordinary bursts of fight choreography, like Nezha’s skirmish with a teacher against a waterfall, are the result of further refined craftsmanship. Whether characters are fighting in the sky or water, the editing and camerawork remain incredibly crisp. Those visual traits endure even once Ne Zha 2’s scope blows up to incredible proportions for its finale. Here, gigantic armies duel each other in the sky without things devolving into visual incoherence. Emphasizing glorious wide shots makes the sheer scale of dueling dragons, demons, and flying humans immensely digestible.

Constantly during this finale, I murmured “Jesus Christ” like John Mulaney getting aggressively slimed on Saturday Night Live. The on-screen tableaus are just so towering, while the computer animation remains impressively detailed. Plus, Jiozi’s script keeps finding ways to up the stakes or introduce new challenges without exhausting the viewer. Everything feels like a natural escalation of these fantastical circumstances. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, there’s suddenly a new dragon opponent or bark-based obstacle inspiring awe.

Happily, despite the earlier snarkier, bathroom humor, Ne Zha 2 doesn’t flinch from sincerity in its grand melodrama. Devastating betrayals or heroes saving things just in time occur with sweeping grandeur rather than self-conscious quips. That conviction renders poignant third-act moments (particularly when former adversaries begin working together for a larger goal) surprisingly moving. This certainly might be the first movie to prominently feature pig flatulence to inspire folks to reach for the tissues.

Terrific animation amplifies Ne Zha 2’s jaw-dropping nature. Textures and stylized elements look absolutely gorgeous projected on a massive screen. So many Western animated movies revel in bringing The Cat in the Hat or physical embodiments of good/bad luck to dry, banal office environments. Jiozi, meanwhile, uses computer animation for more stylized means. His visuals oscillate wildly from Tex Avery influences (particularly in a fun duel between Nezha and some woodchuck demons) to towering spectacle that would make S.S. Rajamouli and Katsuhiro Ôtomo beam with pride.

Roger Ebert once declared a climactic Titan A.E. scene exemplified “what animation can do and live-action cannot.” Ne Zha 2’s imagery functions similarly. There’s so much visual imagination and infectious storytelling enthusiasm here that it’s quite easy to fall under Ne Zha 2’s spell. Gritting your teeth through the more familiar opening 30 minutes will bring you the greatest Gore Verbinski movie Gore Verbinski never made.

Ne Zha 2’s English-language dub wallops theaters everywhere starting August 22.