艾言

No doubt， China’s domestic animation film Ne Zha is to be inscribed in the history of? the country’s film industry.

By bringing in ￥138.5m on its opening day， Ne Zha overtook the previous record-holder Despicable Me 3 to top the country’s first-day charts for animated films.

On August 2， only one week after debuting， the film’s box office surpassed Disney’s Zootopia to become the biggest ever animation film of the market. The latter stayed dominantly in the chart for more than three years， since 2016.

As of August 9， Ne Zha has already grossed over 3 billion yuan （470 million U.S. dollars）. Along with the soaring number in box office earnings is people’s anticipation of the Chinese animation film industry.

Loosely based on the Ming Dynasty （1368—1644） novel Fengshen Yanyi （The Investiture of the Gods）， the film is about a mythological figure who fights against unfair destiny.

The 110-minute film， by 1980s-born director Yang Yu， better known as Jiaozi （“Dumpling”）， offers a retelling of the household tale that strikes a chord with1 a modern Chinese audience.

In the novel， Ne Zha is a rebellious2 teenager who kills whoever gets in his way. His relationship with his father， Li Jing， is tense. His father， a cowardly and selfish commander who governs the fictional port of Chen Tang Guan， forces Ne Zha to commit suicide over an error. Ne Zha is reborn as a three-headed， six-armed deity who rides on two magical “wind-and-fire” wheels to fight his enemies.

Ne Zha has traditionally been portrayed as an attractive young figure， but Yang has channeled an unconventional spirit into Ne Zha and depicted him as a mischievous boy with cute and ugly features.

Another noticeable renovation is that instead of being the chosen one， Ne Zha is a self-made god this time.

In the film， Ne Zha is born with a “cursed destiny” and unfairly treated by local villagers who believe that the naughty， yet good-hearted， child will grow up to be a public threat. In another deviation3 from the original， the father is depicted as a noble man who would sacrifice his own life to rescue his son.

“I’m the captain of my destiny， not heaven” is one of Ne Zha’s lines in the film that has become a motto for many and made the rounds on social media. Though supposedly-born evil， Ne Zha chooses to sacrifice himself to save the villagers from death. By doing so， he grows into a hero instead of fitting into his doomed destiny.

“This film is about an individual who fights against prejudice and social exclusion，” says Yang.

It is not quite a surprise that Yang Yu， while outlining a story for his first feature film， would choose Ne Zha. As a graduate of medical school， he determined to become a self-trained animator and director， and it took him nearly four years to complete his first short animation film See Through.

Released in 2009， the 16-minute pic earned rave reviews and numerous accolades， including the Berlin International Film Festival’s special jury prize for shorts.

Boosted by that success， Yang then founded his own animation company in the Chinese city of Chengdu but spent the next six years toiling on his debut feature and struggling to find financing for the project—what would ultimately become Ne Zha. He was then approached by Coloroom Pictures， Enlight’s startup animation subsidiary， with financing and technical support in 2015. Coloroom’s CEO， Yi Qiao， has said in interviews with the Chinese media that he was attracted to Yang because of his “poverty and his crazy， single-minded passion for animation storytelling.”

With the film’s success， a group of numbers has been repeatedly mentioned in reports： five years of hard work， 66 editions of scripts， more than 100 designs of Ne Zha’s image， 1，318 visual effect shots， 20 special effects companies and around 1，600 staff members.

“I’ve been challenging my limits all the time， until we ran out of money，” Yang said during an interview with Beijing Youth Daily. “I think it is a miracle we have finished it. I cannot remember which part is the most difficult because the whole process is like a journey in hell4.”

Fortunately， Ne Zha did not disappoint him. After breaking a number of records， the box office of the film is expected to exceed four billion yuan （626 million U.S. dollars）.

The soaring box office again ignited people’s passion and expectations for domestic animation films， four years after the “Monkey King： Hero is Back”， a film that has given hope to the industry that had been lagging behind for decades.

Starting in 2015， “the rise of domestic animation films” has occasionally been mentioned whenever an animation film wins critical acclaim， such as “Big Fish & Begonia”， “Dahufa” and “White Snake”. But insiders say that the domestic industry is still lingering on the starting point.

Critics pointed out that the domestic animation film market is still occupied by a large amount of low-quality and small-budget films for the underage and only a few animation films are targeting adults. Meanwhile， original stories are still wanted. Most of the current productions are still adaptations of existing stories from the traditional culture.

Yi Qiao once mentioned that there isn’t a complete industrial chain in China’s animation industry and most of the animation companies have no capacity to work independently for a film.

Behind all of this is the lack of talent in the industry. The scale of the domestic films is expected to reach 210 billion yuan by 2020. However， at least one million professional talents are lacking in the industry. Yang Yu， while producing Ne Zha， had to do a lot of detailed work by himself.

While asked about whether Ne Zha represents the “rise of domestic animations，” director Yang Yu said that “when people stop talking about ‘rise of domestic animations’ and take good animation for granted， that’s when we can say that the industry has risen”.

毋庸置疑，國(guó)產(chǎn)動(dòng)畫電影《哪吒》將載入中國(guó)電影史冊(cè)。

《哪吒》首映日票房收入1.385億元，超過(guò)此前《神偷奶爸3》創(chuàng)下的紀(jì)錄，榮登中國(guó)動(dòng)畫電影首日票房榜首。

8月2日，首映僅一周之后，《哪吒》的總票房便超越了迪士尼的《瘋狂動(dòng)物城》，成為中國(guó)史上最賣座的動(dòng)畫電影。后者自2016年起便雄踞動(dòng)畫電影票房榜首超過(guò)三年之久。

截至8月9日，《哪吒》票房入賬超過(guò)30億元（4.7億美金）。隨著票房的一路飆升，人們對(duì)于國(guó)產(chǎn)動(dòng)畫電影產(chǎn)業(yè)的期望也水漲船高。

《哪吒》的情節(jié)大致基于明朝（1368—1644）小說(shuō)《封神演義》，講述了一個(gè)神話人物反抗不公命運(yùn)的故事。

這部110分鐘的電影由80后導(dǎo)演楊宇（外號(hào)“餃子”）執(zhí)導(dǎo)，他將一個(gè)家喻戶曉的傳說(shuō)重新改編，引發(fā)了中國(guó)現(xiàn)代觀眾的共鳴。

在小說(shuō)中，哪吒是一個(gè)遇神殺神的叛逆少年，與他父親李靖的關(guān)系非常緊張。李靖則是一個(gè)膽小怕事、自私自利的將軍，鎮(zhèn)守小說(shuō)里虛構(gòu)的陳塘關(guān)，強(qiáng)迫哪吒以死謝罪。哪吒重生之后，變成了三頭六臂的神仙，腳踏神奇風(fēng)火輪，與他的敵人繼續(xù)戰(zhàn)斗。

傳統(tǒng)意義上的哪吒通常都是英俊少年的形象，而楊宇卻賦予了哪吒與眾不同的精神，將其刻畫成了一個(gè)丑萌丑萌的混世魔童。

另一大創(chuàng)新點(diǎn)則是哪吒這次的成神之路是由自己選定而非被動(dòng)選擇。

在電影中，哪吒生來(lái)“不祥”，當(dāng)?shù)厝硕颊J(rèn)定這個(gè)頑劣不堪卻心地善良的孩子長(zhǎng)大之后會(huì)給世間帶來(lái)災(zāi)難。另一個(gè)與原著的不同之處在于，電影將李靖塑造為舍身救子的偉大父親。

“我命由我不由天”是哪吒在電影中的一句臺(tái)詞，現(xiàn)已成為許多人的座右銘，在社交媒體上廣為流傳。盡管生而為魔，哪吒卻選擇犧牲自我、拯救百姓。如此，他便成為了一名英雄，而非順應(yīng)宿命成魔為禍。

楊宇說(shuō)：“這部電影講述的是個(gè)人打破偏見(jiàn)、與社會(huì)排斥抗?fàn)幍墓适?。?/p>

楊宇在寫他的第一部故事長(zhǎng)片提綱時(shí)會(huì)選擇《哪吒》并不奇怪。從醫(yī)學(xué)院畢業(yè)后，他下決心轉(zhuǎn)行，自學(xué)成為動(dòng)畫師和導(dǎo)演，然后用了將近四年時(shí)間完成了自己的第一部動(dòng)畫短片《打，打個(gè)大西瓜》。

這部16分鐘的動(dòng)畫片于2009年發(fā)布后便好評(píng)如潮、獲獎(jiǎng)無(wú)數(shù)，其中包括柏林國(guó)際短片電影節(jié)的評(píng)委會(huì)特別獎(jiǎng)。

大獲成功之后，楊宇在成都創(chuàng)建了自己的動(dòng)畫公司，之后的六年里他一直在打磨自己的動(dòng)畫長(zhǎng)片處女作，努力尋找項(xiàng)目投資——這一切最終成就了《哪吒》。2015年，光線傳媒旗下的動(dòng)畫分公司彩條屋影業(yè)找到了他，為他提供資金與技術(shù)支持。彩條屋CEO易巧在接受中國(guó)媒體的采訪中談到，他之所以被楊宇吸引，是因?yàn)樗摹柏毟F以及他對(duì)動(dòng)畫敘事瘋狂而純粹的熱情”。

隨著電影的走紅，一組數(shù)字在各類報(bào)道中被反復(fù)提及：5年苦干、66版劇本、100多個(gè)哪吒形象設(shè)計(jì)、1318個(gè)視覺(jué)特效鏡頭、20家特效公司以及近1600名工作人員。

“一路走來(lái)，每次都是挑戰(zhàn)到自己的極限，直到我們錢都燒光了。”楊宇在接受《北京青年報(bào)》的采訪時(shí)說(shuō)道，“最后能夠完成，我覺(jué)得也算是一個(gè)奇跡了。我不記得哪個(gè)是最難的，因?yàn)檎麄€(gè)過(guò)程像一場(chǎng)地獄之旅?！?/p>

所幸《哪吒》并沒(méi)有令他失望。在打破多項(xiàng)紀(jì)錄之后，這部電影的票房預(yù)計(jì)將超過(guò)40億元（6.26億美金）。

飆升的票房再一次點(diǎn)燃了人們對(duì)于國(guó)產(chǎn)動(dòng)畫電影的熱情與期許。四年前，《大圣歸來(lái)》曾經(jīng)給落后幾十年的動(dòng)畫影業(yè)帶來(lái)過(guò)希望。

自2015年起，每當(dāng)有諸如《大魚海棠》《大護(hù)法》《白蛇：緣起》等動(dòng)畫電影受到好評(píng)之時(shí)，“國(guó)產(chǎn)動(dòng)畫電影崛起”便時(shí)不時(shí)地被提及。然而，業(yè)內(nèi)人士稱國(guó)產(chǎn)動(dòng)畫影業(yè)仍然在起點(diǎn)徘徊。

評(píng)論家指出國(guó)產(chǎn)動(dòng)畫電影市場(chǎng)仍然充斥著大量粗制濫造、成本低廉的兒童影片，只有少數(shù)面向成年人的動(dòng)畫電影。同時(shí)，原創(chuàng)故事依舊比較缺乏。目前大多數(shù)的作品還是改編自傳統(tǒng)文化中的現(xiàn)有故事。

易巧曾經(jīng)提到，中國(guó)動(dòng)畫產(chǎn)業(yè)缺乏完整的產(chǎn)業(yè)鏈，大多數(shù)動(dòng)畫公司沒(méi)有能力獨(dú)立制作電影。

這一切的背后是產(chǎn)業(yè)人才的缺乏。2020年國(guó)產(chǎn)影業(yè)的規(guī)模預(yù)計(jì)將達(dá)到2100億元人民幣。然而，整個(gè)產(chǎn)業(yè)至少有100萬(wàn)名專業(yè)人才的缺口。制作《哪吒》的時(shí)候，很多細(xì)致的工作楊宇都不得不親力親為。

當(dāng)被問(wèn)及《哪吒》是否代表“國(guó)產(chǎn)動(dòng)漫的崛起”之時(shí)，導(dǎo)演楊宇說(shuō)：“當(dāng)大家都不再提國(guó)漫崛起、把好動(dòng)畫當(dāng)作理所當(dāng)然的時(shí)候，這個(gè)時(shí)候國(guó)漫就崛起了?！?/p>

（譯者為“《英語(yǔ)世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎(jiǎng)選手）