‘Out of the forest and into the wild’ is the catchy tagline attached to this new animated feature now playing in cinemas; a fish out of water, or should we say panda out of China story that is a delightful fare even if it is aimed solely towards the very youngest of movie goers.
The story revolves around young panda Pang (Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing), who is best mates with little dragon Jielong (Georgina Verbaan), who still hasn’t found her wings or the ability to breathe fire/ ice. The two spend their days playfully chasing one another around the forest in south China, that is until the little dragon is kidnapped from her natural habitat and transported, by boat, to a different continent, southern Africa by a villainous croc and baboon. Her fate is to be the play thing of young Prince Ade (Namisa Mdalalose) who himself has lost someone close to him, and also to be a key part of an iniquitous uncle who wants to rid the land of dastardly hyenas. Having lost his best mate, Pang chooses to follow Jielong to Africa and rescue her, thus running into all sorts of trouble along the way.
It’s The Lion King mixed with Kung Fu Panda with a little bit of How To Train Your Dragon chucked in for good measure, a film perhaps aimed at children that are maybe a little too young to handle the mild peril of any of those aforementioned movies – there really isn’t anything at all violent about this, save for an incident with a spear aimed at one of the main characters towards the end.
There are hilarious sidekicks, ‘orrible bad guys, cute little animals and everything else you’d expect from a film of its kind, and surprisingly, going against the trend against any other animated film kicked into cinemas outside of any school holiday, the animation and storyline is a notch above what you might expect. There are funny set pieces and characters – I loved the dumb croc in particular – and while there isn’t anything particularly original or memorable about it, any young cinema goer under the age of eight is going to have a great time with the film.
Panda Bear In Africa is playing in cinemas in the UK and Ireland from 17th January.
Panda Bear In Africa
Summary
Clearly aimed at the younger audience member – we’d say the under 8s – Panda Bear In Africa is a fun, if not at all memorable harmless family theatrical jaunt.
