Born in China (2016)

Directed by: Chuan Lu | 79 minutes | documentary | Voice over (original version): John Krasinski | Voice over (Dutch): Sander de Geer

Although the Disneynature film label is new – it launched in April 2008 – the studio can draw inspiration from a wide variety of films that the company’s original father, Walt Disney, made decades ago. Walt Disney was a pioneer in the field of True Life Adventure Films, both short and feature-length documentaries with beautiful nature images, in which animals were given anthropomorphic properties and the animals’ actions were given something funny through the application of music.

Born in China is the seventh theatrical film since the founding of the Disneynature label. After ‘Earth’, ‘Oceans’, ‘African Cats’, ‘Bears’, ‘Monkey Kingdom’ and ‘Chimpanzee’, the filmmakers now focus on the wilderness of China. Broadly speaking, we follow three animal families: a panda with her cubs, a snub-nosed monkey and his family and a snow leopard with her two cubs. Each of these animals lives in a different area of ​​China, reflecting the rich diversity of the country.

The shots of the animals are breathtaking. The fantastic close-ups create an unprecedented intimacy. Well-deserved compliments to the people behind the camera and in the editing room, because what they have made is nothing less than phenomenal. Especially with the aim of the film in mind, to create a story with a somewhat dramatic tension, they have succeeded very well in their set-up.

The latter, however, is immediately a minus of ‘Born in China’. The sometimes fictional story is only interesting and plausible for a limited target group – the youth. That bothers the most with the part about Tao Tao, the droll snub-nosed monkey. The beast’s alleged jealousy towards his younger sister, which draws all the attention to herself, forcing Tao Tao to turn to “The Lost Boys” with their captain Rooster, feels too much for them. Then the story of the snow leopard Dawa is more credible, and in this no one is spared, not even the (young) viewer. The giant panda part of the film is also plausible and will not be too far from the truth.

In addition to the images of these families, we also see beautiful shots of cranes and Tibetan antelopes. ‘Born in China’ follows the proven recipe of successive seasons and therefore has a clear circle-of-life message. John Krasinski’s voice-over is at times serious and thoughtful, at other times a bit too acted (in the so-called blunder moments of the animals, for example). The script sometimes makes him spout cringe-inducing sentences (‘nothing compares to being loved by those you love the most’), but you have to take that for granted if you want to enjoy the images.