Michael's Movie Grade: B+
Review: An excellent documentary.
This documentary looks at people who help orphaned Pandas adapt to living in the wild. In a brief 40 minutes we feel like we know not only those people, but also the main panda very well. Unlike many documentaries now of days, we don't see any of these people talking directly to the camera. Rather we hear them talk while we see the documentary footage. This helps the movie flow better as it never feels like the action stops for them to talk. Even with this the majority of the talking is by Kristen Bell as a narrator. At times this narration is cutesy as one might expect, but it can also be very informative and interesting at times. In the brief 40 minute running time, nothing here feels unnecessary and the movie just flies by, never for a second becoming boring. The humor is also quite good. It never comes from forced narration as happens in too many of these films, but instead comes naturally out of the story and footage. Especially standing out is a scene involving the main panda and a snowman. Of course the main reason people go to see a film like this is for the excellent nature photography, and the movie really shines at this. This film is absolutely incredible to look at. The footage of the Panda in the will is absolutely beautiful, as is some great footage of some black bears in the woods. Even though these stand out the whole movie looks breathtaking and seeing it in IMAX makes you feel like you are transported directly there.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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