Trail of the Panda

Walt Disney Pictures released this unusual Chinese-language effort. A family-oriented drama, it dramatizes the friendship that manifests itself between a young boy and a panda he meets in the wild. The tale unfolds in rural Wolong, Sichuan, prior to the May 2008 earthquake. Lu (Daichi Harashima is an 11-year-old with a difficult past behind him: his parents died early on, and an elderly man named Lao Chen adopted him. When Lao discovers an adult panda and her twin cubs inhabiting the nearby wilderness, he breaks Lu's heart (and reveals his own evil nature) by inviting a scientist, Feng (Feng Li) to take one of the baby pandas for purposes of research. Indignant, Lu rescues the cub himself and spirits it away from the vile Lao; in the process, the young boy develops one of the only friends he's ever had in the young bear. Over time, however, Lu begins to recognize his own responsibility for bringing the cub back to its home and mother.