Marking the launch of China's first 3D animated feature,
popular animated series Boonie Bears is set to debut on the big screen in
January.
One of China's most popular animated series is set to debut
on the big screen, according to areport by the China Toy & Juvenile
Products Association.
Marking the launch of China's first 3D animated feature,
Boonie Bears will arrive in theaters during Mainland China's Spring Festival
held in January. The film, which is centered around the theme of treasure, was
jointly produced by Fantawild Holdings, Mr. Cartoon Pictures, LEVP and the
Zhujiang Film Group. Produced by Fantawild Holdings, the Boonie Bears cartoon
series was first shown in February 2012, and quickly became the most popular
children's show in China. Approximately 200 13-minute episodes have been
produced to date. The main characters are two bears, Briar (Xiong Da) and
Bramble (Xiong Er), and a logger named Vick (Guangtou Qiang), and episodes
generally revolve around Vick's attempts to log the timber where Briar and
Bramble live, and the bears' attempts to stop him.
The Boonie Bears feature will see how the relationship
between Vick the logger and the bears changes as they team together in a quest
to win back lost treasure.
I'm not sure what's harder to believe: that China still
hasn't released its own homegrown 3D CGI animated feature or that the first one
they are releasing later this month is something called Boonie Bears (Xiong
Chumo). The resent updates by Chinese media reports that this is the country's
first 3D CGI film may be inaccurate; our pals at YAM remind us that there was
another Chinese feature in 2011 called Legend of a Rabbit.)
Boonie Bears is based on a popular TV series currently
broadcast on Central China Television. Over 200 episodes of the show have been
produced, expounding the general theme of peaceful coexistence between man and
nature. In the show, man is represented by a logger named Vick and nature comes
in the form of two bears, Briar and Bramble.
A 70-minute TV
special, Boonie Bears: Homeward Journey, aired last spring in China, and will
be released next week on DVD in the United States. The English-language trailer
for the special is memorable, but for all the wrong reasons.
Like the TV series,
the feature is produced by Fantawild Animation Inc. (whose other shows include
Chicken Stew-Tales from the Salted-Egg Temple, Brainy Bubbly Bug Buddies, and
Power Panda Posse) in association with Mr. Cartoon Pictures, LEVP and Zhujiang
Film.
