'Born in China' Stirs and Delights with Its Four Engaging Storylines

I’ve always been fond of Disneynature movies – and nature documentaries in general – and have been avidly looking forward to a new one since 2015’s Monkey Kingdom.  The wait was somewhat long.  But, at last, Disneynature’s latest – Born in China – has become available to be watched.

The film follows four storylines focusing on animals living in the wilds of China during a span of about a year.  The featured animals are: a female snow leopard named Dawa working to provide food and protection for her two cubs; a juvenile golden snub-nosed monkey named Tao Tao having a hard time with the fact that his family’s attention is now exclusively on his baby sister, which leads him to contemplate between staying with his family or joining a band of “lost boys”; a herd of female chiru a.k.a. Tibetan antelope migrating to give birth to their young; and – since something called Born in China requires China’s most iconic native animal – a mother giant panda named Ya Ya raising her baby panda Mei Mei.

I think a fifth storyline on cranes was intended but was cut due to lack of footage or for some editing reason.  This is just my guess though; it just seemed that way to me.

Anyway, in the actual film, the cranes’ participation is that of an accompanying element to a sort of zen, mysticism insight that the storytelling tries to pull while binding its different storylines.  In my opinion, it didn’t work.  It felt pretentious and goofy rather than thoughtful, making the impact of its overarching message weak.

Nonetheless, the respective footage and narratives for the four storylines are thoroughly enjoyable and engaging.  I laughed in delight almost the entire movie due to the hilarious and adorable appearances and antics of the animals.  With monkeys and pandas, this is to be expected after all.  Also, it is when the film focuses on these individual storylines that it succeeds in being thought-provoking and heartwarming.

However, thought it’s mostly feel-good moments, it’s not exactly just that.  The culmination of one storyline floored me, because it went to a poignant place that I didn’t expect the film would go.  It was genuinely affecting; my heart was crushed.

The film is narrated by John Krasinski.  Honestly, this is somewhat an unimpressive aspect of the movie.  Now, this is not a dig on Krasinski.  I liked him in 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, and he actually did a solid job narrating.   But Disneynature films in the past showcased names like James Earl Jones, Pierce Brosnan, Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Allen, and John C. Reilly.  A bigger star instead of Krasinski would have enhanced its cinematic appeal.

All in all, I think Born in China is one of the least among the Disneynature films I’ve seen (to be fair, I haven’t seen all of them yet).  Nevertheless, with it, Disneynature once again delivers another stirring and delightful nature documentary film extremely worth watching.