Panda! Go Panda!

Okay, maybe my expectations were set too high up. I mean, I thought this would be a cute TV film when I first saw the poster, even more so after I found out that Hayao Miyazaki created the whole idea of this film. Well, let me tell you this, "Panda! Go Panda!", while having cute music to go along with the seemingly-cute characters, was a big disappointment. I thought the whole idea of a small child having familial relationships with pandas was just ridiculous and too over the top.

Then again, I could just be saying all of this because of the HORRIBLE English dubbing. I searched everywhere for a Japnanese dub/English subbed version of this short film, but to no avail. I'm still glad I got to get a chance, of seeing Hayao Miyazaki's earlier works. It goes to show that he's really improved from the olden days. This might have been popular back in the 1970s, but I just didn't feel it..

Tip for those who want to watch it: Don't watch the English dubbing. The voices, particularly Papanda's, were annoying and turned me off. Otherwise, this could be a good film for very young children. It definitely wasn't targeted for anyone older than 7, though.

Viewed on: May 1, 2011