McDull, Kung Fu Kindergarten (2009)

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

This film depicts real lives of many ordinary, mediocre children in china, who don't have talent in anything, slow and not smart. They always disappoint their parents, who keep pushing them all the time, register many remedial classes for them, hoping it's just that there is undiscovered potential in their children and miracle will eventually happen.Mcdull is one of them. Despite his and his mother's efforts, he doesn't make any change at the end, unlike what many expect, that the main character will finally jump out of the mediocrity through hard working. Unlike kungfu panda, he doesn't become a kungfu master after training. The film is too realistic that it reveals the truth that the majority of the mediocre will stay mediocre eventually. It's not an inspiring story. It's just too realistic that despite the laugh, the nature of cartoon, as one of the not-smart Chinese students, I feel stung by the harsh truth within.In my opinion, a great film is lauded because it depicts some ever-lasting things, whether they're good or bad(better if it's good). That's the reason why the Shawshank Redemption is on the top. The ever-lasting thing in this film is, although Mcdull eventually stays mediocre, he doesn't lose the quality of a good man---being kind. This is very precious in May's eyes, who earns a good place in HongKong society in which, under great pressure, many ones are too busy and annoyed to be kind to the others. That's why when May encounters Mcdull as a grown up, she thinks it's miraculous for him to stay the same. It's also the meaning of our lives, no matter how smart we are, that we always keep the best part of our humanity.

The Hong Kong Film Festival had drawn a line across the audience spectrum to ensure offerings that appeal to a large demographic, so this marks the first time I had watched a McDull film on the big screen, in its original Cantonese language track. While not as slick as animated movies done in the West, McDull (voiced by Kwok Kwan Yin) contains plenty of crowd pleasing moments, especially when McDull turns on its charm and never say die attitude, or allowed his silly innocence to take over, both of which endear this animated work and counts for its popularity.For those unfamiliar with this popular Hong Kong pig, don't fret as the opening minutes of his fourth cinematic outing devote adequate time to bring you up to speed with just who this pig is, plus his friends and family, at the same time expanding its mythos with some never seen or heard before revelation, like how a botched attempt in baby development had caused McDull to be rather slow and dim. There's also a separate narrative thread telling us the story of his inventive ancestor McZi, which from the beginning set the tone for this hilarious tale.The main story though tells of Mrs Mc (Sandra Ng) who brings her son McDull to China to search for better fortunes, and it is this mother-son relationship that will tug at your heartstrings, where each feel for, and sacrifice for each other. Mrs Mc, in order to find employment and to allow her son to gain some skills to avoid being bullied, enrolls him at the Wu Dang martial arts school, which I thought was a nice nod to the highly popular Kung Fu Panda film, with veiled references to a tortoise master from long ago, as well as the obvious setting of various animals going under the tutelage of the Master (Anthony Wong) and surprise, a Brother Panda character too!It's been some time since I cracked up at toilet jokes, and McDull made me laugh uncontrollably with his antics. In some ways it's like watching Forrest Gump, only that he's represented here by a pig, though sharing the same zeal and zest for life with its never say die attitude, soothed always by comfort food. In some ways the themes here are similar to that from Gallants, so no prizes in guessing why I dig this film as much too, and given its cute looking characters, I understand now why this piglet has such a strong following, and has soaring popularity. I look forward to future installments, and will be looking back for past episodes!