Boonie Bears: The Wild Life Explained

Boonie Bears: The Wild Life
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S:熊出没·狂野大陆
T:熊出沒·狂野大陸
L:Roaming Bears: The Wild Land
P:Xióng Chūmò: Kuángyě Dàlù
Director:Leon Ding
Shao Heqi
Screenplay:Xu Yun
Cui Tiezhi
Zhang Yu
Starring:Zhang Bingjun
Tan Xiao
Zhang Wei
Liu Pei
Zhou Ziyu
Zhu Guangzu
Jia Chenlu
Country:China
Music:Roc Chen
Language:Standard Chinese
Studio:Fantawild Animation
HG Entertainment
Sunac Culture
Lian Ray Pictures[1]
Distributor:China Film Co., Ltd.
Lian Ray Pictures
Maoyan
HG Entertainment
Suniverse
Fantawild Animation
Budget:250 million RMB (reportedly)[2]
Gross:600 million RMB[3]
(US$93 million)[4]
Runtime:99 minutes[5]

Boonie Bears: The Wild Life is a 2021 Chinese Computer animated fantasy comedy film, and the seventh feature film in the Boonie Bears series. The story follows Logger Vick who participates in a contest with Bramble and Briar, when guests who have been transformed into animals.[6] [7] The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics.

Synopsis

At the Mountain Pine area, Logger Vick visits a amusement park named the Wild Life that he learned from his old friend. The visitors uses bracelets that can transform humans to an animal of your choice upon, as well as a super-transforming version. Contestants then compete with a range of other groups through an elimination round and a finals round. The winner group then receives one million dollars. With the belief that this price will be the solution to his problems, after taking a selfie with a guinea pig-turned visitor, Vick starts to have fun at the place. However, the bear brothers Bramble and Briar also secretly entered the park, and they teamed up together with a mysterious man named Leon. Vick then receives a sample package of the various animal choices he can change into. This choices can range from a bear, a chameleon and a lion.

During the first round, the team struggled to earn their spot at the finals, but succeeded in a down-to-the wire contest. Nevertheless, the team secured the spot and that the 'Wild Life' was originally conceived by Tom and Leon, the latter of which inventing most technologies and constructed the park to bring happiness due to that his deceased daughter Lily who was thrilled by his invention. As a result, Leon attempted to shut the park since that the super-transforming technology is unsafe and results in savage animal states. Hence, those animal states, along with Bramble and Briar, were captured, while Tom is transformed into a chimera and fought Leon debating with him if the park is safe. Subsequently, Vick destroys the artificial intelligence, which resulted in an explosion that ended up killing Tom as Vick, the bears and Leon successfully escaped.

At the end of the day, everybody is freed and Vick talks to a news anchor about happiness, in which he believed that the primitive state drives happiness and uses this to deceive staff of the Wild Life.

Cast

!Character Name!Voice Actor
BrambleZhang Bingjun
VickTan Xiao
BriarZhang Wei
LeonLiu Pei
TomZhu Guangzu

Production

According to the filmmakers, animating the Wild Land contest venue was an extremely complex process that required 3,000 computers to render simultaneously every day. In one three-minute sequence in particular, the average time for a machine to render a frame was 20 hours – equivalent to 120 machines rendering for 30 days, 24 hours a day. Boonie Bears: The Wild Life is the first Chinese animated film in which humans transform into other animals.[8] According to Daisy Shang, president of Fantawild Animation, this required a "special rigging system" to animate realistically.[9]

The producers stated that film is focused on the theme of happiness. It explores the essence of happiness and how happiness influences human behavior. The directors expressed hope that both children and adults watching the movie would think about the question of what happiness is. They hoped the film would make audiences think about their lives and their futures.

The theme song "I Will Always Be Here" is sung by Lala Hsu.[10]

Release

The film was scheduled for a Chinese New Year release on 25 January 2020, but was delayed by the COVID-19 outbreak.[9] [11] [12] [13] It was subsequently screened at the 2020 Shanghai International Film Festival.[14]

It was released on 12 February 2021 (Chinese New Year) in mainland China.[15] [16] [17] Internationally, the film released on 12 February 2021 in Japan, 19 February 2021 in Australia, and 7 May 2021 in Canada.[18] And also released on Netflix on 4 December 2021.

On its first day, the film earned 101 million RMB (US$15.6 million) at the box office.[19] Its three-day gross was 236 million RMB (US$36.5 million), making it the fourth highest-grossing film of the 2021 Chinese New Year weekend.[20]

Reception

The film received mixed to generally positive reviews, with a score of 6.3 out of 10 on Douban[21] and 8.8 out of 10 on Maoyan as of January 2022.[22] Reviewers praised it for its family entertainment value, but criticised its usage of ideas from other established films such as Zootopia. It was also nominated for a Golden Rooster Award for Best Animation at the 2020 Golden Rooster Awards.[23]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 《熊出没•狂野大陆》光头强变"熊三" 尽显萌态笑闹新春 - 华强方特官方网站. 2020-01-04. www.fantawild.com. zh-cn . https://web.archive.org/web/20200104061529/https://www.fantawild.com/newslist/show/11764.htm . 2020-01-04.
  2. News: 《熊出没·狂野大陆》吸金5亿,与"阴霾"中的华强方特有几分相关? . 25 February 2021 . www.jiemian.com.
  3. Web site: 熊出没·狂野大陆. 猫眼电影. 2021-02-16.
  4. Web site: Xiong Chu Mo: Kuang Ye Da Lu - Financial Information China . 2024-01-11 . The Numbers.
  5. Web site: Boonie Bears: The Wild Life . The Film Catalogue . 25 February 2021 . en.
  6. Web site: 电影拍摄制作备案公示表. 2019-01-01. 2019-09-12. 国家电影局关于2019年07月(上旬)全国电影剧本(梗概)备案、立项公示的通知. 中华人民共和国国家新闻出版广电总局. 国家新闻出版广电总局电影局. zh-cn.
  7. Web site: 国家电影局关于2019年07月(上旬)全国电影剧本(梗概)备案、立项公示的通知. 2019-01-01. 2019-09-12. 中华人民共和国国家新闻出版广电总局. 国家新闻出版广电总局电影局. zh-cn.
  8. News: 《熊出没·狂野大陆》定档 光头强被改造成动物? . 27 February 2021.
  9. Web site: Fantawild Animation Announces Date for the New Boonie Bears Film Fantawild . 2020-01-04 . www.fantawild.com . en.
  10. News: 金爵奖官方入选纪录片和动画片全介绍 . www.siff.com . 25 February 2021 . 2021-02-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210225111629/http://www.siff.com/a/2020-07-24/3961.html . dead .
  11. News: Spring Festival movie guide 2021 . 25 February 2021.
  12. News: Shackleton . Liz . Fantawild seals string of deals on 'Boonie Bears: The Wild Life' (exclusive) . 25 February 2021 . Screen Daily . 2020-06-23 . en.
  13. News: 《熊出没-狂野大陆》定档2020大年初一 光头强被改造基因成动物? . 25 February 2021 . www.sohu.com.
  14. News: Frater . Rebecca Davis,Patrick . Davis . Rebecca . Frater . Patrick . Shanghai Festival's Eclectic Selection Includes All Eight 'Harry Potter' Films . 25 February 2021 . Variety . 23 July 2020.
  15. Web site: 《熊出没·狂野大陆》曝"春节重逢"预告 定档2021大年初一. 2020-12-16. 猫眼电影. zh-cn.
  16. Web site: 7部电影竞争春节档 谁是头马谁是黑马-中新网 . 中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻 . 2021-02-08 . zh . 2021-02-08.
  17. News: Davis . Rebecca . China Box Office: 'Hi, Mom' Overtakes Initial Frontrunner 'Detective Chinatown 3' in Total Sales . 25 February 2021 . Variety . 21 February 2021.
  18. News: Frater . Patrick . 'Boonie Bears: The Wild Life' Takes Chinese Animation Franchise to Japan, Australia Theaters (EXCLUSIVE) . 25 February 2021 . Variety . 10 February 2021.
  19. News: China Box Office: 'Detective Chinatown 3' Rockets Past $125M on First Day of Lunar New Year . 25 February 2021 . The Hollywood Reporter . 12 February 2021 . en.
  20. News: Davis . Rebecca . China Box Office Hits Huge $775 Million Holiday Weekend, Led by $424 Million 'Detective Chinatown' Debut . 25 February 2021 . Variety . 14 February 2021.
  21. Web site: 熊出没·狂野大陆 . 豆瓣电影 . 2021-02-12. live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210212112335/https://movie.douban.com/subject/34825886/ . 2021-02-12 .
  22. Web site: 熊出没·狂野大陆 . 猫眼电影 . 2021-02-14.
  23. News: 33届金鸡奖提名出炉 《少年的你》11提领跑 . 27 February 2021 . ent.ifeng.com.