Venturing into the wilds of China, 'Born in China' captures intimate moments with a panda and her growing cub, a young golden monkey who feels displaced by his baby sister, and a mother snow leopard struggling to raise her two cubs.
The film doesn't offer anything new, and doesn't stop pushing 'Family' until even the cutest animal seems to be lecturing you to listen to your parents.
While the footage is breathtaking, these animal tales get wobblier every year at walking the line between educational fun and hard-to-swallow stories of animals acting out human narratives.
"Born in China" won't teach you everything there is to know about pandas, snow leopards or snub-nosed monkeys, and its storylines feel manipulated by the Disney machine. But darned if it doesn't make you say "aww."
As breathtaking as the imagery is...the script...is a mess of...goop. Granted, the narration is aimed at a young audience, and part of the pleasure in watching animals in the wild comes from observing the similarities and differences between them and us.
John Krasinski narrates, and though he doesn't achieve that mix of gravitas and cheeky wit [of] Sir David Attenborough ... his vocal stylings are perfectly homey and serviceable for the task of guiding us through the lives of these special animals.
