Positive subject matter

Zhao is well known in art circles for putting panda images everywhere, whether in his art works, fashion shows or performance art. And as for his first film, the use of panda elements is also extreme.

The film's story encourages students across the country to develop their creativity and make their own panda art works to raise money for charity. The money would be used to build a home for elderly people who have no relatives. The film is touching in the way it depicts the children's innocent love and perseverance as they finally accomplish the good deed.

Turns out, the project in the story is true and was actually initiated for the movie, according to Zhao's assistant Zhuang Peng. "When the director decided to make a film about pandas several years ago, he wondered about launching such a social project to observe various group's reactions to his call. Then he filmed the whole story for the screen," Zhuang told the Global Times.

Children in the film responded warmly to the appeal, with several main characters leaving a deep impression. Guojie, a boy who comes from a poor family, make a "Panda Transformer" out of waste materials despite a lot of teasing from his schoolmates.

One girl wrote a short story with the title "My Father Is A Panda" and depicts life with her alcoholic father after her mother left them. The story was so moving that it was finally sold to a foreign couple for 100,000 yuan ($16,280).

Other examples include an all-girl quartet: they wrote an inspiring song about pandas and performed it themselves.

In the end, the efforts of all the children raised more than 1 million yuan, allowing the home for the lonely elderly people to finally be built in Kaifeng county of central Henan Province.

Having criticized domestic filmmakers about their emphasis on box-office results and directors' confusion about what kinds of films they are making, Zhao said previously that his film was like nothing seen before and didn't fit into any film category.

Yet from both the content of the film and the way it unfolds, it is actually no different from other films. Aimed at reflecting on people's loss of values amid the fast changes within Chinese society, the film includes scenes of adult's diverse reactions to the project, which serves as something of a subplot to the story of the children making art to raise money.

For example, some adults think it is just a scam to cheat people out of money, while others think it as not worth the time or trouble and are unsupportive of their children's participation.

Zhao may believe this theme to be novel, but stories reflecting people's indifference to the social situation around them is nothing new, nor is it unusual these days to focus a children's film on encouraging their creativity.

And as for the way the story unfolds, it is basically the type that reflects a true story including some reenactments of past events. It is not, as it was so boldly branded, a movie that evades all attempts at classification. And the artistic design generally left audiences feeling empty, except for some of the works made by children.

Under these circumstances, it would be understandable for one to feel disappointed or even angry after watching the film, given its sensationalized promotion by the producers based on the concept of "nothing like before!"

However, one comforting sign is that, judging from a series of previews held for groups of children and educators, the film does fit into the category of those that children enjoy.

"The film is like a huge installation art work by Zhao Bandi, bringing enlightenment to children, not like most other children films that are superficial," said Long Niannan, a children art educator.