Born in China

This is the 2016 Disneynature documentary: 

I return to the world of Disneynature; I’ve viewed some of their offerings in the past: 

Penguins
Bears
Polar Bear

All have nice nature photography out in the wild although the narration seemed designed for children; it doesn’t compare to the BBC Earth documentaries narrated by David Attenborough. Born in China was more of the same, despite the involvement of Shanghai Media Group; yes, I know it’s a state-owned company. My viewing of this is not an endorsement of China’s government the same that my occasional usage of Disney+ and my annual pass to Walt Disney World is not an endorsement of their most unsavory practices, gouging their customers, the overly stringent protection of their copyright, etc.

Anyhow, Born in China follows four different groups of animals: a snow leopard mom & her two cubs, a herd of chiru antelope, a barrelful of golden snub-nosed monkeys, and a giant panda mom/daughter combo. The narration was from… John Krasinski, of all people. As before, the narration was designed for children, and there’s some obviously crafted storylines. No lie, they created a story where a young male monkey named TaoTao rebels against his family by joining THE LOST BOYS, rebels led not by David but rather a leader named (for some reason) Rooster. David would have been better…

I don’t know if my four nephews and niece would like these Disneynature movies. The 12-year-old boys spend a lot of time on their phones, because of course. I don’t know what they view on there… it could be SKIBIDI TOILET for all I know! In any case, no matter your opinion of the narration, the footage of those animals always makes for pleasant viewing. Who wouldn’t be delighted by viewing MeiMei the baby panda get spooked by a falling leaf and take one heck of a tumble down a hill?

It is important to note that unlike typical, one of the animals passes away. The narration then quickly pivoted to discussing for a few minutes the concepts of “the circle of life” and how the Chinese believe in reincarnation… who knows, the youngest could become a bit upset. Otherwise, it should be fine family viewing if you have a family w/ children and everyone’s interested in nature documentaries.