A panda travels to Africa to save his kidnapped dragon bestie in this bland, animated attempt to imitate some distinguished predecessorsHere is an animated feature, financed by production companies spanning the European Union, about a panda and his dragon best friend having adventures in Africa; it is, to be honest, sensationally derivative and not on the same level as Pixar, Disney or even Dreamworks films at their best. Even those studios are very derivative these days, quite inferior to their best from just a few years back. But it doesn’t really matter because most kids are fantastically uncritical viewers, bless them, so this ought to earn back in receipts the equivalent of its tax exemptions at least.Judging by the smooth rendering and thoughtful character design, the film-makers probably spent a fair few euros pulling it together, but it comes perilously close to competitors’ intellectual property, especially The Lion King franchise and to a lesser extent Kung Fu Panda. The plot starts with panda boy Pang (voiced with an American accent by Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing, while all the adult characters around him sound significantly more Asian) palling around with his best friend Jielong (Georgina Verbaan), a girl dragon who is still struggling to control her weather-shaping ice breath and flying skills. Continue reading...