Film Name: 刺猬小子之天生我刺 / Bobby the Hedgehog / Spiny Life
Looking back, this hedgehog named Big Porcupine truly accomplished quite a lot in 90 minutes: plucking fruit from the treetops, befriending birds, turning enemies into allies, scoring with a girl, defeating humans, changing a hedgehog clan’s escapist mindset, mastering the kung fu move “Spikes Soaring Through the Sky,” and even experiencing the thrill of soaring through the air!
What a bountiful harvest, a grand reunion, and sheer joy! Yet even if Big Hedgehog had achieved three or five more feats, it would scarcely move me—for there was no genuine growth. We can’t help but ask: what exactly made Big Hedgehog worthy of such triumphs? Was it merely its somewhat arrogant bravery?
Temporary amnesia and rejection by the new tribe—these were merely emotional crises for Big Hedgehog, while its character remained untested. It was the new tribe’s hedgehogs who hesitated to raise their quills, not Big Hedgehog. At any moment, it could effortlessly pluck the fruit from the very top of the tree. it even mastered its ultimate move, “Spikes Soaring to the Sky,” with little effort. Panda Po endured countless hardships to perfect his ultimate technique—why could Big Hedgehog achieve such power without training?
What I truly hoped to see was this: if one day Big Hedgehog lost the courage to raise its spines, if it shrank from battle, how would it rediscover the desire to protect others within its heart? How would it raise its colorful quills once more? I want to see how this creature, so supremely powerful and arrogant at the film’s start, navigates adversity to grasp the importance of friendship and group cooperation. What truly concerns me is whether, beyond the bright red fruits easily plucked from treetops, there exists a higher fruit it can never reach—one requiring not physical prowess, but a heart dedicated to protecting others.
The film loses its focus by piling excessive achievements onto Big Hedgehog. Spines symbolize courage and individuality; wings represent freedom and ideals. Both could serve as weighty thematic motifs, yet the film muddles them together, blurring their distinctions and losing its focus. It shifts from one to the other before delving deeply into either.
If Da Wei is a hedgehog yearning to fly, then the film should center on flight—on the miraculous transformation of the impossible into the possible, where a creature incapable of flight achieves it. Whether the quills are sharp or not becomes irrelevant. If Da Wei is a hedgehog who uses his quills to assert his identity, constantly striving to express his truest self, then the film should center on the quills. It should explore the theme of a hedgehog who dares not use his quills—treating them merely as decoration—rediscovering his authentic self. Whether he has wings or not becomes irrelevant. Quills and wings cannot coexist.
The film’s use of a boy to represent human hope, an unusual bird to nurture the protagonist’s fading ability to make friends, and a fierce beast with a rich backstory to deliver a plot twist are all commendable screenwriting attempts. However, the dialogue design requires further refinement; at times, it feels like watching a Shakespearean play, with too many rigid, functional lines and too few simple, everyday expressions.
Additionally, as a debut directorial effort, I wish to highlight concerns regarding the film’s safety portrayal. It features gratuitous violence, characters jumping off cliffs (without injury), and standing on highways to flag down vehicles—actions that are highly imitable yet extremely dangerous. For a family-friendly film, the use of fantasy-based violence feels somewhat careless.
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