Film Name: 熊出没之熊心归来 / Boonie Bears III / Boonie Bears: The Big Top Secret
For Chinese audiences unfamiliar with Madagascar 3, Boonie Bears: The Big Top Secret remains quite entertaining, packed with creative moments—especially the circus finale. When gorilla Black Wind takes flight with courage, that sense of chasing dreams delivers a small but powerful emotional punch. Even viewers familiar with Madagascar 3 may appreciate the film’s skillful adaptation, particularly how it seamlessly blends the Boonie Bears trio with classic Madagascar 3 plotlines.
This film represents the pinnacle of contemporary Chinese animation in adapting overseas animated works.
The only regret is that the opening dam breach serves merely as a plot device for Xiong Da leaving the forest, rather than becoming the driving force behind his circus journey. In other words, Xiong Da’s initial failure doesn’t become the spiritual foundation for his eventual success—it remains purely physical. Consequently, his final “return to the forest” is merely a physical homecoming, failing to articulate how he spiritually relies on or draws strength from the forest’s essence.
All three Bear Story films employ puns in their titles: Treasure Hunters, Snowy Mountain Adventure, and Heart of the Forest. The character “熊” (bear) in each title is derived from “雄” (magnificent). In Heart of the Forest, Black Wind’s return to his magnificent self is equally memorable. From fearing failure to daring to challenge, when it resolutely decides to return to the stage, if its stubbornness is 99% responsibility and 1% dream, then that 1% dream is what moves me most—the innate urge of life itself, the yearning to blossom no matter what.
Under such a spark, you’ll understand Grandma Elephant’s unexpected line as she gazes at a cloud from the hot air balloon: “So elephants really can fly.” What makes it unexpected isn’t its abruptness, but precisely its naturalness—I never dared hope for such a beautiful resonance in domestic animation. When Grandma Elephant casually mentions earlier in the film that her mother once told her “elephants can fly,” you truly cannot anticipate the profound sense of release when the aged Grandma utters those words after fulfilling her dream. Accompanied by the unique grandeur of the fiery sunset clouds, it makes one feel the power of life and the power of dreams.
The bear’s heart returning also brings back a sense of grounded reality. When the super-realistic conflict between the two bears and Strongman is disrupted by a fantastical mythical beast in the Snow Ridge Bear Wind story, it feels as jarring as a farmer who’s tilled the land his whole life suddenly donning a suit. Thankfully, in the bear’s heart returning, this down-to-earth realism is restored. Though the circus finale carries romantic overtones, this sentiment serves as a rhetorical flourish brightening reality rather than a contrived fantasy.
Of course, however many praiseworthy highlights the film possesses, it remains fundamentally an homage. It must be said that this approach to classic homage constitutes the creative methodology of the Bear Out series’ first trilogy. Much like the three uses of “The Hottest Ethnic Trend” in the film, it feels like a classic deserves more than just a few appearances. But all good things come in threes—here’s hoping Bear Story 4 achieves true rebirth through innovation.
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