Movie reel

Panda Express

Set in southern China during the Song Dynasty (1127-1279), Panda Express tells the story of Wang Laoji, a dart seller who is tasked with escorting a giant panda to Lin'an city, where it will perform at a party in honor of an important general. During his journey, Wang meets a variety of characters including a female thief who is anxious to get married, a Mongolian warrior who believes that eating the panda will make him invincible, a woman in search of animal smugglers, and two assassins who are planning to murder the general. All of this leads to a journey that promises to have audiences in stitches with its perfectly timed one-liners, ridiculous side plots and captivating digital effects.

The movie, which finally opened in Shanghai yesterday, also marks a cynical exercise in exploitative marketing. Audiences had to "bear" a yearlong promotional campaign orchestrated in no small part by the canny exploits of the wife of director Wang Yuelun. Li Xiang, who used to host an entertainment TV program, has habitually hung her family's affairs out in public over the last 12 months - from the couple's respective affairs to her pregnancy and the birth of their daughter - and as a result she has successfully glued the public's attention to her husband's latest movie. Fortunately, it was worth the wait.