EVEN when you disregard the fairly common plot, The Big Trip feels like an unfinished, unpolished, and rushed movie that barely made the cut for TV, yet somehow skipped ahead and made it to the big screen.
This 2019 animated film follows a bear named Mic-Mic, who decides to deliver a baby panda to its real parents in China after a postman stork mistakes the address of Bear for Panda.
Irritated by the baby panda’s cries, he lets his persistent neighbour Oscar the Hare join the expedition, since Oscar manages to soothe the crying infant.
On their journey to deliver the baby safely, they encounter a talkative Pelican with a tendency to exaggerate, a Wolf that is frightened of everything, and a lonesome, poetic Tiger.
Mic-Mic appears as quite a grumpy bear, who, upon meeting each new addition to the group, only allows them to join when they help stop the baby from crying.
Led by Mic-Mic, the group travels through oceans, rivers, and deserts, before finally reaching China.
This movie is targeted at children, but instead of being imaginative, there seems to be no point to the movie, as the story feels all over the place with its confusing plot.
There’s also something odd about the animation – especially in the way the characters move – that, in a way, makes the cartoon animals look like bad human actors; although the voice acting doesn’t do the film any favours either.
In fact, while it is clear that this film is dubbed from its original Russian, it is so low budget that there is no voice cast list provided anywhere.
The movie comes from the writer of Madagascar and the character designer of Animals United but it just looks like a bad cut-and-paste version, trying to imitate elements from more successful animations.
The movie tried, but unfortunately, it just didn’t deliver.
It’s hard to find a redeeming quality for The Big Trip. I wouldn’t recommend this movie, either for you or your child.
