Feeling blue? Here’s a wholly wholesome prescription: A hearty dose of the best panda content we’ve seen since that video of the little cub sneezing went viral.
Let’s face facts: The only thing better than watching baby pandas…be baby pandas…is watching them do it in IMAX, and starting April 6, we’re all going to be experiencing some serious “shock and awww.” We’re coming down with a serious case of panda fever, the likes of which have not been felt since little Tai Shan (aka Butterstick) was born at the National Zoo. But Pandas is no dignified David Attenborough-style affair, oh no—we’re going for full-throttle anthropomorphization and a plot that combines all the squee of panda bear daycare with a mission that turns conservation into an adventure. Can your cold black heart even take it? Seriously, who doesn’t identify with trying to thrive in the wild after being born and raised in captivity? Note to self: Insert joke about millennials here.
Oh, and how about that winsome, empathetic narration by Kristen Bell? Someone tell Veronica Mars she’s going to grow up to live the dream! Bell famously lost her mind over a sloth in 2012, and then went on to do the voice acting for one in Zootopia, and as far as we’re concerned, that’s qualification enough. And after watching this trailer, we’re pretty sure that our version of “The Good Place” (because Bell stars in “The Good Place”, eh? Get it?) looks a whole lot like teaching a baby panda to do somersaults. Cutest training montage ever? Probably.
Of course, the unsung heroes of this trailer—and perhaps the movie—are those New Hampshire black bear cubs and their scientist guru. We love them, and we have questions: How did that man get those baby bears? Does he really keep them in that large garden shed? How does it feel to know that most people don’t care about you because even though you’re cute, you’re not, like, baby panda cute?
In fact, if ever there was a creature that symbolized the whole of humanity’s quixotic, complex relationship to our fellow animals, especially mammals, it would be the disarming, rare. adorable, peaceful, endangered panda bear. And that, folks, is about as serious as we’re going to get this week, because we’ve gotta go re-watch these panda cubs, panda cubs, PANDA CUBS! With that, we’re off to turn this trailer into a million “my feel when” memes.
Do you love previews? We sure do! The Trailer Park is where to find hot takes on the coolest nature documentaries in your life, check out Tokyo Waka, See No Evil, The Bear, and The Commoners, all streaming on Fandor right now.
