Rating: 
Summary: Much LESS than what it appears
Review: This is a good example of the very type of film that parents should watch out for: an empty, non-challenging story that has just enough pretty cinematography to fool you into thinking that it might be more. It is basically a "save the panda" plot that takes a small boy on a supposedly harrowing but utterly predictable journey. The movie greatly underestimates the capacity of kids to find moral interpretations, understand symbolism, and interpret ambiguity. What you get here is about an hour and a half of pretty predictability -- a movie that asks nothing of you as a viewer, gives nothing in return, and just plods on with pretty images and a repetitious sound track that becomes quite irritating. At least with the overtly "bad" children's films you can recoup some value by discussing how bad they are -- and why -- with your kids. This movie doesn't even give you that opportunity. Much better films are out there, including many "classic" films from earlier eras -- Walt Disney's "20,000 Under the Sea" or "Mary Poppins" for instance. Pass this one and keep on looking... your extra time will be rewarded.
Rating: 
Summary: Gimme a Break
Review: This is not so much a review for the movie as much as it is thelling the annoying man with the 2 review to get a life. You realize that you are not a REAL reviewer, correct? Just wanted to make sure because most peoplee write a line or two about if a movie is cute or not. I've seen the movie many times and it's very cute! yes, maybe some parts are cheesey but guess what...it's a movie for CHILDREN! for a 5 - 10 year old child it would be exciting, funny, and education (to learn about pandas and how they are in danger of extincting) Another thing...have you seen any other movies before? how bout all the movies with MASSIVE explosions and the guns and endless violence. and you are going to call THE GREAT PANDA ADVENTURE "twisted" and "disturbing"...get a life! I mean..."oh no the parents are DIVORCED and the father is wrapped up in his work That is SOOO twisted!!!" your review of this movie is comical. and then I go to see what else you've reviewed...a bunch of stupid cartoons and you gave them all 5 stars ha ha get a life mr. D. Scott (and a job while your at it. I know that no one will probably read this but I thought I'd write it because some people bug me to no end. If you have a child they will love this movie. It shows life in (beautiful) china and the work it takes to keep animals in peace. one thing I do agree with D. Scott on is that sometimes you can tell the pandas are not real in a certain shot but I don't think your child will notice or even care.
Rating: 
Summary: Twisted, Very Disturbing "Family Film"
Review: This is one of the worst "family films" I have ever subjected my family to. Although the photography of the hill country in China is nice, and the (real) pandas are always cute, this film is, frankly, a bit disturbing. If you are even considering letting your children watch this film, PLEASE watch it yourself first.The storyline of the film has been covered in many other reviews, so I will focus on the parts that seem troubling to me. A boy's parents are divorced because the father is so preoccupied with his work that he forgets about them. So what happens when the father sends the boy a ticket to fly to China? The boy flies there, COMPLETELY ALONE, only to have his father forget, not only to pick him up at the airport, but that he is coming at all. The boy finally gets to the panda reserve by jumping on a bus with a panda picture on it (he just happens to see it outside of the airport) with complete strangers he cannot comminucate with. Luckily, the bus goes straight to the preserve, but the father does not recognize his own son at first, and then reveals that he has forgotten that he is coming altogether. Nice work, Dad. THEN, the father immediately leaves, hot on the trail of armed and dangerous panda poachers, only to have his son disobey and follow, actually getting the father shot and putting the pandas in greater peril. The father leaves in a helicopter with a panda, leaving behind his son and two others in the same area as the still armed poachers. Another great one, dad. Of course, the son again disobeys and heads off into the forest after the armed poachers, who repeatedly aim rifles and shoot at him. When he finds the poacher's secret cave, the walls are lined with dead panda pelts (OK, Disney it's not). Believe it or not, the entire story goes downhill from there, culminating in a ridiculous scene where the father tries to find his lost and presumed dead son (who is still being pursued by the now very angry armed poachers) while riding across the mountains on a very slow TRACTOR - I guess the helicopter from before that evacuated the panda couldn't be spared to find two lost children who may be DEAD, and who ARE in mortal danger. The son only seems to be able to gain his father's love by saving the panda, which would have been saved many times over if he only done what he was told and STAYED PUT. When the father finally does see that his son is alive, is he happy? No - he is only focused on "saving" the baby panda, who is now up a tree (climbing trees is what baby pandas do, so why the big fuss?) The son is rewarded by his father telling him he can stay for the summer and work at the panda reserve with him. Wasn't that the idea to begin with, Dad, or have you forgotten that, too? This is a very poor excuse for a film. The filmmakers obviously thought that the Chinese scenery (beautiful) and the pandas (cute, although it is easy to spot the animatronic ones from a mile away) are enough to carry a film. They are not. At least the filmmakers could have written a believable script. They did not. How about just a film that you can safely sit your kids in front of while you do something "more important?" Strike three. If anything, the parenting shown in this film proves that the best thing you can do with your kids is to spend time with them, not simply plop them in front of dangerously mindless dreck like this.
Rating:
Summary: Twisted, Very Disturbing "Family Film"
Review: This is one of the worst "family films" I have ever subjected my family to. Although the photography of the hill country in China is nice, and the (real) pandas are always cute, this film is, frankly, a bit disturbing. If you are even considering letting your children watch this film, PLEASE watch it yourself first. The storyline of the film has been covered in many other reviews, so I will focus on the parts that seem troubling to me. A boy's parents are divorced because the father is so preoccupied with his work that he forgets about them. So what happens when the father sends the boy a ticket to fly to China? The boy flies there, COMPLETELY ALONE, only to have his father forget, not only to pick him up at the airport, but that he is coming at all. The boy finally gets to the panda reserve by jumping on a bus with a panda picture on it (he just happens to see it outside of the airport) with complete strangers he cannot comminucate with. Luckily, the bus goes straight to the preserve, but the father does not recognize his own son at first, and then reveals that he has forgotten that he is coming altogether. Nice work, Dad. THEN, the father immediately leaves, hot on the trail of armed and dangerous panda poachers, only to have his son disobey and follow, actually getting the father shot and putting the pandas in greater peril. The father leaves in a helicopter with a panda, leaving behind his son and two others in the same area as the still armed poachers. Another great one, dad. Of course, the son again disobeys and heads off into the forest after the armed poachers, who repeatedly aim rifles and shoot at him. When he finds the poacher's secret cave, the walls are lined with dead panda pelts (OK, Disney it's not). Believe it or not, the entire story goes downhill from there, culminating in a ridiculous scene where the father tries to find his lost and presumed dead son (who is still being pursued by the now very angry armed poachers) while riding across the mountains on a very slow TRACTOR - I guess the helicopter from before that evacuated the panda couldn't be spared to find two lost children who may be DEAD, and who ARE in mortal danger. The son only seems to be able to gain his father's love by saving the panda, which would have been saved many times over if he only done what he was told and STAYED PUT. When the father finally does see that his son is alive, is he happy? No - he is only focused on "saving" the baby panda, who is now up a tree (climbing trees is what baby pandas do, so why the big fuss?) The son is rewarded by his father telling him he can stay for the summer and work at the panda reserve with him. Wasn't that the idea to begin with, Dad, or have you forgotten that, too? This is a very poor excuse for a film. The filmmakers obviously thought that the Chinese scenery (beautiful) and the pandas (cute, although it is easy to spot the animatronic ones from a mile away) are enough to carry a film. They are not. At least the filmmakers could have written a believable script. They did not. How about just a film that you can safely sit your kids in front of while you do something "more important?" Strike three. If anything, the parenting shown in this film proves that the best thing you can do with your kids is to spend time with them, not simply plop them in front of dangerously mindless dreck like this.
Rating: 
Summary: Personal Experience with Panda
Review: We were just in Sichuan Province and visited the panda reserve! The pandas were awesome and so was the movie. My son just love panda bears
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