Disney has lighted upon a bear as adorable as Winnie the Pooh. The mouse house's second cooperation with Chinese filmmakers since its 2007 hit The Secret of the Magic Gourd (Baohulu De Mimi), is about a panda and his boy sidekick.

Named Touch of the Panda (Xiongmao Huijialu), the film tells the story of a panda cub who becomes separated from its mother and is rescued by a boy orphan. The boy does his utmost to protect the cub from those he believes would hurt it, and the two form a strong bond. But the boy soon realizes that the best thing he could ever do for his friend is to help it find its way home.

The film was shot in the town of Wolong, Sichuan under the cooperation and supervision of Wolong Giant Panda Nature Reserve, the world's foremost research and preservation facilities for the endangered species.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures China has helped develop the project at the pre production and filming stages with Chinese filmmakers Castle Hero Pictures and Ying Dong Media. It will also handle marketing and distribution around the world.

"This project truly highlights Disney's continued efforts to generate locally relevant entertainment content for contemporary Chinese consumers," says Stanley Cheung, executive vice-president and managing director of Disney, Greater China. "We're excited to have a film that features an icon with which the Chinese people truly identify."

Half-Chinese-half-Japanese child actor Daichi Harashima portrays the boy, and Chinese director Yu Zhong, who witnessed the earthquake that hit Sichuan on May 12, is head of the film crew.

Yu and his 26-member crew were shooting in Wolong's Balangshan Mountain, about 50 km away from the Yingxiu county epicenter, when the earthquake happened. They were successfully evacuated to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, three days later. Fortunately no actors, crew or bears were hurt. Wolong Reserve was also rocked in the earthquake, and one panda named Mao Mao lost its life.

"Our Chinese title roughly translates as The Panda's Road Home, and is perhaps more poignant now in light of recent events in that part of China," Cheung said.

The project began production at around the Chinese New Year in February, and has completed principal photography. The film is now at the post-production stage and will go on general release in 2009.

The magic Disney kingdom made its first Chinese co-production The Secret of the Magic Gourd last year, in cooperation with Hong Kong's Centro Digital Pictures and the China Film Group Corporation. The children's story based on folk tale earned about $2.7 million at the Chinese box office -- relatively speaking a pretty fair performance.

(China Daily June 18, 2008)