"Boonie Bears: Restart the Future" (hereinafter referred to as "Restart the Future") is the last of the "Boonie Bears" series of science fiction-themed movies in the past five consecutive years (starting from 2021, they are "Wild Continent", "Return to Earth", "Bear Core" and "Reverse Time"), and it has fought a beautiful final battle.
Poster of Boonie Bears: Restart the Future
In terms of box office performance, despite the strong rival "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King", "Restart the Future" still won nearly 400 million yuan in box office in four days (as of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year), stabilizing the basic audience base for many years; in terms of word of mouth, Douban scored 7.5 points, which is a positive score given by the audience who have been with this IP series for many years. After a round of "Boonie Bears" series of movies in the year of the Chinese zodiac, it is time to stand on the glorious resume and restart the future.
If a compilation is made from 2013's "Boonie Bears: Chinese New Year" to the latest "Restart", the audience will probably be able to better appreciate the continuous iteration and evolution of this film series in terms of pictures and plot after more than ten years of "once-in-a-lifetime" encounter with the audience.
Although "Restart the Future"'s attempts at wasteland aesthetics and doomsday aesthetics inevitably involve obvious references to and imitations of the visual styles and scene designs of similar films, on a technical level it is indeed close to being on par with similar films, and is not separated from the plot, achieving an organic fusion with the film's plot.
The narrative around environmental issues under the theme of science fiction is a rehash even in the "Boonie Bears" series, because it is not a stereotyped preaching, and audiences of all ages will not be forced to "take classes" in the theater. Although "New Year" movies cannot all require harmony and joy, it is understandable that the audience demands laughter for family-friendly parent-child movies, and "Restart" is a considerate response to the audience's voice.
Stills from Boonie Bears: Restart the Future
The continuously growing audience requires continuously growing animated films, but the understanding and interests of the new young audiences must also be taken into account. For the animated films that came from children's animation series, the balance between large and small audiences has always been a tightrope-walking problem. If the plot is too simple, it will be regarded as "playing house" and childish by the older audiences, and if the plot is too complicated, it will be difficult for the younger audiences to understand and feel tired. To some extent, parent-child animated films and popular science writers share similar creative dilemmas. Parent-child animated films with science fiction themes face a double dilemma.
In this case, moderately sacrificing the rigor and meticulousness of "hard science fiction" in favor of more interpretable concepts and logical narratives should not be seen as a flaw, but rather as a necessary compromise. The setting of spores in "Restarting the Future" and the "halo" and "golden fingers" given to the protagonists should all be tolerated and affirmed in this context, and even viewers who have watched countless movies should not be picky.
The biggest improvement of "Restart" in terms of narrative is that the grand narrative is no longer just empty slogans, and the newly introduced characters are no longer used as tools to enter the progress bar. Although it is too early and too hasty to educate young audiences in sociology and political science, "Restart" can also be used as an enlightenment - adult audiences can see more metaphors about the complexity of real life from the movie. To a certain extent, as a birthday movie, it also has a theme first. Compared with Disney's failed "Wishing Star", "Restart" is more suitable for the general viewing tastes of Chinese audiences.
However, the plot of "Restart" is still top-heavy, and the film's rhythm is tight at the beginning and loose at the end, giving the audience a feeling of lack of stamina. Some old problems of the "Boonie Bears" series, such as the uneven distribution of roles among the three characters (the producer explained that it was a rotation of the C position), also still exist.
Of course, the audience will not ask the protagonist of a unit drama to grow from childhood to youth and then to middle age with the audience, but the bald Qiang in "Restart the Future" is still a little too "anti-aging". The iconic small moustache in the previous animated series has been missing in several major movies in recent years. The bald Qiang, who has been reduced in age, has the passion of a young man, but is also more reckless and rash. The new character Xiaoliang's "Monchichi"-like appearance is also lacking in recognition compared to the "limited" new characters in previous major movies.
"Reboot" lacks the aftertaste that a good movie should have. It is a limited edition movie for the holidays, but it will no longer be worth watching after the season is over.
Stills from Boonie Bears: Restart the Future
The success of "Nezha: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King" during the Spring Festival proves that animated films during the Spring Festival are not limited to children's movies. The "Boonie Bears" series, which has been unique for many years, faces challenges and opportunities. The various possibilities of this series of films in the future need to be explored by the creators and the audience.
