Boonie Bears returns to Spring Festival theaters

As one of the country's most popular animated franchises, Boonie Bears will release its latest feature-length film, Boonie Bears: Time Twist, on the first day of the Year of the Dragon, falling on Feb 10.

The new story unfolds from the perspective of Vick, a former logger who departs the forest to take a higher-paying job as a programmer in a bustling city in southern China. However, while accompanying his boss on a visit to a client's house, Vick unexpectedly discovers a secret, which sets him on a time-travel journey to navigate multiple parallel universes to rescue his bear friends.

An enduring franchise which has started to be released in 2012, Boonie Bears has currently produced a total of 18 series containing more than 1,000 episodes, 10 feature-length movies (including the upcoming title), and several stage plays.

Shang Linlin, the franchise's producer, revealed that the upcoming installment took longer to produce than the previous films. Besides, the new tale features a special retrospective of all the past nine films, with the major characters from those installments making appearances, she added.

Lin Huida, the film's director, said that he and fellow creators have merged their experience and reflections from their own lives into the new tale, including what they have gained from their experiences in the workplace.

In the movie, Vick's new career resonates with many audiences as he, like most young people, leaves the small town to pursue success in a city. The beginning scenes in the movie portray his endurance of office stress, including overtime and a difficult boss, while occasionally missing his friends in the town near the forest.

Li Daoxin, deputy director of the School of Arts at Peking University, said the new tale skillfully combines sci-fi elements with highly relevant social issues, making it a breakthrough when compared to the previous nine movies.

The film held its premiere in Beijing on Wednesday, attracting many fans on a nostalgic journey to revisit their love for the franchise over the past decade.