Bao

Voices of: Daniel Kailin, Sindy Lau
Directed by: Domee Shi
Rating: G
Genre: Short, Animation
Length: 8 minutes
2018

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A Chinese-Canadian woman lamenting her grown up son's departure from their home is shocked when a dumpling comes to life.

Review:

Tim: Pixar's short films are usually pretty solid. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Bao. Generally, I suppose I liked it. There were some powerful emotions on display here and it tells a touching story. However, I felt somewhat baffled early on and confusion was one of the biggest emotions I experienced. I can't say I loved the movie, but it's certainly worth seeing.

I love that the film starts a Chinese-Canadian family. We don't see enough people of Chinese descent depicted on screen. It felt like an authentic look into this family and the small cultural indicators added to the story and gave it some nice differentiation.

The story itself is a little bizarre. This is mostly a silent film, so we're left to figure things out ourselves. Early on, we see a woman who seems to be lonely and sad. Her life changes when a dumpling she's making comes to life. It's obvious the woman is overjoyed to have this little dumpling baby, especially because we don't see any other children in the house. So far, so good. The dumpling grows up fairly quickly, though. And it's these scenes that feel a little confusing. The dumpling seems to take a typical adolescence path, moving away from his parents and towards exploring the world, making friends, etc. The woman is clearly overprotective, but it all seems a bit confusing. This culminates in a bizarre scene (it makes complete sense a minute or two later) that felt odd and potentially frightening to younger viewers. At this point, I wondered what the heck I was watching.

After that dark scene, the story comes full circle and it all makes sense. In this moment, I saw the brilliance of Bao and I have to admit, I felt real emotion bubble up. Looking at the film as a whole, it's a powerful story of parents and families. Without any dialogue and in 8 minutes, the film tells a more emotional story than most of the Hollywood films we get. However, until the film finally makes sense, the short film feels like a fairly inexplicable journey. I can't say I liked the journey, although I very much did appreciate the destination.

Bao might not be my favorite Pixar short film, but it absolutely is one of the more memorable ones. It's emotional and mature, although it might be confusing to younger viewers.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



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