Niu Lai

Niu Lai is a wide-eyed calf who would rather wander the grasslands than lead them. His family, though, has other plans: he is expected to grow into the next head of the herd, and migration season is closing in fast. Facing a crossing of the desert that has broken stronger animals, Niu Lai picks up a few unlikely companions and sets out to learn what courage actually costs. The film is a Mandarin-language 3D animated family feature from director Xin Yumeng, who also voices the title character along with Niulai's father, a spotted leopard, and a fox. Sun Lifang voices Niulai's mother and a skylark, wrote the screenplay, and composed the score. Made for a reported $600, Niu Lai pulled in $4,889,922 at the box office, a return that turned a tiny Dalian production into a talking point. Dalian Jingyuan Culture Film and Television Media handled production, and the film's absurdist streak and crude-by-studio-standards cartoon cow designs became part of its online life. Critics have not been kind: the 4.3 out of 10 rating across 19 votes on record suggests a reception split between curiosity seekers and viewers won over by the film's scrappy charm. The tone sits somewhere between earnest family animation and deadpan comedy, with a talking-animal cast that includes a leopard and a fox sharing scenes with the herd. It runs 86 minutes, moves fast, and does not pretend to be a Pixar production. Whether that reads as a liability or the whole point depends on the viewer.[edit]