Hong Kong’s favourite animated piglet returns to the screen in McDull, Prince de la Bun, the ambitious sequel to My Life as McDull. When McDull’s mother takes him away from his kindergarten life to inspect her future seaside grave site in China, they sit down and she tells him the story Prince de la Bun. Played out like a fairy tale to the initially impatient McDull, the story she tells comes to reveal his father - a self-styled Pineapple Bun Prince looking to the past and unwilling to share marital bliss with a woman more intent on preparing for the future.
By expanding McDull’s tale to bring in his parents’ stories, as well as introducing a side plot concerning his shaking leg, McDull, Prince de la Bun provides a thoughtful and complex follow-up to the 2001 hit. 2D and 3D animation techniques craft fascinating images on screen, from rundown cityscapes being transformed into an urban fantasy land through to an extended reference to The Little Prince. Recreations of the city, new and old, are detailed down to photographed facades and key moments introduce stock footage of factories or street images to further enrich a proudly local flavour. The tale of the father brings in Hong Kong elements like the recently introduced football betting as the narrative is initially filtered through the young one’s eyes, while elsewhere audiences of all ages can soak in current affairs references (changing kindergarten curricula, the threat of urban renewal) and bursts of nonsense comedy on the side. A pleasing soundtrack is again assembled for McDull’s latest feature, ranging from tunes by local musicians The Pancakes and at17 through to classical pieces, and voice talent includes Jan Lamb, Sandra Ng, Anthony Wong and Andy Lau.