It is refreshing to see that, within the digital animation blitz, some things remain resolutely old-fashioned. At one point in this Chinese animated blockbuster, the eighth film spin-off from a popular kids’ TV cartoon series, lead character Bramble (Joseph S Lambert) dresses up as a sexy lady, Bugs Bunny-style, as a diversion. And with his penchant for frequent snack breaks, this lovable lummox – who for obscure reasons lives with another bear, two monkeys and one human in the forest of Bear Ridge – resembles no one so much as the equally gluttonous Yogi Bear.
Bramble winds up becoming smarter than your average bear when he tampers with a cuboid alien artefact that crash-lands in the woods and downloads hidden capabilities into his brain. But it belongs to Avi (Sara Secora), a blue, six-eared feline in a nanotech suit who is trying to recover her spacecraft. A member of the Rhyotan race who used to inhabit Earth, her knowledge of souped-up tech attracts the attention of Mrs Cruz, a slinky, manicured arms dealer, and her David Gest-lookalike husband, who are hoping to lay hands on an alien war machine.
