Disney released their ninth nature film “Born in China” on Earth day, April 22nd, of this year. As the first Disneynature film I have seen, I had no idea what to expect. I had high hopes for the film, but I was severely disappointed.

The film followed the story of three different animals, a panda named Ye Ye and her daughter Mei Mei, a snow leopard Dawa and her two cubs and a monkey named Tao Tao and his family.

Walking into the theater, I found emptiness, aside from my sister, friend, and me. Perhaps that had to do with my viewing of the film at 11 a.m. on a Monday, but the movie led me to believe otherwise.

The idea was there. I loved the consistency of following three animals; it was just enough for the length of the movie. However, the execution was, in a word, awful.

Narrated by John Krasinski, one of my favorite actors, I had high hopes for this movie. I have always had a particular interest in animals, pandas to be exact. However, what I got from this movie was absolutely nothing.

Think of animal planet, highly educational and interesting to many. This movie was nothing like that. While Krasinski’s voice was beautiful, as always, the script he read was extremely cheesy.

Perhaps the writers wanted the film to only appeal to a young audience, but there were definitely other approaches that could’ve been taken to interest a variety of ages, not just people under the age of eight.

The narration was tacky and had vast attempts at humor, which were unsuccessful to say the least. The only comedy I could find was in the animals’ behaviors.

The terrible jokes might have been tolerable if I had obtained new and relevant information on any of these species but the information used in the film was either common knowledge or completely irrelevant.

I know that pandas eat a lot of bamboo and live solitary lives. I know that snow leopards hunt for prey. I know that it’s hard to find food and stay warm in the winter. Thanks Disneynature.

I wanted content. I wanted to learn from the movie but I got nothing of the sort. I don’t know how global warming is affecting these species or any other interesting information.

I would recommend seeing this movie only if you have headphones, because the only part worth experiencing is the scenery.

The filmography of “Born in China” was the single part of the movie I enjoyed. Whether I was viewing a panda, snow leopard, golden monkey, or even a landscape, the definition was high in quality and the scenes themselves were breathtaking.

The only other thing I liked about the movie was that buying a ticket within the first week allowed Disneynature to make a donation to the World Wildlife fund. As someone who cares deeply about endangered species, this was a pleasant piece of my experience.

If you too care about nature, I recommend skipping the movie, and just making a donation yourself. If you enjoy landscape, nature, or animal filmography, perhaps you should attempt to stick it out. However if you’re looking for substance, do not go.

“Born in China” was a waste of one and a half hours and if you don’t believe me, consider the fact that my sister, friend and me were the only three people in the theater.