SNEEZING BABY PANDA (2015)
“Sneezing Baby Panda: The Movie,” a 2015 Australian-Chinese family adventure directed by Lesley Hammond and Jenny Walsh, spins a mockumentary tale from a viral YouTube clip. The story follows Marnie Tyler (Amber Clayton), an Australian zoologist desperate to save her failing zoo. When she stumbles across the internet sensation—a baby panda sneezing adorably—she sees a chance to draw crowds and cash. Narrated by Chi Chi (Jane Ubrien), the panda herself, Marnie’s quest takes her to China’s remote mountains to find this fuzzy star, hoping its fame can revive her struggling menagerie.
The journey isn’t easy. Marnie faces time crunches and shadowy syndicates bent on snagging Chi Chi first, their motives murky but menacing. Alongside her bumbling team, including Nick (Nicholas Stribakos), she navigates bamboo forests and breeding centers, dodging obstacles with slapstick flair. The film leans into its absurdity—think pandas in historical flashbacks, like a terracotta warrior or Nixon’s interpreter—riffing on “Forrest Gump”-style gags. Chi Chi’s sneeze, the clip that started it all, gets a nod, but the plot veers into a convoluted rescue mission as Marnie battles both nature and human greed.
Shot on a modest budget, the movie mixes real panda footage with a corny script, banking on cute animals over coherent storytelling. The climax sees Marnie outwit the villains, bringing Chi Chi to Australia for a zoo-saving debut, complete with a surfing panda twist. Critics found it charmless and disjointed—Ubrien’s cloying narration and Clayton’s stiff delivery don’t help—but its oddball charm shines for some, especially kids. A Sino-Australian co-production, it’s a quirky, low-stakes romp that trades on panda appeal, landing as a sweet, if silly, footnote to a viral phenomenon.
