So perhaps I wasn’t the target audience for McDull, Kung Fu Kindergarden but that didn’t stop me, not one bit, from enjoying the latest adventure of McDull.

A popular cartoon character in Hong Kong, McDull is a cute little piglet and the descendent of a not too important prophet and inventor; so starts this, the latest adventures of McDull. This time around, the little piglet ends up at a Kung Fu academy learning the traditional art while his mother tries to set up a new life for them but while at the academy, McDull is selected to represent the school at an upcoming competition, a competition that changes his life.

What’s most curious, to me at least, about McDull, Kung Fu Kindergarden is that the film spends as much time (if not more) setting up the story of how McDull arrives at the academy as it does once he gets there. Clearly a problem of a small idea being expanded for an 80 minute film, the story itself is secondary and it’s clear the film is simply a tool to sell more toys and though that would generally rub audiences the wrong way, this audience member ate it up. The comedy is childish and sometimes even crude (there is more than one poop joke and even a song about menopause) but it made me laugh – though nothing is as great as the opening scene when we meet McDull’s ancestor and see him inventing everything from a telephone (too bad he didn’t have anyone to call) to take-out.

Sure, the story doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and frankly, the film is a tad too long (could have used a cut of approximately 20 minutes) but with the help of some beautiful music and a wonderful combination of 2D and 3D animation, it makes for fun viewing.