Where is Mama (1960)

Original title

小蝌蚪找妈妈

Directed by

Qian Jiajun, Tang Cheng, Te Wei

Genre

animation, family

Country

People's Republic of China

Runtime

15 min

Rating

7.4 of 10 from 26 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A group of tadpoles hatch from eggs and go looking for their mother. Along the way they meet different animals and learn what their mother looks like before finally finding her.

gentleeducationalsimpleplayfulcharminglivelyquietrepetitive

What happens

Little Tadpoles Looking for Mama (Chinese: 小蝌蚪找妈妈, Xiao Kedou zhao Mama) is a short Chinese animated film produced by Shanghai Animation Film Studio in 1960 under the artistic guidance of Te Wei. The narrated film describes the adventures and misadventures of a group of tadpoles in search of their mother. It is one of Te Wei's first attempts to break away from Western style animation and aim for a painterly style influenced by Qi Baishi and more in keeping with native Chinese aesthetic sensibilities. Because of its simple story line and repetitive script it is ideal for children who are beginning their study of the Chinese language. The film tells the story of a frog mother who leaves after laying tadpole eggs. The eggs slowly grow tails and turn into a group of tadpoles. After their shrimp father-in-law describes the characteristics of their mother, they decide to look for her. Along the way, they mistake goldfish, crabs, turtles, and catfish for their mother. Finally, the tadpoles find their mother. In October 2021, Xigua Video and Volcano Engine announced that they would spend one year repairing 100 classic animations and use technology to restore these classic works to the greatest extent possible. "Tadpole Looking for Mom" was among these animations. Since the beginning of the last century, traditional cultural elements such as Chinese painting, paper-cutting, and shadow puppets have been widely used in animation production. Popular domestic animations such as "Tadpole Looking for Mom" have attracted a large number of fans around the world. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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