Little animated pig McDull is about as unlikely a pop culture sensation as is imaginable. The first McDull film, telling the story of a kindergarten aged pig and his animal classmates, originally went largely unnoticed outside of Hong Kong, but then it started turning up in festivals and won a stack of local awards, a situation that turned more than a few heads. By the time the second film hit the little oinker was a bona fide international sensation, by far the most successful character ever to come out of Hong Kong's animation industry, and when word got out that the third film would blend live action with animation big time stars started jostling for position to get their cameos and seemingly all of them made it in.
Unfortunately then, it must be said that McDull: The Alumni is a very uneven affair. The bits that work do so fantastically well, others are entirely cold. This situation could very well be at least in part because this is my first exposure to the character, as well as a matter of cultural translation since the films have all been known for their softly satiric skewering of Hong Kong society, but if frankly feels like no more than a simple case of third film fatigue.