| Percy the Panda's Beginnings | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Alan Zaslove |
| Produced by |
Alan Zaslove Meredith Roberts Gary Krisel |
| Written by | Alan Zaslove |
| Based on |
Percy the Panda by Alan Zaslove |
| Starring |
JD McCrary Giselle Eisenberg James Patrick Stuart Jodi Benson Asher Blinkoff Darby Camp John DiMaggio Carol Burnett Jenny Slate |
| Music by | Joel McNeely |
| Edited by | H. Lee Peterson |
| Production companies |
Walt Disney Pictures Children's Workshop, LLC Disney Television Animation |
| Distributed by |
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
| Release date |
January 7, 2018 (El Capitan Theatre) January 19, 2018 (United States) |
| Running time | 85 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $60 million |
| Box office | $571 million |
Percy the Panda's Beginnings is a 2018 American animated musical film based on the children's television series Percy the Panda, produced by Disney Television Animation and Children's Workshop, LLC, and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The fourth installment in the Percy the Panda film series, it was directed, co-produced, and written by series creator Alan Zaslove, the film stars the voices of JD McCrary, Giselle Eisenberg, James Patrick Stuart, Jodi Benson, Asher Blinkoff, Darby Camp, John DiMaggio, Carol Burnett, and Jenny Slate. It tells an origin story of Percy the Panda and his friends in their childhood years, and centers on their first time as children's entertainers: educating a child who is nervous about attending school.
Percy the Panda's Beginnings was released in the United States on January 19, 2018. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success, grossing over $571 million worldwide. This was the final Percy the Panda film to involve Zaslove and Will Ryan before their deaths in 2019 and 2021, respectively. A fifth Percy the Panda film, Percy the Panda: New to Khan Park, was released on September 5, 2025.
Plot[]
In the present, Percy the Panda, Parker the Penguin, Cupcake the Koala, Richard the Rabbit, Cheese the Mouse, and Bill the Rhino find a VHS video tape of themselves as six-year old children. As they watch the video, they decide to tell the viewers their story of how their parents met, how they met Maggie Kahn, how Khan Park was founded, and their first time as children's entertainers.
In the past, Percy and his friends' parents meet as children at a playground in Iowa and decide to look forward to becoming children's entertainers, going by the name of the Friendly Animal Gang. They meet Khan, found a field and a kid-friendly, have an educational playground neighborhood built there, which eventually opens as Khan Park Khan Park. They eventually have kids of their own, named Percy, Delilah, Parker, Richard, Cheese, and Bill.
One summer day, Percy and his friends befriend five elementary school students on a Friday class field trip: Emily, Jill, Joe, Kimberly, and Ron. Emily is a nursery rhyme enthusiast, but is having a hard time writing her own Mother Goose rhyme for the next evening's Your Very Own Rhyme Presentation. Mother Goose appears from the book and sings "I Like To Speak In Rhyme". Later, Mother Goose, the Friendly Animal Gang, and the kids decide to play a game throughout Khan Park which involves looking around for objects that escalate into things that remind them of Mother Goose rhymes.
A little while later, Mother Goose decides to take the Friendly Animal Gang and kids to her land for a visit, and Percy suggests using their imaginations to get there. They head inside Mother Goose's house, where she allows the kids and Friendly Animal Gang to enjoy themselves, explaining her property's purpose is to be shared with boys and girls, also explaining that almost anything can become a rhyme. She reveals her very own Mother Goose book and her old quill pen to Emily. Later, Percy, the Friendly Animal Gang, Mother Goose, and the kids return to Khan Park, in time for the end of the field trip. The next evening, after writing their own rhymes, the kids return to Khan Park to present and poet their newly-made-up rhymes at the Your Very Own Rhyme Presentation, with Mother Goose, and the Friendly Animals' parents attending. However, Emily has not shown up at the presentation, so Percy sets out to find her. When the group finds Emily at her house, they discover that Emily is having another hard time. Feeling like a complete lost cause, Emily runs away in tears.
Percy eventually catches up to Emily and explains that its unproductive to give up and that what she must do is believe in herself for her dream to come true, restoring Emily's confidence. Percy, Mother Goose, the Friendly Animal Gang and the kids return to Khan Park on Percy's dad's hot air balloon. Emily, finally takes part in the Your Very Own Rhyme Presentation, where she reads her new original rhyme "Smiles Are Like Sunshine", declaring her true place is with her friends and family. Mother Goose, Percy, the Friendly Animal Gang, their parents, Khan, and the kids embrace her. Mother Goose returns to her home in the Mother Goose book to publish the kids' new rhymes. Everyone sings the Friendly Animal Gang's parents' old song, "Follow Your Dreams", and share a group hug. Years later, Percy and his friends become adults, and their parents pass Khan Park over to them.
Going back to the present with Percy and the Friendly Animal Gang as adults they are today, some human friends from previous seasons of the series and past movies arrive for a reunion Panda Playdate.
Cast[]
- James Patrick Stuart as Percy the Panda
- J.D. McCrary as young Percy
- Jodi Benson as Cupcake the Koala
- Giselle Eisenberg as young Cupcake
- Will Ryan as Parker the Penguin
- Jackson Robert Scott as young Parker
- James Patrick Stuart as Richard the Rabbit
- Max Calinescu as young Richard
- Nancy Cartwright as Cheese the Mouse
- Koda Gursoy as young Cheese
- Will Ryan as Bill the Rhino
- JD McCrary as young Bill
- Carol Burnett as Maggie Khan, the beloved woman who founded Khan Park to educate children with valuable life lessons for generations, and is great friends with the Friendly Animal Gang.
- Asher Blinkoff as Buddy Arnett, a 5-year-old boy who is initially nervous of attending school until Percy and the Friendly Animal Gang befriend him to teach him the benefits of going to school.
- Darby Camp as Emilia Elfman, a well-meaning but pompous popular girl in Buddy's class who dislikes his shyness at first, but as the film progresses, she begins to accept him and be more tolerant of others.
- John DiMaggio as Mr. Gregory Khan, Maggie's son who and a friend of Percy's who would become the future owner of Khan Park.
- Joe D'Auria as Paul the Panda
- Brian Cummings as Bryson the Rhino
- Will Ryan as:
- Pranav the Penguin
- Connor the Mouse
- Rob Paulsen as Rhett the Rabbit
- Lariane Newman as Desiree the Koala
- Jenny Slate as Mrs. Rachmaninoff, Emily's noble teacher at the Children's Workshop.
- Cree Summer as Brownie the Koala
- Wendee Lee as Pam the Puffin
Production[]
Development[]
A Percy the Panda prequel film was announced in D23 Expo 2015. It is a prequel to the first season.
The voice cast from the previous films, show, and home media reprised their roles for this film, although the film mainly focuses on the main cast as their younger selves and voiced by children. Famous elderly actresses and celebrities began auditioning for the role of Maggie Kahn. Judi Dench and Angela Lansbury were considered, but these sounded too obvious, and were replaced by Carol Burnett.
Music[]
Daniel Ingram was revealed to be composing for the film's score. The film features many of the franchise's songs, recomposed and rearranged by Ingram, followed by an original song called "Khan Park Grand Opening" written by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz and composed by Menken. The soundtrack was released on January 12, 2018, by Walt Disney Records.
Release[]
Theatrical[]
Percy the Panda's Beginnings was released on January 19, 2018.
Home media[]
Percy the Panda's Beginnings was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on May 22, 2018. Like the previous films, the film is available to watch on Disney+.
Reception[]
Box office[]
Percy the Panda's Beginnings opened in theaters on January 19, 2018, and was projected to gross $35 million from theaters in its opening weekend. In its opening weekend, it earned $107 million, including $30 million in its first day and $5.7 million from Thursday night previews. It has grossed $218 million in North America and $353 million internationally, and by the end of its theatrical run on May 31, 2018, it grossed a total of over $571 million worldwide. The film was a box office success, beating its $60 million budget.
Critical reception[]
Percy the Panda's Beginnings received positive reviews upon release. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 79% approval rating based on 205 reviews. The critical consensus reads, "Percy the Panda's Beginnings stays true to the simple spirit of the source material while conveying enough of the ambition needed to make a "stuuu-panda-ous" origin story for the iconic panda bear". On Metacritic, the film was reported to have received a score of 71 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.
Accolades[]
Percy the Panda's Beginnings received a Kids' Choice Award nomination for Favorite Movie. The film was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Music Film, and the music composed by McNeely was nominated for a BMI Film Music Award.