New Doraemon to open on eve of Children's Day

Doraemon: Nobita's Art World Tales, the latest installment in the long-running Doraemon franchise, is set to be released across the Chinese mainland on Saturday.

Marking the 44th installment in the film series — and coinciding with the 45th anniversary of the Doraemon films — the story follows Nobita and his friends as they venture into a mysterious forest through a magical portal. There, they meet a young girl who turns out to be the lost princess of a European kingdom depicted in a 13th-century painting.

Determined to help, the group accompanies her back to her homeland, only to face a grave threat: an evil art thief unleashes a monstrous creature from a painting, endangering the entire kingdom and its people. Nobita becomes the hero who saves the day.

The film held its premiere in Beijing on Sunday, transforming the cinema into a fantastical world inspired by the movie. From a robe-wearing Doraemon statue to life-size cardboard cutouts of the main characters, Chinese fans enjoyed an immersive experience, taking photos with their favorite characters.

Interestingly, its key plot features the terrifying pigment-based monstrous creature, resurrected from an ancient painting, that grows stronger by draining color from everything around it — people, buildings and landscapes — leaving them lifeless and white. Ironically, the monster carries a poetic vulnerability: as a being literally made of paint, it can be dissolved by water.

Yang Wen, a Beijing mother who attended the advance screening with her 12-year-old daughter, praised how the film's stunning animation simultaneously evoked childhood nostalgia while conveying its profound message about the importance of preserving color and vibrancy in our world.