A snake goddess waits lifetimes for a boy who has no idea what she is, and when she finally finds him as a human woman, the village tears them apart anyway. The pandas become the only ones fighting to reunite a love that was never supposed to exist in the first place. This is a 1958 animated feature that moves with the patience of a folk tale, letting you sit inside the longing before anything explodes into action. The wizard isn't evil. He just sees danger where there's only devotion. By the time the pandas reach their human, you've felt the weight of every year they were separated.

As a boy, Xu-Xian is made to let his pet snake go, never knowing that it is really a young snake goddess named Bai-Niang who loves him. Years later, when both are grown, she is magically given human form and sets out to find him. The local wizard takes her for a vampire and drives Xu-Xian out of the village, believing this will save him. Xu-Xian's pet pandas, Panda and Mimi, set off to rescue him and bring him home, and along the way they end up leading a gang of animals. Released in 1958 and drawn from a Chinese legend, the film mixes fantasy, adventure and romance.