{ "id": "epxrss3azd", "slug": "mcdull-prince-de-la-bun", "title": "McDull, Prince de la Bun (麦兜菠萝油王子)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts", "label": "Animated and short films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject", "label": "Animated films by source material and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject.films-with-original-stories-and-animal-l", "label": "Films with original stories and animal leads", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject.films-with-original-stories-and-animal-l" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020: Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" } ] } ], "excerpt": "McDull, Prince de la Bun (麥兜菠蘿油王子), also known as McDull, prince de la Bun, is a 2004 Hong Kong animated film directed by Toe Yuen Kin-To, sequel to My Life as McDull, centered on McDull's father Mak Bing, winner of the 2004 Golden Horse Best Animated Film.", "snippet": "McDull, Prince de la Bun (麥兜菠蘿油王子), also known as McDull, prince de la Bun, is a 2004 Hong Kong animated film directed by Toe Yuen Kin-To, sequel to My Life as McDull, centered on McDull's father Mak Bing, winner of the 2004 Golden Horse Best Animated Film.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-films-by-source-subject.films-with-original-stories-and-animal-l", "markdown": "# McDull, Prince de la Bun (麦兜菠萝油王子)\n\n**McDull, Prince de la Bun** (麦兜菠萝油王子) is a 2004 Hong Kong animated feature film, the second theatrical film in the McDull series, directed by Toe Yuen Kin-To (袁建滔) from a story by Brian Tse (谢立文) with character designs by Alice Mak (麦家碧). It premiered on 24 June 2004[1](https://www.cgvisual.com/headlines/HKCG10/CGVheadlines_hkcg10_p4.html) • [2](https://moviecool.asia/film/ydKqvTC19Ej). Unlike its predecessor *[My Life as McDull](https://www.edgepedia.org/my-life-as-mcdull)* (2001), which centered on the piglet McDull, the sequel centers on McDull's father Mak Bing, the \"Prince de la Bun\" of the title, and became a vehicle for the creators' reflections on Hong Kong[3](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E9%BA%A5%E5%85%9C%E8%8F%A0%E8%98%BF%E6%B2%B9%E7%8E%8B%E5%AD%90).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | 24 June 2004, Hong Kong; running time reported as 75 minutes[1](https://www.cgvisual.com/headlines/HKCG10/CGVheadlines_hkcg10_p4.html) and 78 minutes in different databases[2](https://moviecool.asia/film/ydKqvTC19Ej) |\n| Key personnel | Director Toe Yuen Kin-To; story, screenplay and production by Brian Tse; art by Alice Mak; animation by Lunchtime Production Ltd.[1](https://www.cgvisual.com/headlines/HKCG10/CGVheadlines_hkcg10_p4.html) |\n| Voice cast | Sandra Ng (Mrs. Mak), Anthony Wong (principal, waiter, doctor, the prince's attendant), Jan Lam, and Andy Lau as the rarely speaking Prince de la Bun[3](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E9%BA%A5%E5%85%9C%E8%8F%A0%E8%98%BF%E6%B2%B9%E7%8E%8B%E5%AD%90) • [4](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/mcdull_prince_de_la_bun.htm) |\n| Awards | Best Animated Film, 41st Golden Horse Awards (2004); Best Film, 11th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards (2005); Best Original Film Song, 24th Hong Kong Film Awards (2005)[5](https://mcdull.hk/cn/film/mcdull-prince-de-la-bun-2004/) • [4](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/mcdull_prince_de_la_bun.htm) |\n| Commercial result | Box office fell far below the first film, which had grossed HK$15 million in Hong Kong, and audience reactions were polarized[3](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E9%BA%A5%E5%85%9C%E8%8F%A0%E8%98%BF%E6%B2%B9%E7%8E%8B%E5%AD%90) • [6](https://news.tvbs.com.tw/life/469283) |\n| Later life | A digital 3D animation NFT of the film was offered in Sotheby's \"McDull Here He Comes\" online sale, 14–25 January 2022[7](https://www.voguehk.com/zh/article/art-lifestyle/mcdull-here-he-comes-sothebys/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story and structure\n\nThe film's frame is McDull's present-day life in the Tai Kok Tsui district, where urban redevelopment is demolishing the old buildings, and at Spring Flower Kindergarten, where children cram for \"two written languages and three spoken languages\" and classes in feigned death and other skills, a satire of Hong Kong's education reforms[3](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E9%BA%A5%E5%85%9C%E8%8F%A0%E8%98%BF%E6%B2%B9%E7%8E%8B%E5%AD%90) • [10](https://www.moviemovie.com.hk/zh/movies/5c5179537da5ce2f014210ed). Mrs. Mak, raising McDull alone, buys insurance, gold, and a feng shui burial plot on monthly installments, all for the future[5](https://mcdull.hk/cn/film/mcdull-prince-de-la-bun-2004/).\n\nWithin this frame Mrs. Mak tells McDull the story of his father, Mak Bing, the Prince de la Bun, who drifted to a foreign port (a stand-in for Hong Kong) after an accident during a journey, married there, and finally abandoned his family to search for his lost kingdom and \"the rose in his memory\"[5](https://mcdull.hk/cn/film/mcdull-prince-de-la-bun-2004/) • [11](https://paratext.hk/?p=3817). The film thus runs three time registers at once: the prince clinging to the past, Mrs. Mak planning for the future, and McDull living in the present[12](https://artscritics.hk/?a=doc&id=747).\n\n**Visual method.** The production combined 3D backgrounds with 2D character designs, which reviewers noted made the camera work more flexible and cinematic than the first film[12](https://artscritics.hk/?a=doc&id=747). The prince's boyhood episodes render Hong Kong as a fairy-tale port with the [Kwai Chung](https://www.edgepedia.org/kwai-chung) container terminal as a dream park, while his adult episodes are set in a realistically drawn [Hong Kong Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/hong-kong-island) of the 1950s and 1960s[3](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E9%BA%A5%E5%85%9C%E8%8F%A0%E8%98%BF%E6%B2%B9%E7%8E%8B%E5%AD%90). The film also quotes older Hong Kong cinema: the form of Mak Bing and Mrs. Mak's romance echoes [Wong Kar-wai](https://www.edgepedia.org/wong-kar-wai)'s *In the Mood for Love*, including a shot of Mak Bing writing the \"Prince de la Bun\" manuscript, and the couple walking side by side by the tram rails recalls *Days of Being Wild*; the soundtrack uses the 1960s song \"My Heart Has Only You, Not Him\"[13](https://artscritics.hk/?a=doc&id=470).\n\n## Production origins\n\nThe McDull films grew out of a television project. In May 1997 Toe Yuen and Brian Tse signed with ITV, Hong Kong's first interactive broadband television service, to produce 13 animated McDull shorts; the team spent 39 months on them, yet the finished episodes drew only about two thousand views online. Discouraged, the team reassembled and redrew the television material into a feature film, which became *My Life as McDull* (2001)[8](https://artandpiece.com/852/toe-yuen-nic-ho-interview-2026/).\n\n**A story borrowed into the McDull brand.** According to Toe Yuen, *Prince de la Bun* was originally not a McDull story at all: it told of a pineapple bun and a pizza, with traces of world fairy-tale collections and *The Little Prince*. When the team sought a film distributor, every distributor required that the film carry the successful McDull brand, so Tse reworked the material as a stage play performed within McDull's kindergarten[8](https://artandpiece.com/852/toe-yuen-nic-ho-interview-2026/). Toe Yuen had left the team after the first film to run his own small animation company in Mong Kok doing pre-production work for Emperor Films; when Tse began the sequel, he returned to help[9](https://www.hk01.com/%E6%B7%B1%E5%BA%A6%E5%A0%B1%E9%81%93/203569/%E5%8B%95%E7%95%AB%E5%AD%98%E6%B4%BB%E9%8C%84-%E4%B8%80-%E9%BA%A5%E5%85%9C%E5%B0%8E%E6%BC%94%E8%A2%81%E5%BB%BA%E6%BB%94-%E5%9B%9E%E5%88%B0%E5%88%9D%E5%89%B5%E4%BC%81%E6%A5%AD-%E6%85%A2%E6%85%A2%E8%A1%8C%E8%B5%B0%E6%9B%B4%E9%81%A0).\n\n## Themes and interpretation\n\nCritics have read the prince as an emblem of Hong Kong's migrant generations. The adventure is said to metaphorize the sojourner mentality of Chinese immigrant intellectuals of the 1950s and 1960s who \"temporarily resided\" in Hong Kong, and their search for return[7](https://www.voguehk.com/zh/article/art-lifestyle/mcdull-here-he-comes-sothebys/). The scholar Tan Yat-nok's study of the series describes the film's use of old film footage to assemble the prince's world, arguing that the animation consciously borrows nostalgic imagery to narrate a present-day Hong Kong local experience, a stance he calls \"post-nostalgia\"[14](https://www.tsjc.tsinghua.edu.cn/__local/0/27/82/898EA549BFD6EE2745ED10DC369_146A99A9_1E2C15.pdf?e=.pdf). A master's thesis at National Taitung University (2010) analyzed the two McDull features through metafiction theory, examining how their form and content interact with narrative and collage[15](https://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/cgi-bin/gs32/gsweb.cgi?o=dnclcdr&s=id%3D%22097NTTTC638035%22.&searchmode=basic).\n\nThe film is dense with period detail: Mrs. Mak's brand-name skin lotion, street fortune-telling stalls, old shops such as Ma Po Shan confectionery, Lu Hai Tong hotel and Leung So Kee, and the 1980s closure of the Sha Tin floating restaurant[11](https://paratext.hk/?p=3817). Reviewers also noted that the prince's name carries little fixed allegorical weight; its most available meaning is the joke that a pineapple bun contains no pineapple, that is, something that does not exist[11](https://paratext.hk/?p=3817).\n\n## Reception\n\nThe first film had been a low-budget success, grossing HK$15 million in Hong Kong and winning the 2002 Golden Horse Award for Best Animated Film[6](https://news.tvbs.com.tw/life/469283). The sequel took a different direction: it centered on the father rather than McDull, adopted a heavier tone, and used a nested, story-within-a-story structure that one reviewer compared in complexity to *[Infernal Affairs III](https://www.edgepedia.org/infernal-affairs-iii)*[3](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E9%BA%A5%E5%85%9C%E8%8F%A0%E8%98%BF%E6%B2%B9%E7%8E%8B%E5%AD%90). Box office fell far below the first film and reactions were polarized[3](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E9%BA%A5%E5%85%9C%E8%8F%A0%E8%98%BF%E6%B2%B9%E7%8E%8B%E5%AD%90). The more localized content was also suggested as a reason the overseas market responded less strongly than to the first film[1](https://www.cgvisual.com/headlines/HKCG10/CGVheadlines_hkcg10_p4.html).\n\nCritically, however, the film was recognized at the 41st Golden Horse Awards as Best Animated Film, named Best Film by the 11th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards, and won Best Original Film Song (\"Gum Gum Gum\", performed by The Pancakes) at the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards, where Toe Yuen was also nominated for Best New Director[5](https://mcdull.hk/cn/film/mcdull-prince-de-la-bun-2004/) • [4](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/mcdull_prince_de_la_bun.htm). It also received the Jury Grand Prize at the 5th Chinese Film Media Awards[5](https://mcdull.hk/cn/film/mcdull-prince-de-la-bun-2004/).\n\n## Legacy\n\nThe film kept international attention on Hong Kong animation after *My Life as McDull* first drew it[16](https://www.cdeto.gov.hk/file/audio/20140929sc.pdf), and it remains a touchstone in discussion of Hong Kong local identity in animation. In 2022, [Sotheby's](https://www.edgepedia.org/sothebys) collaborated for the first time with Tse and Mak, offering 47 McDull and McMug works including a digital 3D animation NFT of *Prince de la Bun* in an online sale running 14 to 25 January 2022[7](https://www.voguehk.com/zh/article/art-lifestyle/mcdull-here-he-comes-sothebys/).\n\n## References\n\n1. [香港CG電影十年回顧 (2004–2005), CGV Headlines](https://www.cgvisual.com/headlines/HKCG10/CGVheadlines_hkcg10_p4.html)\n2. [《麥兜，菠蘿油王子》, 華文影劇數據平台](https://moviecool.asia/film/ydKqvTC19Ej)\n3. [《麥兜菠蘿油王子》影評, Cinespot 動映地帶](https://www.cinespot.com/hkmreviews/%E9%BA%A5%E5%85%9C%E8%8F%A0%E8%98%BF%E6%B2%B9%E7%8E%8B%E5%AD%90)\n4. [McDull, Prince de la Bun (2004) review, LoveHKFilm.com](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/mcdull_prince_de_la_bun.htm)\n5. [麥兜菠蘿油王子 2004, 麥兜官方網站](https://mcdull.hk/cn/film/mcdull-prince-de-la-bun-2004/)\n6. [金馬動畫 麥兜菠蘿油王子入圍, TVBS新聞 (2004)](https://news.tvbs.com.tw/life/469283)\n7. [麥兜溫暖見證30多年來香港大城小事, Vogue Hong Kong (2022)](https://www.voguehk.com/zh/article/art-lifestyle/mcdull-here-he-comes-sothebys/)\n8. [香港動畫導演袁建滔、何歷對談訪問, 美紙 (2026)](https://artandpiece.com/852/toe-yuen-nic-ho-interview-2026/)\n9. [動畫存活錄．一：麥兜導演袁建滔, HK01 (2017)](https://www.hk01.com/%E6%B7%B1%E5%BA%A6%E5%A0%B1%E9%81%93/203569/%E5%8B%95%E7%95%AB%E5%AD%98%E6%B4%BB%E9%8C%84-%E4%B8%80-%E9%BA%A5%E5%85%9C%E5%B0%8E%E6%BC%94%E8%A2%81%E5%BB%BA%E6%BB%94-%E5%9B%9E%E5%88%B0%E5%88%9D%E5%89%B5%E4%BC%81%E6%A5%AD-%E6%85%A2%E6%85%A2%E8%A1%8C%E8%B5%B0%E6%9B%B4%E9%81%A0)\n10. [麥兜‧菠蘿油王子 (香港電影評論學會大獎25周年), MOViE MOViE](https://www.moviemovie.com.hk/zh/movies/5c5179537da5ce2f014210ed)\n11. [幻滅與追悼：評《麥兜故事》和《麥兜菠蘿油王子》, 微批](https://paratext.hk/?p=3817)\n12. [《麥兜菠蘿油王子》：小眼睛看大世界, 皮亞, 《明報》/藝評香港 (2004)](https://artscritics.hk/?a=doc&id=747)\n13. [藝評香港：後懷舊電影與《麥兜菠蘿油王子》](https://artscritics.hk/?a=doc&id=470)\n14. [譚以諾：後懷舊的資本主義城市：麥兜系列電影中的時間—空間學, 《全球傳媒學刊》2013年秋](https://www.tsjc.tsinghua.edu.cn/__local/0/27/82/898EA549BFD6EE2745ED10DC369_146A99A9_1E2C15.pdf?e=.pdf)\n15. [劉姿君：動畫《麥兜故事》、《麥兜，菠蘿油王子》的後設研究, 國立臺東大學碩士論文 (2010)](https://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/cgi-bin/gs32/gsweb.cgi?o=dnclcdr&s=id%3D%22097NTTTC638035%22.&searchmode=basic)\n16. [細說香港漫畫 (第十期), 香港生產力促進局/CDETO](https://www.cdeto.gov.hk/file/audio/20140929sc.pdf)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Animated and short films › Animated films by source material and subject › Films with original stories and animal leads*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/mcdull-prince-de-la-bun", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/mcdull-prince-de-la-bun.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"McDull, Prince de la Bun (麦兜菠萝油王子)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/mcdull-prince-de-la-bun. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[McDull, Prince de la Bun (麦兜菠萝油王子)](https://www.edgepedia.org/mcdull-prince-de-la-bun)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/mcdull-prince-de-la-bun](https://www.edgepedia.org/mcdull-prince-de-la-bun). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"McDull, Prince de la Bun (麦兜菠萝油王子)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/mcdull-prince-de-la-bun. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "McDull, Prince de la Bun, also known as McDull, prince de la Bun, is a 2004 Hong Kong animated film directed by Toe Yuen Kin-To, sequel to My Life as McDull, centered on McDull's father Mak Bing, winner of the 2004 Golden Horse Best Animated Film." }