The setup might seem familiar at first.聽Two teams of astronauts fight to save the Earth years after its leaders transformed it聽into a planet-sized spaceship to escape destruction聽by聽an聽overactive sun.聽The first聽team is聽a two-man skeleton crew: the square-jawed Peiqiang Liu (Jing Wu) and his Russian cosmonaut buddy Makarov (Arkady Sharogradsky). The other is a聽small exploratory group led by Peiqiang's feisty twentysomething son Qi Liu (Chuxio聽Qu) and his upbeat partner Duoduo Han (Jinmai聽Zhao). These factions respectively spend most of their time battling MOSS, an unhelpful computer in a remote space station; and exploring an ice-covered Earth in stolen all-terrain vehicles (some of which bring to mind "Total Recall," specifically the tank-sized drill-cars).

But聽while聽director Frant Gwo and his writing team聽blend Cixin Liu's source novel with聽elements聽from American-made sci-fi disaster films鈥攊ncluding聽"Armageddon," "The Day After Tomorrow," and "Sunshine"鈥攖hey聽synthesize them in a visually dynamic, emotionally engaging way that sets the project聽apart from its Western cousins, and marks it as a聽great and uniquely Chinese science fiction聽film.

For one thing,聽rather than build the tale around a lone聽hero ringed by supporting players,聽"The Wandering Earth"聽distributes bravery聽generously聽amid an ensemble that includes聽action hero Wu; rising stars Qu and Zhao; and聽comedy institution Man-Tat Ng, who plays聽a grey-bearded spaceman named聽Zi'ang Ha. The script, credited to a team of six, never valorizes a singular chest-puffing hero, nor does it聽scapegoat a mustache-twirling antagonist (not even MOSS,聽the sentient, HAL-9000-style computer program in the space station).聽

The teamwork theme is cross-generational, too.聽Both Peiqiang and Ng (formerly the straight man to film comedy superstar聽Stephen Chow) are treated with reverence because聽they're older, and are therefore presumed to have聽more experience and stronger moral fiber. The veterans聽work聽well聽with聽the film's younger astronauts, whose optimism makes them as brazen as they are idealistic.聽

This聽apolitical blockbuster about a post-climate-change disaster extends its belief in teamwork to the rest of the international community. The movie is聽filled with narrative聽diversions that reassure viewers that聽no single country's leaders are smarter, more responsible, or more capable than the rest鈥攅xcept, of course, for the Chinese.