Here’s a little history for ya, Back in the glory days of my childhood in 2008, I was so eager to see Pixar’s latest movie Wall. E. Unfortunately, that movie hadn’t come out yet and my mom offered me to watch Dreamwork’s Kung Fu Panda instead. Despite my hesitations, I was nevertheless open-minded to viewing the new Dreamworks movie at the time. Now that some time has passed, How has Kung Fu Panda changed with my viewing experiences over the years?
Po (Jack Black) is a geeky and fat panda who has a love for Kung Fu and the Furious Five. His father however, wants Po to one day take control of his noodle shop as he feels that Po was not meant for being anything else. When the great Master Oogway senses danger among the valley he hosts a tournament for the Furious Five who are students of Master Shifu. When word gets out to the valley, Po is more than ecstatic to see who will be picked to be the Dragon Warrior and heads off to the temple despite his father’s protests. Through a series of unexpected shenanigans, Po finds himself chosen by Master Oogway to be the Dragon Warrior, which comes as a shock to the Furious Five and especially Master Shifu. However, when a vengeful snow leopard named Tai Lung escapes his prison, Shifu will have to find a way to train Po into becoming a Kung Fu master.
Now this story is nothing new as the chosen one story has been done many times in film history, you know the drill, the main character starts out sluggish and weak even despite having a good heart, but through time and dedication, becomes a master and is able to save the day in the end. On paper, it sounds typical. but in execution, it’s a whole other story. One of the best things this movie does is balance its funny and upbeat moments with some real drama and character-driven moments that make the story more than its overall tone suggests. The way the narrative is balanced and the way the characters are written is so enjoyable that it’s easy to forget how cliched some story elements can be. Po himself is great because even though a lot of the time he’s a big goofball, he’s also not stupid as he does understand the way Shifu and the furious five have little to no faith in his abilities in the beginning. Other than Jack Black as Po, there are also many other well-known names in the voice cast including Dustin Hoffman as Shifu, Angelina Jolie as Tigeress, David Cross as Crane, and many more. All the characters are enjoyable to watch and even though some get more screen time than others, I have no trouble seeing the voices as the actual characters and not just visualizing the celebrities just being celebrities.
Can I just say wow, and I mean wow, the Kung fu fighting in this movie is unbelievable, especially for an animated feature. The action in this movie is fast-paced and wildly creative with its setups. It makes it even more impressive when we see the characters in action and the different skill sets they bring to the table. I don’t know what it is but there is something about Dreamworks animation’s attention to detail when it comes to capturing movement in a precise and detailed level. The rest of the visuals are also really well crafted as it takes many inspirations from Chinese culture and ways of living the character designs are very well put together and each of them moves and uses gestures in very specific manners that relate to their character. While some of the background animations are starting to show some wear and tear from its age, it still is very impressive how they managed to make a moving piece of Chinese art with CGI animation. The Music in this movie has a great mixture of traditional Chinese rhythms and powerful cinematic orchestrations. This is a collaborative effort from Composer Hanz Zimmer (The Lion King, The Prince of Eygpt) and John Powell (Happy Feet, Bolt) and both understand how to make the music of the movie feel like a part of the whole experience. Even the copyrighted theme song Kung Fu Fighting by Cee-Lo Green adds to the overall style and tone of Po’s fantastic self-discovery adventure.
Kung Fu Panda is a pretty dang good movie from Dreamworks Animation and it’s no wonder this franchise would continue to see success from sequel movies and even spin-off TV shows. This film is at least in my top 10 favorite Dreamworks movies and that’s thanks to its stylistic animation, amazing choreographed animated kung fu, a cliched heroes journey story made new again, and likable characters that leave a great impression both funny and serious. This is a film that has certainly gotten better overtime for me. Knowing the films that would come after this one, I can definitely tell that this franchise is just getting started.
(Final Grade: B+)