Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American computer-animated
action comedy martial arts film produced by
DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount
Pictures. It was directed by John Stevenson
and Mark Osborne and produced by Melissa Cobb,
and stars the voices of Jack Black, Dustin
Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Lucy
Liu, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Ian McShane,
Randall Duk Kim, James Hong, Dan Fogler, and
Michael Clarke Duncan. Set in a version of
ancient China populated by anthropomorphic
talking animals, the plot revolves around
a bumbling panda named Po who aspires to be
a kung fu master. When an evil kung fu warrior
is foretold to escape from prison, Po is unwittingly
named the chosen one destined to bring peace
to the land, much to the chagrin of the resident
kung fu warriors.
The idea for the film was conceived by Michael
Lachance, a DreamWorks Animation executive.
The film was originally intended to be a parody,
but director Stevenson decided instead to
shoot an action comedy wuxia film that incorporates
the hero's journey narrative archetype for
the lead character. The computer animation
in the film was more complex than anything
DreamWorks had done before. As with most DreamWorks
animated films, Hans Zimmer scored Kung Fu
Panda. He visited China to absorb the culture
and get to know the China National Symphony
Orchestra as part of his preparation. A sequel,
Kung Fu Panda 2, was released on May 26, 2011,
along with a television series, Kung Fu Panda:
Legends of Awesomeness later that same year
as a part of a franchise. The third installment
called Kung Fu Panda 3 will debut in December
23, 2015.
Kung Fu Panda premiered in the United States
on June 6, 2008, and has since received very
favorable reviews from critics and much of
the movie-going public. The film currently
garners an 88% "Certified Fresh" approval
rating from review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Kung Fu Panda opened in 4,114 theaters, grossing
$20.3 million on its opening day and $60.2 million
on its opening weekend, resulting in the number
one position at the box office. The film became
DreamWorks' biggest opening for a non-sequel
film, the highest grossing animated film of
the year worldwide, and also had the fourth-largest
opening weekend for a DreamWorks animated
film at the American and Canadian box office,
behind Shrek 2, Shrek the Third, and Shrek
Forever After.
Plot
The story is set in the Valley of Peace, a
fictional land in ancient China inhabited
by anthropomorphic animals. Po, a giant panda,
is a kung fu fanatic who idolizes the Furious
Five—Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Viper, and
Crane—a quintet of kung fu masters trained
by the red panda Shifu. As he helps his goose
father Mr. Ping in his noodle restaurant,
Po is unable to achieve his dream of becoming
a kung fu master himself.
Oogway, an old tortoise and Shifu's mentor,
has a vision that Shifu's former student,
the evil snow leopard Tai Lung, will escape
from prison and return to the Valley of Peace
to take revenge for being denied the Dragon
Scroll, which is said to hold the secret to
limitless power. Shifu is alarmed and sends
his messenger, the goose Zeng, to prevent
Tai Lung's escape. He then holds a kung fu
tournament for the Furious Five so that Oogway
may identify the Dragon Warrior, the one kung
fu master worthy of receiving the Dragon Scroll
and capable of defeating Tai Lung. Forced
to take a cumbersome noodle cart to the tournament,
Po arrives as the arena doors close and is
unable to enter. Desperate to see the Dragon
Warrior chosen, Po straps himself to a set
of fireworks, rockets into the sky, and crashes
into the middle of the arena in front of Oogway's
pointing finger. To everyone's surprise, Oogway
proclaims Po as the Dragon Warrior, much to
the Furious Five's dismay.
Believing Oogway's decision to be an accident,
Shifu tries to dispatch Po by ridiculing him
into quitting kung fu training. The Furious
Five similarly despise and mock Po as an upstart
with no skill in kung fu. After receiving
encouragement from Oogway, however, Po endures
his gruelling training and slowly begins to
befriend the Five with his tenacity, culinary
skill, and good humor. Meanwhile, Tai Lung
escapes from prison as foreseen by Oogway,
ironically picking his locks with one of Zeng's
feathers. Shifu learns of Tai Lung's escape
and informs Oogway, who extracts a promise
from Shifu to believe in Po and then ascends
to the sky in a cloud of peach blossoms. Still
unable to grasp the basics of kung fu, Po
despairingly admits that he has no chance
of defeating Tai Lung. Shifu, however, discovers
that Po is capable of impressive physical
feats when motivated by food. Using food as
positive reinforcement, Shifu successfully
trains Po to incorporate these feats into
an effective kung fu style.
At the same time, the Furious Five set out
to stop Tai Lung themselves, only to be overwhelmed
and defeated by Tai Lung's nerve strikes.
Shifu decides that Po is ready to receive
the Dragon Scroll, but the scroll reveals
nothing but a blank, reflective surface. Believing
the scroll to be useless, Shifu orders Po
and the Five to evacuate the valley. As Tai
Lung arrives and fights Shifu, the distraught
Po finds his father who, in an attempt to
console him, reveals that the long-withheld
secret ingredient to his famous "secret ingredient
soup" is nothing, explaining that things become
special if they are believed to be. Po realizes
that this concept is the entire point of the
Dragon Scroll, and goes back to confront Tai
Lung before the leopard is able to kill Shifu.
Po becomes a formidable challenge for Tai
Lung as he tries to protect the Dragon Scroll,
using his unorthodox fighting style to confuse
his opponent and his body fat to block his
nerve strikes. Tai Lung momentarily bests
Po and retrieves the scroll, but is unable
to understand or accept its symbolic meaning.
Po ultimately defeats him using the mysterious
Wuxi Finger Hold. Po is praised by the Valley
of Peace and earns the respect of all the
Furious Five, who fully acknowledge him as
a true kung fu master. Po then finds Shifu,
who finally attains inner peace with the valley
safe once more.
Cast
Jack Black as Po, an energetic yet accident-prone
giant panda. He is also a die-hard fan of
the Furious Five and kung fu, despite the
fact that his father wants him take over the
family noodle shop. To everyone's surprise,
Po is chosen as the Dragon Warrior by Master
Oogway, and in the end he defeats Tai Lung.
Dustin Hoffman as Master Shifu, an old red
panda who is the stern kung fu master to the
Five and to Po; he is troubled over mistakes
in the past and is the former-master and adoptive
father of Tai Lung.
Angelina Jolie as Tigress, a tiger and leader
of the Furious Five. She is the most hostile
to Po when he's chosen as the Dragon Warrior,
but eventually accepts him when he defeats
Tai Lung.
Jackie Chan as Monkey, a Gee's golden langur
and member of the Furious Five; he has an
easygoing attitude, and like Sun Wukong, the
Monkey of Chinese folktales, he is adept with
a staff.
Lucy Liu as Viper, a Green Tree Viper and
member of the Furious Five; she is kind and
the most good-natured to Po when he is chosen
as the Dragon Warrior.
Seth Rogen as Mantis, a Chinese mantis and
member of the Furious Five; he is extremely
strong for his size and is also experienced
in acupuncture.
David Cross as Crane, a Red-crowned Crane
and another member of the Furious Five; he
tends to be both practical and sarcastic.
Ian McShane as Tai Lung, a muscular snow leopard,
who was denied the Dragon Scroll by Master
Oogway. After rampaging the Valley of Peace
for being denied the scroll, Tai Lung was
sent to Chorh-Gom Prison for twenty years,
after which he escaped and returned for revenge.
He is the adoptive son and former-student
of Shifu.
Randall Duk Kim as Master Oogway, Shifu's
mentor and the wise leader of the Jade Palace.
He is an ancient Galápagos tortoise.
James Hong as Mr. Ping, Po's father, a happy-go-lucky
Chinese goose who runs a noodle restaurant
along with his son, who is unwilling to follow
in his father's footsteps.
Dan Fogler as Zeng, a Chinese goose who is
Shifu's nervous messenger.
Michael Clarke Duncan as Commander Vachir,
a Javan rhinoceros who is the boastful warden
of Chorh-Gom Prison, where Tai Lung is imprisoned.
Production
Publicized work on the film began in October
2004. In September 2005, DreamWorks Animation
announced the film alongside Jack Black, who
was selected to be the main voice star. In
November 2005, DreamWorks Animation announced
that Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu
and Ian McShane would join Jack Black in the
cast.
The idea for the film was conceived by Michael
Lachance, a DreamWorks Animation executive.
Initially, the idea was to make it a spoof,
but co-director John Stevenson was not particularly
keen on it so instead chose the direction
of a character based wuxia comedy. Reportedly
inspired by Stephen Chow's 2004 martial arts
action comedy, Kung Fu Hustle, the co-directors
wanted to make sure the film also had an authentic
Chinese and kung fu feel to it. Production
designer Raymond Zibach and art director Tang
Heng spent years researching Chinese painting,
sculpture, architecture and kung fu films
to help create the look of the film. Zibach
said some of the biggest influences for him
are the more artful martial arts films such
as Hero, House of Flying Daggers and Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Stevenson's aim for
the film, which took four years to make, was
to make "the best looking film DreamWorks
has ever made".
The hand-drawn animation sequence at the beginning
of the film was made to resemble Chinese shadow
puppetry. The opening, which was directed
by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and produced by James
Baxter, was praised by The New York Times
reviewer Manohla Dargis as "striking" and
"visually different from most mainstream American
animations". Other reviewers have compared
the opening to the evocative style of Genndy
Tartakovsky's Samurai Jack. The rest of the
film is modern computer animation, which uses
bright, offbeat colors to evoke the natural
landscape of China. The end credit sequence
also features hand-drawn characters and still
paintings in the background.
The computer animation used throughout the
film was more complex than anything DreamWorks
had done before. When the head of production
handed the script to VFX Supervisor Markus
Manninen, she reportedly laughed and wished
him "good luck". "When we started talking,"
said Manninen, "the movie was still a high
concept. But for everyone that looked at it,
it screamed complexity. We launched off saying,
how can you make this movie tangible? How
can you find smart ways to bring this world
to life in a way that makes it a great movie
and not feel like the complexity becomes the
driver of the story, but the story and the
emotion being the driver?" In preparation,
the animators took a six-hour kung fu class.
Producer Melissa Cobb said that originally
Po was "more of a jerk," but that the character
changed after they heard Jack Black. According
to Jack Black, he mostly worked "in isolation",
although he and Dustin Hoffman did spend a
day together, which Cobb said helped with
the scene where their characters face off.
Lucy Liu said that the film "was quite different
because it was such a long process." Liu said
that when she was presented with the project
they already had artwork of her character
as well as a "short computerized video version
of what she would look like when she moved."
Release
The film held its worldwide premiere at the
61st Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2008,
where it received massive and sustained applause
at the end of the film's screening. Kung Fu
Panda later had national premieres in the
US on June 1, 2008 at Grauman's Chinese Theatre
in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, and
on June 26, 2008 at Leicester Square in London,
for the UK.
Home media
Kung Fu Panda was released on DVD and Blu-ray
on November 9, 2008, and on 3D Blu-ray on
December 6, 2011 as a Best Buy exclusive.
The DVD double pack release of Kung Fu Panda
also includes a short animated film Secrets
of the Furious Five. With 7,486,642 DVD units
sold in 2008, Kung Fu Panda was the fourth
highest-selling film and the first highest-selling
animated film of 2008, right before WALL-E,
which sold 7,413,548 units.
Reception
Critical response
Kung Fu Panda has received positive reviews
from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that
88% of 164 critics gave the film a positive
review with the consensuses, "Kung Fu Panda
has a familiar message, but the pleasing mix
of humor, swift martial arts action, and colorful
animation makes for winning Summer entertainment.".
The film has an approval rating of 76% from
a select group of critics and an approval
rating of 83% from users of the site. Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of
73 out of 100, based on 33 reviews.
Richard Corliss of Time Magazine gave Kung
Fu Panda a positive review, stating the picture
"provides a master course in cunning visual
art and ultra-satisfying entertainment". The
New York Times said, "At once fuzzy-wuzzy
and industrial strength, the tacky-sounding
Kung Fu Panda is high concept with a heart,"
and the review called the film "consistently
diverting" and "visually arresting". Chris
Barsanti of Filmcritic.com commented, "Blazing
across the screen with eye-popping, sublime
artwork, Kung Fu Panda sets itself apart from
the modern domestic animation trend with its
sheer beauty [...] the film enters instant
classic status as some of the most gorgeous
animation Hollywood has produced since the
golden age of Disney." Michael Phillips of
the Chicago Tribune called the film "one of
the few comedies of 2008 in any style or genre
that knows what it’s doing". However, Tom
Charity of CNN criticized the action for "[tending]
to blur into a whirlwind of slapstick chaos"
and considered the character of Po similar
to others played by Black. Peter Howell of
The Toronto Star awarded the film two and
a half stars, considering it to have a "lack
of story" that "frequently manages to amuse,
if not entirely to delight".
Box office
The film topped the box office in its opening
weekend, grossing $60,239,130 for a $14,642
average from 4,114 theaters and performing
much better than analysts had been expecting.
It also was the highest-grossing opening for
a non-sequel DreamWorks Animation film at
the time. In its second weekend, the film
retreated 44% to second place behind The Incredible
Hulk grossing $33,612,594 for a $8,127 average
from expanding to 4,136 theaters. It closed
on October 9, 2008 after 125 days of release,
grossing $215,434,591 in the United States
and Canada and $416,309,969 overseas for a
worldwide total of $631,744,560. Kung Fu Panda
was the highest-grossing non-Shrek film from
DreamWorks Animation in the United States
and Canada, before being surpassed by How
to Train Your Dragon in 2010.
Kung Fu Panda was also well received in China.
It made nearly 110 million Chinese Yuan by
July 2, 2008, becoming the first animated
film to make more than 100 million Yuan in
Chinese box offices. The Chinese director
Lu Chuan commented, "From a production standpoint,
the movie is nearly perfect. Its American
creators showed a very sincere attitude about
Chinese culture." With the film's success
at the Chinese box office, some people within
China have questioned the quality of China's
domestic animations. The fact that such a
successful film based on Chinese culture was
created by the American film industry has
led to some Chinese introspection.
Accolades
Kung Fu Panda had been nominated for the Academy
Award for Best Animated Feature and the Golden
Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film,
but both awards were won by Pixar's WALL-E
instead. This was parodied by Jack Black at
the 81st Academy Awards, saying "Each year,
I do one DreamWorks project, then I take all
the money to the Oscars and bet it on Pixar."
By contrast, Kung Fu Panda won 11 Annie Awards
out of 16 nominations, albeit amid controversy.
Soundtrack
As with most DreamWorks animated movies, composer
Hans Zimmer scored Kung Fu Panda. Zimmer visited
China in order to absorb the culture and got
to know the Chinese National Symphony as part
of his preparation; in addition, Timbaland
also contributed to the soundtrack. The soundtrack
also includes a partially rewritten version
of the classic song, "Kung Fu Fighting", performed
by Cee-Lo Green and Jack Black for the end
credits. Furthermore, in some versions, the
ending credit was sung by Rain. Although Zimmer
was originally announced as the main composer
of the film, during a test screening, CEO
of DreamWorks Animation SKG Jeffrey Katzenberg
announced that composer John Powell would
also be contributing to the score. This marked
the first collaboration in eight years for
the two, who had previously worked together
on DreamWorks' The Road to El Dorado and the
action thriller Chill Factor. A soundtrack
album was released by Interscope Records on
June 3, 2008.
Track listing
Sequels
A sequel, Kung Fu Panda 2, was released on
Thursday May 26, 2011, to very good reviews.
It was released in 3-D and was directed by
Jennifer Yuh Nelson with the original cast
returning. The story features a new villain
with a mysterious weapon so powerful it threatens
the very existence of kung fu, and Po must
additionally confront his past.
A second sequel tentatively titled Kung Fu
Panda 3 has been announced as a co-production
between DreamWorks Animation and Shanghai-based
Oriental DreamWorks. Kung Fu Panda 3 will
be released on December 23, 2015. DreamWorks
Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg has said
that it is possible that the series could
see 3 more sequels after Kung Fu Panda 3,
bringing it to a six-film series.
Manga
A manga based on the film has been released
in Japan in Kerokero Ace magazine's September
2008 issue. It is written by Hanten Okuma
and illustrated by Takafumi Adachi.
Television series
A television series titled Kung Fu Panda:
Legends of Awesomeness is airing on Nickelodeon
since its premiere on November 7, 2011. From
the cast of Kung Fu Panda, only Lucy Liu and
James Hong are reprising their roles of Master
Viper and Mr. Ping. In the series, Po continues
to defend the Valley of Peace from all kinds
of villains, while making mistakes, learning
about the history of kung fu, and meeting
other kung fu masters.
Holiday special
The Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special was aired
on NBC Wednesday, November 24, 2010.
Video game
A video game adaptation of the film was developed
and published by Activision on June 3, 2008.
The game follows the same basic plot as the
film, but with Tai Lung portrayed as the leader
of various gangs that surround the Valley
of Peace, which Po, who possesses some basic
martial art skills which can be upgraded as
the game progresses, must defeat. The game
was released on Microsoft Windows, as well
as multiple consoles. However the Windows
version has been discontinued. The game received
mostly positive reviews; it scored a Metacritic
rating of 76% from critics and a 7.5 out of
10 from IGN. In 2009, it won the International
Animated Film Society's Annie Award for Best
Animated Video Game, "in recognition of creative
excellence in the art of animation."
Online games
Two popular online games, The Adversary and
The Field of Fiery Danger, were created by
Playniac to accompany the movie release. The
Adversary is based on the moment where the
main character Po, voiced by Jack Black, attacks
a punchbag and underestimates its response.
The Field of Fiery Danger is based on scenes
where Po accidentally falls into the pit of
fire spouting tubes and also the moment where
the kung fu master Shifu realizes that the
only way to get through to Po is with food.
Both games have 20 challenging levels and
were featured as game of the week on the Nickelodeon
web site.
Lawsuits
DreamWorks Animation was sued in 2011 by a
writer, Terence Dunn, for allegedly stealing
the idea for Kung Fu Panda from him. Dunn
alleged that DreamWorks Animation had stolen
his pitch for a "spiritual kung-fu fighting
panda bear" which he sent to a DreamWorks
executive in 2001. DreamWorks Animation denied
any wrongdoing and after a two-week trial
the jurors found in favour of DreamWorks.
In 2011, another lawsuit was brought against
the studio by an illustrator named Jayme Gordon.
Gordon had created characters under the name
"Kung Fu Panda Power" and registered them
with the U.S. Copyright Office in 2000. He
had pitched this concept work to Disney while
Jeffrey Katzenberg, who later left Disney
and formed DreamWorks Animation in 1994, was
working there. DreamWorks Animation won the
lawsuit after Gordon withdrew his claim just
before the trial was due to take place.
References
External links
Official website
Kung Fu Panda at the Internet Movie Database
Kung Fu Panda at the Big Cartoon DataBase
Kung Fu Panda at AllMovie
Kung Fu Panda at Rotten Tomatoes
Kung Fu Panda at Metacritic
Kung Fu Panda at Box Office Mojo
Kung Fu Panda on Facebook
