'Kung Fu Panda' - No Charge for Awesomeness or Attractivness
By: Tim - aurora - Dunn

Po maybe a huge, fat panda, he maybe destined to become the Dragon Warrior or maybe just a noodle soup chef but one thing is for sure, unknown to us, he is not. The up-play leading into this movie has been almost as big as Po himself. Considering all the vastly different previews, teasers and trailers we have seen I'm happy to say we did not get to see the true heart of this Disney movie.

 

 

Opps, did I say Disney? You thought this was a DreamWorks film? Hmm, well lets see, we have lots of lovable and yet strong animal characters with one ugly duckling who wants to be a swan, he's a panda and his father is a crane, you have a villain that maybe bad but not truly evil, there's the multiple mixed up morals in the story. Oh and then there's the sure fire clue, Po who has no mother, just a bumbly father. Surely that's a Disney movie recipe if ever there was one. If you can get past all of that you find that the animation is DreamWorks more then Disney's but more on the animation in a bit.

 

 

Po, the noodle soup serving panda, lives in the 'Valley of Peace' with his father where he dreams of being a mighty kung fu hero. This is where the movie starts, with Po dreaming of a world where evil waits for him to finish his meal, easily defeats a horde of a thousand demon warriors with his awesomeness. A world where there is 'no charge for awesomeness, or attractiveness'. But awaken from such dreams one always must do and here we find Po desperate to get himself out of bed in style and to work in his fathers restaurant.

 

 

Meanwhile high above the valley in the Jade Palace, Master Shifu, master and trainer of the Furious Five, is summoned to his master, Master Oogway. Here Shifu hears of Oogways revelation that the fierce Tai Lung will escape from his escape proof prison and now is finally the time for the naming of the Dragon Warrior. As word spreads to the village below Po sends everyone in the restaurant as well as himself off to the palace to see the coming of the long awaited Dragon Warrior. For poor Po though the mastering of the stairs is a bit to taxing for him and he arrives at the Palace just as the doors close in his face. Desperate to see the presentation of the Furious Five and the naming of the Dragon Warrior, Po runs into all sorts obstacles in his quest, one finally solved with the aid of a lot of fireworks. The end result of all of Po's efforts is, yep as if you did not already know, Oogway names Po as the Dragon Warrior.

 

 

Immediately Po knows a mistake has been made as does master Shifu and his Furious Five. But Oogway insists there is no such thing as accidents and that Po is indeed the Dragon Warrior. Not happy with this the Furious Five apologize to Shifu for not being good enough but its Shifu that vows that if he can't get Po to quit by morning it is he who's has failed them. Seems kinda strange that a almost mystical warrior master is set to contradict destiny, but it plays into the story well.

 

 

For Po, even though he realizes its all a big mistake, he does not miss out on living his dream to fight with the Furious Five and Shifu. We quickly see one of Po's great merits, and no its not his clumsiness, being out of shape, slow reactions or non-existent skills. Its his determination not to quit but to enjoy the moment for what it is, a chance to live the dream. Quickly however the dream, as always, must end and Po faces the fact that he is not a kung fu warrior and surely never will be the Dragon Warrior. So leave, as was Shifus plan he tries and, of course, its Shifu that attempts to stop him. In doing so Po confronts Shifu with the truth. He believed if anybody could make him into something he did not hate in the morning it was him, Shifu, and how was he going to accomplish that. While at this time Shifu has no idea how to training Po but he soon finds the secret to success lies in Po's weakness, his stomach. Indeed we do find that there really is a Panda style to kung fu.

 

 

Well, while all of this is going on, Tai Lung has escaped and the Furious Five have left to stop him believing that this is what they were trained and destined for. But Tai Lung can't be stopped by the Furious Five any more then he could be held in an inescapable prison. Tai Lung is after the Dragon Scroll which he believed was his and that he was cheated out of it and nothing wil stop him from getting it. With Po now ready for the secrets of the Dragon scroll and Tai Lung on the way, knowing there is a lot of Disney and Star Wars in this setup you should be well on your way to guessing the rest of the story. But guessing is no fun, only seeing is any fun so you go and find the end for yourself.

 

 

OK, so by now you might be slightly irritated that I have not ventured into any details on the Furious Five. Surely they must be important to the movie. We do see a lot of them in the previews so you know who they are. Surely the Furios Five are important to this movie, please tell me its true because the movie sure did not. While yeah we do see them and get to know who they are we never get to know them in the least. We almost get to see inside Tigress with two quick scenes but even that fizzles to nothingness. Its sad too because this is what Po originally wanted, to be apart of this magical quintuplet, but when their battle with Tai Lung comes it barely excites the kids and the adults just sit just short of nullified. When the end comes and Po reveals his true self as one beyond noodle soup server, even beyond the mystical Dragon Warrior, the 'You bow to no man' 'Return of the King' ending is not so moving as it could have/should been.

 

 

So enough of the story and on to the animation. First think back to one of Disney's great animation feasts, Mulan. Wait, sorry don't do that. First this is a true 3D animation movie and not a cel-shade animation. Second Mulan knew the style it lived in and Kung Fu Panda lives in a couple different styles. This is almost as confusing as the Po is fat, bad Po, bad, versus the Po loves to eat, good Po, good. We have hints at the classic eastern cartoon style animation mixed with glorious vibrant colors, the 3D animation, great particle effects and detached matte paintings. Indeed this last one is the most bizarre as when you're watching scenes with the lush Chinese backdrops which look like they are literally painted on canvas, you feel like your watching a Chinese opera more then a modern animation feature. If this were supposed to be the main style then fine but instead you feel like Po with a dislocated joint in your head. If it were not that the vibrancy of all the paintings and the nice animation work was not so well done you'd actually be pretty upset. Fortunately things are done well enough that you find yourself forgiving a lot in the end.

 

 

Texturing, hmm, well for those that know me, I like to stay that 'usually simpler is better'. Now I warn you please go into this movie to enjoy it and not to look at it critically, especially the texturing. While not crappy by any means it does live up to my adage, stay simple. But one look at the simple dot texturing of Oogway and prepare to restrain your urge to look deeply into the methods used to create this movie, save it for when it comes out on DVD. For now just enjoy the movie and it vibrancy and in the end you'll understand that simple does indeed work. The fur is nice but the texturing is not bad, except for the transition zone on his belly between white and black fur. Sorry I'm distracted by the brown banding in-between there. For me they should have either smoothed the transition zone from black to brown to white in a short zone or keep a sharp balc to white transition. Better yet have a nice spatter of mixe balck and white fibers in the transition zone, now that would have looked nice. In fact this method works very well on Shifu and Tai Lung.

 

 

Animation. Nice, very nice. Perfect, no. Ground shattering, nope. Anything cutting edge, not here. But don't think that this makes this a poor animation movie as its not. You get a nice run on all the animation. Its smooth, its consistent across the board and its fun to watch. If you were like me and you got sick of all of the slow motion Matrix-esque scenes in all the trailers, then be happy to know, as I was, that it is not so over powering and all consuming as you are lead to believe. In fact you see almost all there is in the trailers and it actually plays better on the screen. Character dynamics wise. Well Po's big stomach and butt does indeed come fully loaded with some nice soft body dynamics that are consistant with the rest of the animation and thus a pleasure to watch.

 

 

The one thing I will give major props to in this movie, actually there's two but I'll save the best for last where it rightfully belongs, is the particle effects. If Kung Fu Panda is going to stand up as an Oscar contender for best animated movie it will be thanks to the particle and other special effects. While we are used to seeing great particle effects and dynamics in live action films, seeing them in an animation movie, at least a western made movie, is extremely rare. Here though you have lots of peach blossom petal and confetti scenes including a great Yoda-esque scene with master Oogway. There are some nice fireworks and explosions too. But watch for the fire especially the torch scenes and watch for the smoke. Who'da thunk (don't you love my masterful use of english?) they'd take a slightly above average animation film and add great fluid effects and still make it look smooth with the rest of the style.

 

 

The secret of this movie is simple, no really I mean it that is the secret, simplicity. Yet that may well be the downfall of this movie. Kung Fu Panda played to the least common denominator, it played well, very well, however in the end it is just a good movie to go and see. The sad part of this is that it could have been a great movie. All it needed was some depth to the Furious Five, a bit more of a push on the texturing and making the matte backgrounds fit into the rest of the movie style. Doing this could very well have made you truly fall in love with this movie and made it the Oscar winner for 2008.

 

 

Now I'm at the end where the credits begin to roll but my greatest praise for this movie is in the end credits. Now if you think that my best praise is for the credits and that this must have been a piece of panda dung movie, then you got me all wrong. On the contrary the closing credits are 'thee' best I have seen. Firstly the backdrop to the credits is done in great eastern style, cel-shaded scenes from the movie, not do overs but additionals. This in and of itself was brilliant and actually got both kids and adults to sit back down with easily more then three quarters of the totally full theater staying and watching every last second of the credits. Secondly the display of the credits themselves was glorious to see. While simple in white text font and displayed so you could actually read it, you find yourself fight wnating to watch the background animations and to read the credits. While I always sit and watch the credits it was nice to not see just one or two others doing the same but the almost the whole theater. Thirdly its how they broke the credits up that I really enjoyed. Out of true eastern style the credits paid proper respect to all involved in the movie. They did so by segmenting the credits into such panels as Texture Artists, Animators, Technical Directors, a couple different panels for R&D and on the credits went in such a pleasant manner. Forth, as is par for movies in recent years after watching all of the credits you are rewarded with a special final scene with Poi and Shifu. If you think I'm acting strange in placing my praise in credits then I highly recommend then for no other reason then thia make sure you watch this movie to see just what I'm talking about if nothing else when it comes out on DVD. True this style would have made for four and half hours instead of three and a half for any of Peter Jackson's latest movies but for a shorter movie like this one this should become the new style for credit presentation!

 

 

Conclusion:
While it may seem like I was displeased with this movie on the contrary I actually enjoyed it. I do wish they would have pushed the envelope a bit more and thought about the full range of age groups and thus emotions needed to make this movie what it could have/should have been. If you have kids make sure you use them as an excuse to see this movie and do not dare to get up with out watching the credits, they won't disappoint anybody in our industry!

Ratings:

IMDB Film User Rating: 7.8/10 (533 votes)

- For a movie going experience I give it: 4 out of 5 stars.
Awesomeness and attraction are free but you still have to pay to see this movie. If the price of gas does not kill you then the price of admission is will worth it as there is enough awesomeness and attraction to make it worth your while.

- For a technical piece of CG and VFX work I give it: 4 out of 5 stars.
While I can find many faults in texturing and mate backdrop styling all great particle and dynamic effects provide more then ample forgiveness!

Credits:

Po - Jack Black
Shifu - Dustin Hoffman
Tigress - Angelina Jolie
Tai Lung - Ian McShane
Monkey - Jackie Chan
Mantis - Seth Rogen
Viper - Lucy Liu
Crane - David Cross
Oogway - Randall Duk Kim
Mr. Ping - James Hong
Commander Vachir - Michael Clarke Duncan
Zeng - Dan Fogler

Directed - Mark Osborne, John Stevenson

Writing Credits
Screenplay - Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger
Story - Ethan Reiff, Cyrus Voris

Producets
Producer - Melissa Cobb
Co-Producer - Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger

Original Music - John Powell, Hans Zimmer

Cinematography - Yong Duk Jhun

Film Editing - Clare De Chenu

Animation:
Dreamworks Animation
Pacific Data Images (PDI)

MPAA: Rated PG for sequences of martial arts action.
Runtime: 88 min