Kung Fu Panda (2008) - Film Review

Starring: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Ian McShane & Angelina Jolie

Screenplay: Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger

Directed By: John Stevenson & Mark Osborne

Certificate: PG

 

The release of Kung Fu Panda comes after a particularly bad year for Dreamworks Animation. After the critical mauling that greeted Shrek The Third and the tepid box office takings of Bee Movie, Dreamworks are in need of both a critical and commercial hit. The next film in their release schedule to bring a sure-fire hit is … Kung Fu Panda. Surely there's nothing beyond the quirky and one-joke concept here? Or could Dreamworks be about to pull the rug out from under our feet and deliver something genuinely impressive and worthwhile?

 

In Ancient China, the Valley of Peace live under the protection of kung fu masters, the Furious Five. The five consist of Tigress, Monkey, Viper, Mantis and Crane, all led by their teacher Master Shifu. When Grand Master Oogway decides its time to choose who shall become the Dragon Warrior, a contest is held to find who is worthy. Hoping to attend the contest is Po, a local panda who idolizes the Furious Five. When he finally gets into the arena, Oogway selects Po as the next Dragon Warrior, surprising both Po and everyone else. Elsewhere, Master Shifu's imprisoned former student Tai Lung has escaped jail and is making his way to the valley to take the power of the Dragon Warrior for himself. When the Furious Five are unable to stop Tai Lung, the responsibility falls on Po to protect the valley.

 

Kung Fu Panda finds its core with a great lead character in Po. It's almost impossible not to quickly and thoroughly love Po, and he makes for a great, funny lead character with almost universal appeal. Po gives the film its quota for the expected slapstick comedy and charm, and its had to resist the feeling that we almost want to be Po, or at least help him on his way to becoming the Dragon Warrior. His persistence in the face of uncertain odds and a lack of faith from his peers and his kung fu master is what makes him so endearing. By the end of the film in Po's showdown with Tai Lung, he's fully earned the respect of the audience and we're entirely rooting for him to win. Depending on your own point of view, Jack Black may or may not have an image of only being able to do comedy rather than any moments of drama, but throughout Kung Fu Panda, he brings great complexity and a layered performance to Po – something I'll talk more about later.

 

But while Po makes for a terrific lead, his fellow kung fu masters the Furious Five instead end up feeling underdeveloped, and the vocal talents behind each of them end up wasted. Out of the five, the only one with any distinguishing features is Tigress. Tigress stands out largely thanks to star power with Angelina Jolie providing her voice, but also because she's the only one to have a history. Tigress's backstory is a great and emotionally-wrenching sequence that gives me faith that the Furious Five have the potential to be great and interesting characters. Depending on the success of Kung Fu Panda, they may even be able to branch off into their own spin-off. Instead Crane, Monkey, Mantis and Viper get very little to do outside of being someone for Po to look up to and to take part in one admittedly impressive and well-staged fight scene against Tai Lung. That scene in question is also probably my favourite as far as the kung fu fighting in this film goes. It's even more of a shame when we consider the great talent voicing these characters, with names like Jackie Chan, Seth Rogan, Lucy Liu and David Cross.

 

On a brighter note, though it may not show much justice towards the Furious Five, the script for Kung Fu Panda shows remarkable complexity and depth in every other area. As I said earlier, Kung Fu Panda is the type of film that could have so easily fallen flat by relying purely on slapstick and seeing Po fail at kung fu in order to get an audience response. Instead Po feels genuine, and though they may not be that well developed, so do the Furious Five. The conflicts among themselves and against their common enemy Tai Lung are all the result of complicated reasons. When you have Po coming out with lines like “Every time you threw a brick at my head, or said I smelled, it hurt, but it could never hurt more than every day of my life just being me”, and Oogway with lines like “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present”, you know you're dealing with writers who know and understand their characters and the story they're trying to tell.

 

As far as looks go, I was very happy to find that the film stays faithful to its Chinese origins and aesthetics. While the lack of main characters voiced by Chinese actors is something I find quite strange, in every other regard, the film nails the medieval China look. Everything from the buildings and architecture, to the music, the landscapes, and even the attention to detail in clothing, it's all admirable. This is all boosted even further by the wonderful quality of animation, which for some scenes even switches to an equally beautiful 2-D style. The consistent use of bright colours pop off the screen, and the great variety of textures and further detail to each of the different animals is impressive, such as animal fur and the hard skin of animals such as the rhinos. While I don't want to spoil anything, it's worth pointing out that Oogway's farewell to Shifu is one of the most beautiful animated sequences I've seen to date.

 

After watching Kung Fu Panda, probably the biggest surprise I found was just how good the action sequences all were. The martial arts genre may have passed its peak and has now merged into other genres such as action, but Kung Fu Panda proves that there's still some life left in it yet. When the main concept is a flabby and out-of-shape panda performing kung fu, great and well-choreographed action sequences weren't something I was expecting. However, that's exactly what we got and while I've already picked out the Furious Five's fight against Tai Lung, his eventual showdown with Po was fantastic as well. Speaking of Tai Lung, while he's not exactly the best character I've ever seen, he is a very good antagonist and with solid and understandable motivations. His escape from prison, while exaggerated is still thoroughly entertaining and establishes him as a villainous presence.

 

Overall, Kung Fu Panda is certainly the hit Dreamworks were in need of. While I definitely had my doubts before watching, I'm not sure anyone expected it to be as good as it eventually was. Really there's nothing I can find that's bad here, and while further development is needed in some important areas, everything at least starts on the right path. Featuring beautiful visuals, an instantly relatable lead character and a surprising amount of depth mixed in with entertaining action sequences, Kung Fu Panda is a heart-warming yet exhilarating film that I'd recommend to nearly anybody.

Kung Fu Panda



9/10