Kung Fu Panda: Movie

Prepare for awesomeness!

Kung Fu Panda

Rated PG for sequences of martial arts action.
96 minutes

Po(Jack Black) is a lovable chubby panda who is torn between his dream of becoming a kung-fu master and his obligation to inherit the noodle restaurant owned by his goose father, Ping.

Far above the Jade Temple, the tortoise master Oogway(Randall Duk Kim) -which is really redundant, because oogway means turtle in Chinese- foresees that the kick-ass evil snow leaopard kung-fu master Tai Lung will break from prison and return to wreak havoc in the Valley of Peace. He then decides to hold a ceremony to choose the Dragon Warrior, who will defeat Tai Lung. Shifu and the villagers expected that one of the Furious Five - Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu), and Crane (David Cross) - will be chosen for the honorable task.

Po finds himself slowed down by the noodle cart he was assigned to take to the ceremony and locked out of the temple. He fails to witness the Furious Five's martial arts exhibition and desperately attempts to enter. Out of resourcefulness, he creates a rocket chair by using fireworks and accidentally lands inside the temple right about the same time Oogway chooses the Dragon Warrior. To everyone's shock (and disapproval), Po was chosen as the Dragon Warrior
and Shifu was assigned to become his master.

Having no faith in a chubby panda with a big appetite, Shifu denied Po access to the Dragon Scroll and the Furious Five treated Po unkindly. The lovable Panda tried his best to win his comrade's hearts - but fails miserably to show that he is even capable of learning kung-fu.

Meanwhile, despite Shifu's precautionary attempt, Tai Lung escapes from prison. Shifu asked help from Oogway, who once defeated the snow leopard. The tortoise master declined, and passed on his staff to Shifu, hoping that his fellow master would learn to trust the clumsy Po. However, the Panda, disheartened and unable to prove himself worthy to be called the Dragon Master, decides to run away. Shifu approaches him and offers to be his master, which Po readily accepted. The Red Panda discovers that Po can only be motivated with food, and trained the chubby black and white bear rigorously using dumplings.

The Furious Five, learning that Tai Lung had escaped, decided to take the matter into their own hands. Overconfident that they were trained for the purpose of defeating Tai Lung, they confronted the snow leopard. The five joined forces to defeat Tai Lung, and were almost successful, if it weren't for the leopard's nerve-paralyzing technique.

Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Viper, and Crane came back to the temple defeated, and Shifu decided to give the Dragon Scroll to Po, realizing that the Panda was already prepared and ready to be called the Dragon Master. They were shocked, however, upon realizing that the scroll was nothing but a reflective surface. Shifu ordered the Five and Po to evacuate the whole village and waited for Tai Lung, who was once under his tutelage.

As Po walked away together with the villagers, Ping unknowingly and indirectly revealed the secret of the Dragon Scroll - nothing! Po, with his newfound self-confidence returns to the Jade Temple, where Tai Lung had already began facing off with Shifu. The snow leopard, who had always dreamed to be the Dragon Warrior, was very angry upon learning that the Dragon Scroll
was given to a fat Panda. Po challenges him to a battle and proves himself to be a worthy opponent. Out of (bad) luck, Tai Lung manages to snatch the Dragon Scroll. Unfortunately, he fails to comprehend the symbolism behind the empty scroll. Filled up with anger and hate, Tai Lung turns a deaf ear to Po's explanation.

The nerve-paralyzing technique proved to be useless against Po's body fat - for his nerves were cushioned well. Po, bold as ever, counters Tai Lung with the "Finger Hold technique" - which he boasts to have learned on his own. A quake reverberates through the village and Po emerges victorious.

Let me start with this: It was helluva awesome! Jack Black would've carried the movie on his own, and I don't think there was a need for a star-studded cast.

Kung Fu Panda is something that would particularly amuse children, but would also suit the taste of older people who love animations, martial arts, and martial arts animation. The film oozes out oriental culture from its colorful music to its bright, artful computer animations. Even the credits will get you hooked!

It was faithful to its China-themed plot and setting, I would be glad to say it was less 'pop' and more 'folk'. It was entertaining and funny, filled with sagely advices and adages often attributed to the Chinese culture. And have I told you even the old Shifu looks so cute when he droops his ears? No? Let's admit it, a big chubby Panda is nowhere near the society's definition of macho, but I think he was... awesome! Give it up for Dreamworks!

Anyway, I'm a real sucker for animation. That's why it isn't hard for me to appreciate movies like Kung Fu Panda. The only negative thing I experienced while watching the movie was that, since it was promoted with Jack Black as the voice of Po, I attributed him to the Panda. At times I had questioned myself if I was laughing at Po because the Panda was funny, or because I think Jack Black as a Panda was funny? What I'm trying to say is that, in my opinion, Jack Black was unable to give the Panda an original character.

Still, to me, it was awesome!