Kung Fu Panda is the story about a anti-hero becoming a real hero in spite having all odds against him.
Po (Jack Black) is a fat, clumsy panda who is totally obsessed with the martial art kung fu.
He lives in the Valley of Peace and works with his goose(!) father Mr. Ping (James Hong) in his noodle restaurant.
The valley is visited by "The Furious Five" a group of kung fu masters consisting of Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Crane (David Cross). They have all been trained by Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman).
Po wants to become a martial arts expert too but how will he succeed in this his aim?
Master Shifu has a mentor, an old tortoise by the name of Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) who in a vision sees Shifu's former student and adoptive son, the evil snow leopard Tai Lung (Ian McShane) escape from his prison and return to the valley in order to take revenge. For what? For having been denied the so called "Dragon Scroll", a document holding the secret to limitless power.
Shifu now arranges a kung fu tournament so that Oogway will be able to identify who among the masters is the "Dragon Warrior", the kung fu master worthy of receiving the Dragon Scroll and capable of defeating Tai Lung.
In a most peculiar way Po becomes this Dragon Warrior and after being tested by 'The Five', Shifu and Oogway he is able to take on the intimidating enemy, Tai Lu.
After having defeated the other five and almost killed Shifu, Tai Lu now has to meet Po and of course the latter defeats the leopard and becomes acknowledged as a master of kung fu!
We found this a very charming story about the underdog becoming the hero, about not underestimating 'people' (or animals?) not seeming to have the qualities needed for a certain task etc.
The film blends different martial art-films and not least samurai-films, in a world of anthropomorphous animals.
Animals are also - as we know - very important symbols within the martial art but also within the Chinese (and Japanese) society(ies). They all symbolize a quality, not only of pysical art but also - and more so - of spiritual.
Shifu reminded us of Yoda to some extent and as in Star Wars there are not only the physical fights but also a spiritual one.
Po (Jack Black) is a fat, clumsy panda who is totally obsessed with the martial art kung fu.
He lives in the Valley of Peace and works with his goose(!) father Mr. Ping (James Hong) in his noodle restaurant.
The valley is visited by "The Furious Five" a group of kung fu masters consisting of Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Crane (David Cross). They have all been trained by Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman).
Po wants to become a martial arts expert too but how will he succeed in this his aim?
Master Shifu has a mentor, an old tortoise by the name of Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) who in a vision sees Shifu's former student and adoptive son, the evil snow leopard Tai Lung (Ian McShane) escape from his prison and return to the valley in order to take revenge. For what? For having been denied the so called "Dragon Scroll", a document holding the secret to limitless power.
Shifu now arranges a kung fu tournament so that Oogway will be able to identify who among the masters is the "Dragon Warrior", the kung fu master worthy of receiving the Dragon Scroll and capable of defeating Tai Lung.
In a most peculiar way Po becomes this Dragon Warrior and after being tested by 'The Five', Shifu and Oogway he is able to take on the intimidating enemy, Tai Lu.
After having defeated the other five and almost killed Shifu, Tai Lu now has to meet Po and of course the latter defeats the leopard and becomes acknowledged as a master of kung fu!
We found this a very charming story about the underdog becoming the hero, about not underestimating 'people' (or animals?) not seeming to have the qualities needed for a certain task etc.
The film blends different martial art-films and not least samurai-films, in a world of anthropomorphous animals.
Animals are also - as we know - very important symbols within the martial art but also within the Chinese (and Japanese) society(ies). They all symbolize a quality, not only of pysical art but also - and more so - of spiritual.
Shifu reminded us of Yoda to some extent and as in Star Wars there are not only the physical fights but also a spiritual one.
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