Kung Fu Panda (2008) Review
It’s been 11 years since the release of the lovable animation film — Kung Fu Panda. The first of the three parts, however, was the most exciting one to watch because all 3 movies followed the same story pattern, obviously, going deeper into the journey of the adorable panda — Po. The introduction to Po’s journey into the world of Kung Fu was a very interesting way of delivering the message that anything is possible once you believe in yourself.
This film stars Jack Black as the panda named Po who works for his father, Mr. Ping, in his noodle shop, which is famous in the Valley Of Peace for Mr. Ping’s Secret Ingredient Noodle Soup. Mr. Ping dreams of handing over the secret ingredient knowledge to his son Po (how, a bird fathered a panda is a mystery in this movie) but Po dreams of something greater. He finds out, through word of mouth, that the ancient temple which is perched on top of this beautiful valley is having a contest to decide who the next ‘dragon warrior’ will be. The furious five reside in this ancient temple along with two legendary kung fu masters — Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffmann) and Master Oogway (voiced by Randall Duk Kim). The furious five — Monkey (Jackie Chan), Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Crane (David Cross) are disciples of Master Shifu and are contenders for this competition. This competition only came about after the masters find out that Tai Lung (the original disciple of Master Shifu) has escaped prison and needs to be dealt with. Tigress seems to be the most skilled of the five students and is a sure shot candidate to become the dragon warrior. However, Master Oogway chooses Po, to everyone’s bafflement.
It is at this point, that Po’s journey begins with Master Shifu being extremely hell bent on trying to change Po’s opinion and to make sure he leaves the ancient temple. He goes to his friend Master Oogway for advice and to make sense of this decision but Master Oogway, in a series of amazing wise words, says “there are no accidents.” Master Shifu, then, accepting Po as his disciple, starts training him and here, one of the most interesting training sequences was — when Po and Master Shifu fight over dumplings. The story then leads to the furious five trying to hold Tai Lung from coming back to the valley of peace but in vain. This movie has a lot of action sequences with an amazing cinematic animation style coupled with funny dialogues that, I feel, only Jack Black can pull off.
What I personally enjoyed about this film was the message that, at first, certain tasks might seem difficult to undertake but with self belief, courage and determination, those obstacles can be overcome and goals can be achieved. This is a movie, people of all ages can enjoy. It’s a fairly predictable story, but even in it’s predictability, there is depth to the story and the characters in it and ofcourse, there’s a lot of beautiful wisdom.
‘There is no secret ingredient’. I feel this is the ultimate message of the movie. It is a timeless movie, in my opinion, and I would recommend this to everyone. I would give this movie 5 dumplings out of 5 dumplings with a G Rating. Remember, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from. What matters, is what you do and whether you enjoy every moment doing it.
