The Wondrous Marriage Between East And West

Rating: 10/10 (25 May 2010)

Kung Fu Panda tells the story of a martial art loving panda by the name of Po who lives in the Valley of Peace, protected by his idols, the Furious Five, and their master, the legendary Master Shifu. When Shifu's malevolent ex-student Tai Lung breaks out of prison and threatens to create more havoc in the valley than he did once before, Po is chosen, seemingly by accident, to become the Dragon Warrior; the prophesied hero who is the only one that can stop Tai Lung. Shifu is reluctant to train him, seeing his lack of attributes required of a kung fu master. However, he is eventually convinced to believe in the panda, and discovers a method to train him into a true warrior.
A product of Dreamworks, which has always been regarded as the poor man's version of Pixar, KFP shows the filmmakers venturing into previously uncharted territory for CG films; kung fu. And they have brilliantly incorporated a wealth of elements into the film; from most notably Shaw Bros movies to even Taoist philosophies and Confucian values, combining them with Tex Avery style cartoon action and humor. Even the action scenes were surprisingly taken seriously, and the directors managed to emulate real kung fu moves for the characters in the fight scenes. From start till end, the dumpling sparring sequence between Po and Shifu is a prominent example of all that combined, and remains one of the best animated scenes I have ever seen. Being Chinese I can only feel proud to see the animators putting so much effort and attention to my culture, and exposing them to the world in a major motion picture.
The voice work is outstanding, most notably Jack Black's, optimizing his comic talent as the title hero. Black could effortlessly transit his voice from blind optimism to insecurity, all part of the incredible spectrum of emotions he displays for Po. Dustin Hoffman is faultless as the authoritative Master Shifu, and it just puts a smile on your face to hear the voice of the master himself, Jackie Chan, as Monkey.
Kung Fu Panda triumphs as an action spectacle and a family comedy, and is a sincere tribute to the culture of the other side of the world. It takes a lot of heart, devotion, meticulous attention to detail and a collective amount of talent to achieve this. It is quite hard to imagine the kind of effort it took to bring all these together, because they certainly did not come together by chance.
Like the wise Oogway would say, "There are no accidents."