Great movie in the Chinese tradition

Rating: 10/10 (6 March 2009)

Great movie. Pole's character is so typically Chinese in nature, and the imagery really does credit to the artistic direction. The opening sequence is visually stunning, avoiding clichés, by re-inventing classic themes.
One of the original Chinese national leaders was a man very like Pole. During the post ice-age period, China was inundated with floods that crept across the land for years. The people selected a humble man who had the character to persist and beat the problem. This man worked for forty years to drain the flood waters, ruining his legs through climbing to mountain-tops for better views of the problem. He was a humble servant, incredibly like the hero of Kung Fu Panda, and had a job very similar to Pole's in the beginning.
The movie may not appeal to new-age film-goers, as it is a traditional story of good versus evil, where the bad guys are really bad.