Po won my heart

Rating: 10/10 (29 September 2016)

This is the story of Po (voiced by Jack Black), a lazy panda who works with his father at a noodle shop and is a Kung Fu aficionado. He gets mistaken for the legendary Dragon Warrior of their village, the "Valley of Peace"; but their harmony is at stake, for the treacherous leopard Tai Lung (Ian McShane) seeks his revenge.
Po lives a comfortable and uneventful life, that is, until the turning point of the story. It happens during a trial that aims to select, among five contenders, the ultimate Kung Fu warrior. They are known as the "Furious Five" and consist of Monkey (Jackie Chan), Tigres (Angelina Jolie), Viper (Lucy Liu), Mantis (Seth Rogen) and Crane (David Cross). And while their appearances fall short in the threatening department, (the tiny mantis is even adorable) they do make up a fierce bunch. Together with their mentors; Master Shifu and Oogway, must protect the Valley of Peace and it's inhabitants from the fury of Tai Lung.
While the course of the movie is rather predictable; because things follow a moral path and it does contain little clichés along the way (hanging bridge fight scene), it makes up for in the humour and charisma section. Po is a warm silly character and one cannot help but to emphasize with him and his innocent mess-ups. Master Shifu is the voice of reason, in one remarkable scene he fights Po over a dumpling in order to train him in the ancient martial art (it also features a training montage, just as cliché as it is inspirational).
The movie is filled with hilarious moments that made me tear up of laughter the first time, and soon became very memorable quotes in my mind. Let's not forget that it has its emotional scenes too, the ascension of Oogway (Kung Fu Master) into the wind, is both peaceful and visually stunning. As silly as it sounds, and more often than not, I find myself giving advice taken from this movie, "one often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it" and "Noodles... Don't noodles..." The translation does not steal the comedy, as it is just as funny if not more in Spanish.
Visually, the studio has done an incredible job keeping up with the fast pace of combat scenes and its gravity defying moves. It also features hand drawn opening and closing credits; they are high contrast and slightly anime themed, but blend easily into the rest of film. The characters and landscapes are rendered beautifully and detailed without becoming distracting; you could almost see the individual hairs on Po's face.
2008 was a big year for films, and the highest grossing were Wall-E, The Dark Knight as well as Kung Fu Panda, so it was well received by the public. During the next year's Annie Awards, Kung Fu Panda pretty much won everything, including Directing, Character Design and Best Music.
Kung Fu Panda's original music was composed by Hans Zimmer and features Zee-Lo Green's and Jack Black's "Kung Fu Fighting". It is a version of Carl Douglas's song from 1974. Powell is a highly acclaimed composer and considered the king of animation and Zimmer had worked on the Lion King, Inception and The Last Samurai. Their score is fun, epic and obviously includes a lot of Chinese inspiration.
But perhaps, the most outstanding element of this film is it's moral, and just like in any other children's film, characters "do the right thing", evolve as people and eventually reach an "enlightenment' moment. However, and it might have been the Zen influence, or the Buddhist atmosphere, but "that" message felt more sincere in this film. It transmits the wonderful aim of loving oneself no matter what, (even if one is a chubby panda) bundled in with determination, good intent, and the innocence that seems to resolve conflicts in a fluid way.
Kung Fu Panda at its core is the typical story of an underdog who rises to the occasion by realizing that his flaws are also his weapons. The laughter brings that plot to greater heights and by the end becomes a heart-warming yet hilarious experience for the entire family.