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Resources » Entertainment » Movie Reviews »
Kung Fu Panda(2008) - A Superb Film
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Animation films have some advantages over live action cinema. First and the most important advantage is the fact that one’s imagination doesn’t have any limits in animation films. You can achieve whatever you want. On the other hand live action cinema will always have certain constraints whether budgetary, technical or some natural ones.
In a very short span of time computer animated films have explored the world of monsters (Monsters Inc.), discovered a rat who is a chef (Ratatouille), traveled through the space (WALL-E) and went into the depths of the oceans (Finding Nemo). Animation film makers are looking for various other themes on which movies can be made.
DreamWorks has emerged as a tough competitor for Disney-Pixar in the past few years. In fact the highest grossing animation film of all time is from DreamWorks – Shrek 2. Last year too ‘WALL-E’ had a tough fight with a DreamWorks film at the box-office. That film was ‘Kung fu Panda’. In the end both the films shared the honor with WALL-E emerging victorious in USA while ‘Kung fu Panda’ was the top grossing animation of 2008 worldwide. Though in the battle of Oscars ‘WALL-E’ won.
Po (Jack Black) is a giant panda who dreams of becoming a Kung fu master but is forced to work in his father’s noodle restaurant. His idols are the furious five – Tigress, monkey, mantis, viper and crane – who are the pupils of Master Shifu and protect the valley of peace. One day master Oogway call Shifu and tells him that he had a premonition that Latter’s former disciple Tai Lung will come back to valley. Tai Lung wanted the dragon scroll which contains within itself the source to immense powers. His attempt to take the scroll was thwarted by Oogway and he was imprisoned.
Master shifu then announces that the ‘dragon warrior’ will be chosen in a ceremony and he/she will be given the scroll. Everybody is sure that one of the furious five will be chosen with Tigress (Angelina Jolie) being the front runner. Due to some very odd events Po falls in front of Master Oogway just when he was about to name the dragon warrior. To the bewilderment of many, including Shifu , Oogway declares Po as the dragon warrior. Later Shifu tries to explain his master that it was an accident and that Po can’t be Dragon warrior. In reply Oogway just says that ‘there are no accidents’ and asks Shifu to have trust on Po before departing to heavens.
On the other hand ‘Tai Lung’ escapes from the prison and the furious five decide to confront him before he reaches the valley. Here Shifu decides to fulfill the promise he had made to his master and take Po with him to a place to teach him Kung fu. To his surprise, Po does very well and learns many tricks quickly. But will he be able to put up a fight with Tai lung who is the best warrior of China? To know the answer of this question you should go and watch the film.
Kung fu panda is set in an ancient period in China and unlike WALL-E gives old age messages of friendship, finding inner strengths and self-belief. But what makes it a stand out film is the sheer fun associated with it. You will love Po as much as you will love WALL-E. Both the characters are trying to gain something. Former is chasing his dreams while the latter is chasing his love.
The premise of China creates a mystical environment and brings back the memories of many Hongkong films set in ancient China that I had watched in my childhood. The films can be put in action-comedy genre since it deals with kung fu. It is here that the imagination flies high.
Readers must have the memory of the final fight sequence between Neo and Agent Smith in ‘The Matrix Revolutions.’ That scene had cost around $40 millions but still fell short of our expectations. Here such combat scenes are plenty. The escape of Tai Lung from the prison is a treat to watch. The combat between Tai Lung and furious5 and the ultimate battle with Po are equally good.
The film also manages to deliver its messages loud and clear without going too deep into the matter. One dialogue worth mentioning here is ‘Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery but today is a gift. That is why it is called present. Live it.’
The voice overs are superb and include such stars like Jack Black, Angelina Jolie and Jackie Chan.
The film is in the same league as WALL-E. My recommendation is that it shouldn’t be missed. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
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