They call me a “banana”. A banana is one whose skin is supposedly yellow on the outside but is white on the inside, much like a real banana. This derogatory term means that while I am Chinese (yellow), I often exhibit characteristics of a Caucasian (white). Case in point: I don’t speak Chinese, I prefer Western comics and entertainment and until recently, I didn’t even know how to write my Chinese name.
Despite being a so-called banana, I am still proud of my Chinese heritage and enjoy entertainment based on Chinese culture, despite my inability to understand the dialog or speech in those entertainments. Therefore, I love watching kung-fu and while I try my best not to come across as a stereotypical kung-fu fan wannabe (seen in movies such as Karate Kid and the Forbidden Kingdom), I have to admit that martial arts gets me extremely excited. So what could be more exciting than an animated feature featuring kung-fu characters?
Kung Fu Panda tells of a lovable, fat panda named Po (Jack Black), who was, due to a series of unpredictable events, chosen as the legendary Dragon Warrior. But unlike the fabulous Furious Five, whose martial arts skills are renown throughout China, Po is just a normal, physically unfit (he can’t even climb stairs) noodle seller. The situation is all the more exasperating for Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) who has to train him because the powerful Tai Lung (Ian McShane), a villainous leopard, has escaped from prison. Tai Lung seeks the Dragon Scroll, a scroll that grants its reader limitless power, which was denied him. Po and Master Shifu will thus have to overcome impossible odds to face this threat.
I was impressed by how respectful this movie was to Chinese culture. Instead of simply parodying it, it is clear that the creators showed great care in researching various aspects of Chinese culture, from the costumes to the architecture to the varying kung-fu styles. This resulted in another beautiful movie, with charming scenery, colorful characters and intense battles.
Speaking of the battles, I thought it was a fantastic decision to use animal characters as the kung-fu masters. While it seemed like a gimmick in most animated movies, this movie utilized them in a way that showed us something we’ve never seen before. Sure, we may have seen Jackie Chan (who has a voice role, as Master Monkey) perform monkey kung-fu, but have you actually seen an actual monkey performing it? Which movie features a snake taking on a leopard in a heated battle? What about a tiny red panda taking on the same leopard? The closest parallel I’ve seen in any movie was in Star Wars where the diminutive Master Yoda took on much bigger foes and that was awesome, much like this movie was.
Also, the animation was breathtaking; the characters spar and attack each other with quick and graceful moves. Thanks to the beautiful choreography, the battles had great momentum and style. One could almost feel the rush of the wind as Tai Lung dashes up a vertical slope while battling hundreds of soldiers. Two scenes in particular, blew my mind. The first was when Tai Lung escaped from prison, leaping and dashing across wide chasms and knocking aside soldiers as if they were mere dolls. His punches and kicks could be felt when they landed on the poor soldiers’ cheeks with loud, convincing cracks. The second scene was when the Furious Five, consisting of varied animals such as a mantis and a crane, attacked Tai Lung at a wide suspension bridge that was literally high above the clouds.
From what I have said, you can clearly see that I do like Tai Lung, and Ian McShane did a good job portraying a heartless, ruthless and occasionally sarcastic villain. I guess that's because he's British, and the British make such wonderful villains. Actor Jack Black also did a great job as Po the Panda and so did Dustin Hoffman as Master Shifu. Yet, I do wonder whether the star-studded cast was really necessary. Rival animator Pixar’s movies mostly used unknown actors and yet every single one of their performances was noteworthy. But here, I couldn’t really see the significant difference in hiring Jackie Chan, Angelina Jolie or Lucy Liu over other professional voice actors. For example, I didn’t even realize that Jolie was playing the Tigress until the credits rolled out on the screen.
Nevertheless, Kung Fu Panda is by no means a bad movie. It’s fantastic and surprising because I never expected such quality from Dreamworks. This has been a great year with at least two English kung-fu movies (The other being the Forbidden Kingdom). Kung Fu Panda definitely has my nomination for best animated movie of the year, and until I watch Wall-E, it certainly gets my vote.
Images are copyrighted by Dreamworks Animation
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