Critique: Kung Fu Panda (Film) 1/2

A panda called Po lives in the Valley of Peace, working for the noodle shop of his goose father, Mr Ping. Po worships great kung fu masters known as the Furious Five. This film is the story of Po being selected by Grand Master Oogway to join their world, with Master Shifu reluctant to train him.

 

*****SPOILERS*****

 

This post contains positive points. These includes: spoken words with high impact; Po’s kung fu journey; Grand Master Oogway; Tai Lung; similarities between Tigress and Tai Lung; and animation.

 

 

GOOD

 

There were three times that the words spoken had a very high impact.

One of Oogway’s lines has stuck with me. “Yesterday’s history, tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.” Rhyme plus word play equals much appreciation.

The first time Master Shifu uses Po’s actual name, it’s when Po’s ready for the Dragon Scroll. This happens very late in the film so it’s a very noticeable change. That was touching.

Mr Ping tells Po his secret ingredient: nothing. “To make something special, you just have to believe it’s special.” Hence Po understand why the Dragon Scroll was empty, why all it did was act as a mirror.

 

Many great decisions were made by the creators regarding Po’s kung fu journey.

Shifu trains Po with, and via, food. Defend the food, balancing the food, sneaking to the food, rewarded with food… it was a funny montage and a smart idea. Them fighting for a dumpling with chopsticks was simply epic.

Shifu uses peach blossom to get the Dragon Scroll down from the ceiling. The last time Shifu was near peach blossom, it was when Oogway became peach blossom, so it’s almost like Oogway gave Po the scroll.

Tai Lung fights Po for the Dragon Scroll. Po’s flabbiness provide but bounce and resisting attacks. Po uses noodles (i.e. his father’s life) to lasso Tai Lung. Po uses bamboo stilts and frying pans to hide the scroll, mixing them for Tai Lung, mimicking the Po-Shifu dumpling scene with bowls and chopsticks.

 

Two specific details got me thinking, leading to great appreciation.

In Po’s dream, the enemies are wolves, snow leopards, crocodiles and water buffalo. Each of these are Po’s enemies in future films. This water buffalo enemy is reinforced when Po has one painted on his wall which he throws ninja stars at.

Tai Lung throws the messenger goose into the air, bringing a message of Tai Lung’s coming. The way Tai Lung throws the messenger goose looks exactly like how someone throws a dove into the air, a bird that brings a message of peace. But instead his brings a message of conflicts.

 

Grand Master Oogway was a fantastic character.

Showing great physical prowess, Grand Master Oogway balances on his staff via his head. But then Oogway looks to struggle as he walks over to then blows out the candles. At first, one wonders how he can do something so physically challenging but then struggle to do ordinary things. As a tortoise, he would do everything slowly so this imagery isn’t contradictory.

Oogway has a vision of Tai Lung escaping so Shifu sends a messenger goose to the prison, asking for more security. Oogway says our actions often lead to what we try to prevent. This turns out to be true (Tai Lung escapes using one of the feathers of the messenger goose). It reminds me of BBC’s ‘Merlin’: every time they tried to prevent a specific future, that specific future came about because of their actions

 

Tai Lung, being the antagonist, received a lot of thought into his design.

Tai Lung is on an isolated pillar, heavy chains hanging off his wrists and dangling over the sides. This was a smart detail. Tai Lung’s in a tortoise-like shell that immobilises him. (Oogway captured Tai Lung with a paralyzing technique, so a tortoiseshell immobilised him in the past and immobilises him in the present.)

Master Shifu’s moustache as a younger adult has a particular shape and size. Tai Lung’s moustache as an adult is a direct copy of Master Shifu’s moustache in younger days. A lovely detail and tribute to his Master/father.

 

Tigress and Tai Lung’s stories are similar.

Both are big cat species. Both were adopted by Shifu. Both were trained since they were cubs. Both are amazing at Kung Fu. Both wanted to be the Dragon Warrior. Both their names start with the ‘tie’ sound. The main differences are how they were treated by Shifu and how they turned out. Tai Lung received love and praise yet turned in be immoral. Tigress received orders and criticism, turning out to be moral.

The Furious Five couldn’t defeat Tai Lung. Maybe the praise and love Shifu gave Tai Lung growing up was vital for making him as talented as he is. It was filling Tai Lung with arrogance and ideas of grandeur that turned him immoral.

 

 

Animation

 

The animating decisions in this film were stunning. Giving every species their own kung fu style based on their animals showed lots of attention went into the smallest of details.

The moon fisher on the DreamWorks logo has an Asian feel, wearing the typically Vietnamese conical hat.

One scene fades between Shifu in bright sunshine to mountains in dark snow. The contrast between these scenes was amazing. The vector of this change is snow, making it seem like the snow made it dark (much like falling snow does in real life). This fading was done at a jaunty angle, a decision that often elevates visuals.

The prison guards are rhinos. The leader’s horn was unique, having a golden cap and a forward-leaning horn. This allowed the leader to be easily distinguishable whilst retaining the large majority of details identical with the other copy-and-paste rhino guards.

The eyes of both Tigress and Tai Lung glow in low light. This is a good reflection of real life. Plus it highlights that there are many similarities between the two.

When Grand Master Oogway dies, he is surrounded by peach blossoms and transforms into them, keeping his tortoise shape amongst the swirling before it all drifted up into the sky to look like stars.

The place where Grand Master Oogway unravelled the mysteries of kung fu has land and water, curved in the shape of yin yang. I liked this detail.

As Po becomes better at kung fu, we get a training montage. The animation style used during this sequence matches with that of Po’s dream at the start of the film, the one with a legendary theme. How heroes become a hero is always an important part of their legend.

Tigress and Tai Lung fight hanging upside down from a bridge. This was so clever.