Sunday, July 20, 2008

Kung Fu Panda: A great movie to watch

I just finished watching Kung Fu Panda and the movie really deserves a THUMBS UP. Now, I understand all the hard works for four years. Releasing the movie would be like the big “Convocation Day” for Dream Works Animation. The movie was fun and the dialogues were awesome. I liked the scene where Grand Master Oogway talks to Po. It was beautiful message:

Kung Fu No Kung Fu, noodles, no noodles, you worry about what it was and what it will be. There is a saying, yesterday is history and tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift. This is why it is called present.

While watching the Kung Fu Panda and hearing Jack Black’s voice as Po the Panda, I could relate the actor with him. If you are familiar with Jack Black and his movies, then you will really get to feel his spirit and comedic energy in Po which makes the sweet fat Panda more cute and likeable.

The character of Po the Panda reminded me of another comedy martial art movie character; “Haru,” played by Chris Farley, in Beverly Hills Ninja. Like “Po,” “Haru” was also a fat slob and good for nothing sort of person. What makes characters like ‘Haru’ or ‘Po’ special are their “hearts,” which are clean and pure and free from all vices. ‘Gobei’ was far better and superior than ‘Haru’ but that does not make ‘Haru’ jealous, rather he always loves and adores ‘Gobei’ as his brother. On the contrary, ‘Gobei’ is a bit arrogant because he was the best student of the dojo. That same arrogance and haughtiness can be found in ‘Tigress,’ played by Angelina Jolie. ‘Tigress’ does not think that Po is the chosen warrior. She tells Po that he does not belong to the ‘Palace of Jade.’ Like ‘Haru,’ Po is also a great admirer of the five masters.

Now, let’s talk a bit about the fighting. The fighting scenes were like typical Chinese martial art movies but they were great to watch. May be because the creatures used to represent the characters in the movie. The characters of the creatures in general coincide with the characters in the story as well. For example, Tailung is a snow leopard. The way he growls and jumps and runs will remind you of a creature who is sneaky and opportunistic. The first scene where we see Tailung, is in the prison. He is bounded by chain. As the head of the prison, Commander Vachir, steps on his tale, Tailung does not react. As soon as Vachir leaves, he opens his eyes. It gives you the feeling of a creature who does surprise attacks on the enemy. The scene, where Master Shifu and Tailung meet with each other gives me the same impression. It was night, storm is appearing on the horizon of the ‘Valley of Peace,’ and Shifu closes his eyes and instantly there was a lightning and Shifu opens his eyes and we see Tailung and Shifu together. The strength, agility of a leopard, can be easily attributed to Tailung and the most fear evoking feature is the growl. As he jumps on his enemies, you hear the growl.

Panda is not ferorcious creature rather they look very cute and innocent and that is why Po the Panda, is very loveable and gullible. Tortoise is one of the longest living creatures on the planet and Grand Master Oogway represents the character of a sage with great knowledge and experience.

Po’s fighting style reminded me of the ‘Land lord of the Pig sty Alley’ in Kung Fu Hustle, played by Yuen Wah. Po was fat and his body fat deflects Tailung's attack. In Kung Fu Hustle, when the “Harpists” attacked the landlord, like ‘Po,’ the landlord’s body deflected the attack. In addition, the jumping up and reaching the sky and then falling in the ground with big explosion, all these effects reminded me of the last confrontation between ‘Sing’ and the ‘Beast’ in Kung Fu Hustle. Two of the fighting moves used by Tailung can also be found in Kung Fu Hustle. When Tailung fights with the prison guards the way he throws back the spears using his hands and legs is similar to that of ‘Dong Zhi Hua, the Donut maker’ in Kung Fu Hustle. In the confrontation scene between Tailung and Shifu, Tailung kicks a big chunk of stone which ‘Sing’ does to fight with the ‘Beast.’

1 comment:

Patrick Roberts said...

still gotta see Kung Fu Panda... Jack Black is classic for sure, he'll be forever famous for his work in School of Rock