Earlier this week (on 11/25), Paramount Home Entertainment released a “wrapped and ready” Kung Fu Panda DVD. (Basically, the DVD is already gift-wrapped for convenient holiday gifting.)
Well, I quickly opened the DVD, because our family had wanted to see this movie for a while. (It’s very rare that we go to see family movies when they’re out in the theater because Michael can’t tolerate the loud sounds.) It was well worth the wait! This movie had us laughing from start to finish and it had a really great lesson (the importance of believing in yourself).
Basically, the film (which is set in China) is about a big, clumsy panda named Po. Though he is in line to be a noodle maker, Po dreams of being a master kung fu fighter who fights with the skilled Furious Five (Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Viper and Crane). Through a comedy of errors, Po is prophesied to be the Dragon Warrior. He was destined to be the one to defend his community from a terrifying, evil snow leopard warrior Tai Lung who had escaped from prison. As the movie progresses, Po learns kung fu alongside the Furious Five from an initially reluctant red panda Master Shifu. He also learns the secret to being the Dragon Warrior. (I won’t tell you, but it starts with “n”.) Ultimately, there is a battle between Po and Tai Lung. (Seeing that there’s a sequel in the works, you can kind of guess who won…)
The cinematography of the film was beautiful…it’s amazing what they can do with animation these days! The voices for the various characters were also exactly on point. My husband was able to guess most of them: Jack Black as Po; Dustin Hoffman as Master Shifu; Angelina Jolie and Lucy Liu as part of the Furious Five; and Michael Clarke Duncan as Commander Vachir (he was the commander of the prison guard that was initially holding Tai Lung). Our most favorite part of the entire movie though is the line when the tortoise Master Oogway calmly says, “There is no good or bad news, only news”. Then, after hearing the news (that Tai Lung had escaped), he says something to the effect of “Oh, that is bad news.” For some reason, that line just makes us crack up!
In any event, this is a great movie to give as a holiday gift and/or to add to your own family movie collection. (After watching the movie together, you all can pretend to kung fu fight each other. That’s what my family did!)
