The film's publicized work began in October 2004, and was conceived by Michael Lachance, a DreamWorks Animation executive, originally as a parody of martial arts films. However, director Stevenson decided to instead make an action-comedy wuxia film that incorporates the hero's journey narrative archetype for the lead character. The main characters' animation was more complex than anything DreamWorks had done before. The project was officially announced in September 2005. Like most DreamWorks Animation films, the score for Kung Fu Panda was composed by Hans Zimmer, this time collaborating with John Powell; the former visited China to absorb the culture, and used the China National Symphony Orchestra as part of the scoring process.
Kung Fu Panda premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival May 15, 2008, and was theatrically released in the United States June 6. It grossed $631.7 million on a budget of $130 million, making it the third highest-grossing film of 2008 and the highest-grossing animated film of the year worldwide, in addition to having the fourth-largest opening weekend for a DreamWorks film at the American and Canadian box office, behind the Shrek franchise.[4] It received positive reviews from critics, and was nominated for an Academy Award, as well as a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Film, but lost both awards to WALL-E. The film's success spawned a multimedia franchise, which comprises the sequels Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016) and Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024).
Plot
In the Valley of Peace, a land in Ancient China inhabited by anthropomorphic animals, giant pandaPo Ping helps his goose father run their noodle restaurant, but dreams of fighting alongside the Furious Five — Tigress, Monkey, Crane, Viper and Mantis — a group of kung fu masters who live in the Jade Palace, where they are trained by Master Shifu, a cranky red panda. One day, the wise tortoise, Master Oogway, the founder of kung fu, predicts that Shifu's former snow-leopard protégé, Tai Lung, will escape from prison and attack the Valley to obtain the Dragon Scroll, a legendary artifact said to grant limitless power to its reader, which he had previously been denied. Panicked, Shifu sends a goose named Zeng to increase the security at Chorh-Gom Prison in Mongolia, where Tai Lung is held.
Shifu holds a tournament for the Five so that Oogway can identify the Dragon Warrior, the prophesied hero worthy of reading the Scroll. Po arrives too late to enter the arena; desperate to see his idols, he accidentally launches himself into the middle of the tournament off a chair propelled by fireworks. With the townsfolk believing Po descended from the sky in a fireball, Oogway proclaims Po the Dragon Warrior, much to Po's and the Masters' shock. Shifu believes Oogway's decision to be an accident, and the Five dismisses him, so Po considers quitting. However, after receiving encouragement from Oogway, he endures a frustrated Shifu's harsh training and gradually befriends the Five with his resilience, culinary skill and good humor. During this time, Tigress informs him that Shifu's distant behavior stems from his shame over Tai Lung's betrayal, having raised him from infancy.
At Chorh-Gom Prison, Zeng's warnings are ignored; Tai Lung escapes and kills his guards before sending Zeng back. Shifu informs Oogway, who makes Shifu promise to believe in Po as the Dragon Warrior, before ascending into the Spirit Realm in a stream of peach blossoms. Shifu informs Po and the Five of Tai Lung's escape, and tells Po he is the only one who can stop him. Horrified by this lofty goal and Oogway's death, Po attempts to run away, but Shifu stops him. Po eventually breaks down and makes Shifu admit that he does not know how to train him to be the Dragon Warrior. Tigress overhears this and leads the Five in a secret attempt to stop Tai Lung.
Meanwhile, Shifu discovers that Po is capable of impressive physical feats when motivated by food, and successfully trains Po by incorporating these feats into an innovative kung fu style. The Furious Five fight Tai Lung; however, Tai Lung ultimately defeats all but Crane, who carries them back with his nerve-strike technique. On returning, Shifu decides that Po is ready to receive the Dragon Scroll. When Po opens it, he discovers that the scroll is nothing but a blank reflective surface. Believing the Scroll to have no power, Shifu has Po and the Five evacuate the inhabitants of the Valley while he faces Tai Lung alone. Trying to console a distraught Po, Mr. Ping reveals that his "secret ingredient soup" has no secret ingredient at all, explaining that things can become special with belief.
Realizing that this is the message of the Dragon Scroll, Po rushes back to help Shifu. At the Jade Palace, Tai Lung brutally defeats Shifu, but discovers the Scroll missing. Po arrives with the Scroll, prompting them to fight. Po proves to be a formidable opponent, frustrating Tai Lung with his confusing fighting techniques. Tai Lung eventually obtains the Scroll, but does not comprehend its blank surface and tries to take his frustrations out on Po. This time, Po overpowers him and sends him to the Spirit Realm using the legendary Wuxi Finger Hold technique, which he taught himself. Po is honored by the Valley and relaxes with a recovered Shifu.
Jack Black as Po, an energetic and accident-prone yet heroic giant panda and die-hard kung-fu fan who eventually becomes The Dragon Warrior.
Dustin Hoffman as Master Shifu, an elderly and strict red panda and kung fu master to the Furious Five, and Po and Tai Lung's old master/adopted father.
Ian McShane as Tai Lung, an arrogant and aggressive snow leopard who was formerly Shifu's adoptive son and student.
Kyle Gass and JR Reed voice KG Shaw and JR Shaw, respectively, two pigs who come across Po before the Dragon Warrior tournament.[6] Other actors with minor voice roles include Wayne Knight, Laura Kightlinger and Kent Osborne.[6] The film's directors, John Stevenson and Mark Osborne, also have small voice roles.[6]
Production
... we love martial arts movies. I wasn't interested in making fun of them, because I really think martial arts movies can be great films, they can be as good as any genre movie when they're done properly ...
Let's try to make it a real martial arts movie albeit one with a comic character and let's take our action seriously. Let's not give anything up to the big summer movies. Let's really make sure that our kung fu is as cool as any kung fu ever done so that we can take our place in that canon and make sure it's a beautiful movie because great martial arts movies are really beautiful-looking movies and then let's see if we can imbue it with real heart and emotion.
~co-director John Stevenson on the comedic approach to the martial arts film.[7]
DreamWorks Animation had previously produced a PlayStation video game with a similar premise, T'ai Fu: Wrath of the Tiger, in 1999 under its defunct video game division, DreamWorks Interactive (now known as Danger Close Games).[8] In spring 2004, Eric Whitacre wrote a setting of The Seal Lullaby, the opening poem of The White Seal by Rudyard Kipling, which DreamWorks intended to adapt for an animated feature. A few weeks later, it was decided to abandon the idea and start production on Kung Fu Panda instead.[9] Publicized work on the film began in October 2004.[10] In September 2005, DreamWorks announced the film alongside Jack Black, who was selected to be the main voice star.[11]
In November 2005, DreamWorks announced that Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu and Ian McShane would join Jack Black in the cast.[12] This is also the second DreamWorks Animation film in which Black and Angelina Jolie have co-starred together (the first being 2004's Shark Tale).[13]
The idea for the film was conceived by Michael Lachance, a DreamWorks Animation executive.[14] Initially, the idea was to make it a spoof, but co-director John Stevenson was not particularly keen on it and instead chose the direction of a character-based wuxia comedy.[7]
Reportedly inspired by Stephen Chow's 2004 martial arts action comedy film, Kung Fu Hustle,[15] the directors wanted to make sure the film had an authentic Chinese and kung fu feel to it. Production designer Raymond Zibach and art director Tang Heng spent years researching Chinese painting, sculpture, architecture and kung fu films to help create the look of the film.[16] Zibach said that some of the biggest influences for him were the more artful martial arts films, such as Hero, House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.[16] Stevenson's aim for the film, which took four years to make, was to make "the best looking film DreamWorks has ever made".
We've had some productions that were stressful, but this one ran very smoothly and DreamWorks is [sic] this production as a template on how they would like future productions to run. We lucked out, and there really was a sense of harmony on the animation. Even the production people. We all seemed like we were on the same page, believing in the film. That doesn't happen very often. I tell animators, you will be working on dumpers for most of your career, but every once in a while you get a gem. Kung Fu Panda was a gem.
Other reviewers have compared the opening to the evocative style of Genndy Tartakovsky's Cartoon Network series Samurai Jack.[20][21] The rest of the film is modern computer animation, which uses bright, offbeat colors to evoke the natural landscape of China.[18] The end credit sequence also features hand-drawn characters and still paintings in the background.[18]
The computer animation used throughout the film was more complex than anything DreamWorks had done before. When the head of the production handed the script to VFX Supervisor Markus Manninen, she reportedly laughed and wished him "good luck". "When we started talking", said Manninen, "the movie was still a high concept. But for everyone that looked at it, it screamed complexity. We launched off by saying, how can you make this movie tangible? How can you find smart ways to bring this world to life in a way that makes it a great movie and not feel like the complexity becomes the driver of the story, but the story and the emotion being the driver?"[22] In preparation, the animators took a six-hour kung fu class.[23]
Producer Melissa Cobb said that Po was originally "more of a jerk", but that the character changed after they heard Jack Black.[23] According to Black, he worked mostly "in isolation", although he and Dustin Hoffman did spend a day together, which Cobb said helped with the scene in which their characters face off.[23] Lucy Liu said that the film "was quite different because it was such a long process".[24] Liu said that when she was presented with the project, they already had artwork of her character, as well as a "short computerized video version of what she would look like when she moved".[24]
Kung Fu Panda was released on DVD and Blu-ray November 9, 2008,[29] and on 3D Blu-ray December 6, 2011, as a Best Buy exclusive.[30] The DVD double-disc release of Kung Fu Panda also includes the short animated film, Secrets of the Furious Five.[29]
With 7,486,642 DVD units sold in 2008, Kung Fu Panda was the fourth highest-selling film and the highest-selling animated film of 2008, above WALL-E, which sold 7,413,548 units.[31] As of February 2010, 17.4 million home entertainment units were sold worldwide.[32]
Reception
Box office
The film topped the box office in its opening weekend, grossing $60.2 million for a $14,642 average from 4,114 theaters,[33] and performing much better than analysts had been expecting.[34] It was also the highest-grossing opening for a non-sequel DreamWorks Animation film at the time.[34] In its second weekend, the film retreated 44% to second place behind The Incredible Hulk, grossing $33.6 million, for a $8,127 average, from expanding to 4,136 theaters.[35] It closed October 9, 2008, after 125 days of release, grossing $215.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $416.3 million overseas, for a worldwide total of $631.7 million.[3]Kung Fu Panda was the highest-grossing non-Shrek film from DreamWorks Animation in the United States and Canada before it was surpassed by How to Train Your Dragon in 2010.[36]
Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes reports that 87% of 190 reviewers gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 7.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "Kung Fu Panda has a familiar message, but the pleasing mix of humor, swift martial arts action, and colorful animation makes for winning summer entertainment."[37] At Metacritic, the film has an average score of 74 out of 100, based on 36 reviews.[38] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on a scale of A+ to F.[39]
Richard Corliss of Time magazine gave Kung Fu Panda a positive review, stating the picture "provides a master course in cunning visual art and ultra-satisfying entertainment".[40]
The New York Times said, "At once fuzzy-wuzzy and industrial strength, the tacky-sounding Kung Fu Panda is high concept with a heart," and the review called the film "consistently diverting" and "visually arresting".[19]
Chris Barsanti of Filmcritic.com commented, "Blazing across the screen with eye-popping, sublime artwork, Kung Fu Panda sets itself apart from the modern domestic animation trend with its sheer beauty ... the film enters instant classic status as some of the most gorgeous animation Hollywood has produced since the golden age of Disney."[41]
Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune called the film "one of the few comedies of 2008 in any style or genre that knows what it's doing".[42]
However, Tom Charity of CNN criticized the action for tending "to blur into a whirlwind of slapstick chaos", and considered the character of Po too similar to others played by Black.[43]
Peter Howell of The Toronto Star awarded the film two and a half stars, considering it to have a "lack of story" that "frequently manages to amuse, if not entirely to delight".[44]
Kung Fu Panda was also well received in China.[45] It made nearly 110 million yuan by July 2, 2008, becoming the first animated film to earn more than 100 million yuan in China.[46][47] The Chinese director Lu Chuan commented, "From a production standpoint, the movie is nearly perfect. Its American creators showed a very sincere attitude about Chinese culture."[48][49] The film's critical and commercial success in China led to some local introspection about why no film like Kung Fu Panda had been produced in China, with commentators attributing the problem variously to lower film budgets in China, too much government oversight, a dearth of national imagination, and an overly reverent attitude to China's history and cultural icons.[50][51][52]
The Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual, Slavoj Žižek, offered an admiration of Kung Fu Panda when he was invited to the talk show, Charlie Rose.[53]
By contrast, Kung Fu Panda won ten Annie Awards (including Best Animated Feature) out of sixteen nominations, which sparked controversy, with some accusing DreamWorks head Jeffrey Katzenberg of rigging the vote by buying ASIFA-Hollywood memberships (with voting power) for everyone at DreamWorks Animation.[57]
Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue and ADR Animation in a Feature Film
Ethan Van Der Ryn Erik Aadahl Mike Hopkins Jonathan Klein Adam Milo Smalley Peter Oso Snell Wayne Lemmer Paul Pirola P.K. Hooker Dan O'Connell John Cucci
As with most DreamWorks animated movies, composer Hans Zimmer scored Kung Fu Panda. Zimmer visited China to absorb the culture, and got to know the Chinese National Symphony as part of his preparation. Timbaland also contributed to the soundtrack.[73] The soundtrack also includes a partially rewritten version of the classic song, "Kung Fu Fighting", performed by Cee-Lo Green and Jack Black for the end credits. In some versions, the end credit was sung by Rain.[citation needed] Although Zimmer was originally announced as the main composer of the film, CEO of DreamWorks Animation SKG Jeffrey Katzenberg announced during a test screening that composer John Powell would also be contributing to the score. This marked the first collaboration in eight years for the two, who had previously worked together on DreamWorks's The Road to El Dorado and the action-thriller Chill Factor. The soundtrack album was released by Interscope Records June 3, 2008.[74]
Spin-offs
Manga
A manga based on the film was released in Japan in Kerokero Ace magazine's September 2008 issue.[75] It was written by Hanten Okuma and illustrated by Takafumi Adachi.[76]
Television series
A television series titled Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness aired on Nickelodeon, with its premiere September 19, 2011.[77] From the cast of Kung Fu Panda, only Lucy Liu and James Hong reprised their roles of Master Viper and Mr. Ping, respectively.[78] In the series, Po continues to defend the Valley of Peace from all kinds of villains while making mistakes, learning about the history of kung fu, and meeting other kung fu masters. In the United States, the series ended its run June 29, 2016, with a total of three seasons and 80 episodes. However, prior to premiering in the U.S., the final few episodes premiered in Germany from December 30, 2014, to January 7, 2015.[citation needed]
Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny is an animated web-television series produced by DreamWorks Animation, released for Amazon Prime November 16, 2018. It is the second TV series in the Kung Fu Panda franchise, following Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness. Mick Wingert reprised his role as Po from Legends of Awesomeness.[79]
A video game adaptation of the film was published June 3, 2008, by Activision.[82] The game was released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS and PC platforms. The plot follows the same basic plot as the film, but with Tai Lung portrayed as the leader of various gangs that surround the Valley of Peace, which Po, who possesses some basic martial art skills that can be upgraded as the game progresses, must defeat. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, as well as multiple consoles.
The game received mostly positive reviews. It scored a Metacritic rating of 76%,[83] and a 7.5 out of 10 from IGN.[84] In 2009, it won the International Animated Film Society's Annie Award for Best Animated Video Game, "in recognition of creative excellence in the art of animation".[85]
Following the financial success of Kung Fu Panda, DreamWorks Animation began development on a sequel.[86]Kung Fu Panda 2 surpassed the box-office take of the first film,[87] and received a similarly positive critical and audience response.[88] A third film, Kung Fu Panda 3, was released in 2016,[89] becoming one of the highest-grossing films of 2016.[90]Kung Fu Panda 4 is scheduled for release in 2024.[91]
DreamWorks Animation was sued in 2011 by a writer, Terence Dunn, for allegedly stealing the idea for Kung Fu Panda from him.[92] Dunn alleged that DreamWorks Animation had stolen his pitch for a "spiritual kung-fu fighting panda bear" that he sent to a DreamWorks executive in 2001.[92] DreamWorks Animation denied any wrongdoing, and after a two-week trial, the jurors found in favor of DreamWorks.[92]
In 2011, another lawsuit was brought against the studio by an illustrator named Jayme Gordon. Gordon had supposedly created characters under the name "Kung Fu Panda Power" and registered them with the U.S. Copyright Office in 2000.[93] He had allegedly pitched this concept to Disney while Jeffrey Katzenberg, who left Disney and formed DreamWorks Animation in 1994, was working there. Gordon withdrew his claim just before the trial was due to take place.[94] On December 20, 2015, federal prosecutors charged Gordon with four counts of wire fraud and three counts of perjury for allegedly fabricating and backdating drawings to support the claims in his lawsuit, and for allegedly tracing some of his drawings from a coloring book featuring characters from Disney's The Lion King franchise.[95] On November 18, 2016, Gordon was convicted for wire fraud and perjury, facing a sentence of up to 25 years in prison.[96] In May 2017, he was sentenced to two years in federal prison and ordered to pay $3 million in restitution.[97]
^Giardina, Carolyn (June 1, 2008). "Helmers talk 'Kung Fu Panda'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved March 27, 2012.
^Bernstein, Richard (July 20, 2008). "The Panda That Roared". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 17, 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2008.
^"People's Choice gets into action". The Hollywood Reporter. Associated Press. November 11, 2008. Archived from the original on December 16, 2018. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
^DuBois, Stephanie; Emily Feimster (September 18, 2007). "The Big Screen Scene". National Ledger. Archived from the original on June 9, 2008. Retrieved June 7, 2008.
