The B-List: Panda Proves We All Have What it Takes
July 30th 2008 02:30
I can’t explain why I have wrestled with my review of Kung Fu Panda so much. Normally, I write the first draft straight after watching, which I did last Tuesday. Then I let it percolate until my deadline, or some great bolt-of-an-idea, comes along. But this week has been a real struggle. Silly, really, for what would appear to be just another summer animation release, from the creators of Shrek.
And still, minutes from my deadline, I am in two minds – regulation review, or tell the story of what it really meant to me?
You see, Kung Fu Panda jumped up, flipped, hiyahed, and whacked me in the solar plexus with a powerful message this world is in great need of, told in such a fun, and enjoyable way, I didn’t even notice I was being taught!
With lovable characters that would crack a smile on even the old lady next door’s face – the one who never throws back the kids’ tennis balls - some witty dialogue, outstanding animation including startlingly striking scenery, and brilliantly stylized Kung Fu choreography that has enough caricature to ensure 8 year-olds the world over aren’t jumping off roof-tops in Mom’s best cooking apron, KFP crane-kicked its way into my heart.
But still it was the message that really packed the punch.
So I felt like I owed it a thoughtful review, in equal measure to the thought-provoking material Dreamworks, in their wisdom, put on the screen – and hence my 5-day wrestle.
These are trying times, on so many levels. A need for positive messages, and positive solutions has never been at such a high premium. Messages that deliver enough to be meaningful, yet avoid falling into the preachy. I guess they want to leave the preaching to the reviewers, right?
Kung Fu Panda has such a message, and like the great stories of all time, layers the message on a number of levels. The kids, those under 12, will really get the whole try-hard, against-all-odds, triumph-in-the-face-of-advers ity message. It is told in an engaging manner. Jack Black alone, as our lovable loser-cum hero, Po, will be a real joy for the children, and parents. He is an hilarious lunatic, and is expert at not taking that hilarity into the realm of double entendre, or suggestiveness, something Dreamworks other great voice actor struggled with in Shrek I, II, and III.
And the older, I hope, will see the second layer of message, and poignant statement, about belief in self and the truism that we are all perfectly beautiful just the way we are – even if some of us are more sensibly proportioned than others. That perfection and beauty come in many forms, and that if we want to change what we can’t accept, then it can only come through acceptance of self. That it is only the 6-inches between our ears that gets in our way, and that the Good Lord never did make anything worth nothing – even if it was bubble-wrapped from time to time!
A message this dear old world of ours is in desperate need of hearing. Kung Fu Panda is out now at theaters throughout the world, and is rated PG for sequences of martial arts action.
And still, minutes from my deadline, I am in two minds – regulation review, or tell the story of what it really meant to me?
You see, Kung Fu Panda jumped up, flipped, hiyahed, and whacked me in the solar plexus with a powerful message this world is in great need of, told in such a fun, and enjoyable way, I didn’t even notice I was being taught!
With lovable characters that would crack a smile on even the old lady next door’s face – the one who never throws back the kids’ tennis balls - some witty dialogue, outstanding animation including startlingly striking scenery, and brilliantly stylized Kung Fu choreography that has enough caricature to ensure 8 year-olds the world over aren’t jumping off roof-tops in Mom’s best cooking apron, KFP crane-kicked its way into my heart.
But still it was the message that really packed the punch.
So I felt like I owed it a thoughtful review, in equal measure to the thought-provoking material Dreamworks, in their wisdom, put on the screen – and hence my 5-day wrestle.
These are trying times, on so many levels. A need for positive messages, and positive solutions has never been at such a high premium. Messages that deliver enough to be meaningful, yet avoid falling into the preachy. I guess they want to leave the preaching to the reviewers, right?
Kung Fu Panda has such a message, and like the great stories of all time, layers the message on a number of levels. The kids, those under 12, will really get the whole try-hard, against-all-odds, triumph-in-the-face-of-advers ity message. It is told in an engaging manner. Jack Black alone, as our lovable loser-cum hero, Po, will be a real joy for the children, and parents. He is an hilarious lunatic, and is expert at not taking that hilarity into the realm of double entendre, or suggestiveness, something Dreamworks other great voice actor struggled with in Shrek I, II, and III.
And the older, I hope, will see the second layer of message, and poignant statement, about belief in self and the truism that we are all perfectly beautiful just the way we are – even if some of us are more sensibly proportioned than others. That perfection and beauty come in many forms, and that if we want to change what we can’t accept, then it can only come through acceptance of self. That it is only the 6-inches between our ears that gets in our way, and that the Good Lord never did make anything worth nothing – even if it was bubble-wrapped from time to time!
A message this dear old world of ours is in desperate need of hearing. Kung Fu Panda is out now at theaters throughout the world, and is rated PG for sequences of martial arts action.
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