DVD: Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda voiced by Jack Black
Dreams can come true if you work for them - 4 Stars ****
By Gabrielle Pantera
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 11/19/2008 - “Kung fu has always fascinated me,” says Kung Fu Panda star Jack Black. “When Jeffrey Katzenberg asked if I’d be interested in voicing the character of Po in Kung Fu Panda, it was a very tantalizing offer.”
Kung Fu Panda is the story of chubby panda noodle chef Po who dreams of being a Kung Fu master. The Furious Five, who are Tigress, Crane, Monkey and Mantis, have been training for years and each feels worthy to be the next Dragon Warrior. Their plans are upset when Po enters the competition by mistake.
Dreamworks is offering Kung Fu Panda in a special two-pack with Secrets of the Furious Five for a limited time. While touted as an extra movie of sorts, it’s really more of a bonus disc. Secrets of the Furious Five is 24-minutes of Po showing young bunny Kung Fu students how the furious five became warriors. As Po tells it, we get to see the Furious Five learn that Kung Fu is about your mind and heart and secondary is how you move your body.
“When I first came in and saw all the characters…I was secretly hoping to be Tigress,” says Kung Fu Panda star Angelina Jolie. “I love her. If I were half as tough and straightforward as this character, it would be amazing. I have a giant tiger tattoo on my back, and my kids always look at it, so it’s very important that I be the tiger.”
“For all these years, I’ve liked comedy,” says Kung Fu Panda star Jackie Chan. “I use comedy together with my Kung Fu. I think it really fits me. I’m just like Monkey. I think the writers and the animators have watched my movements, my characters, my everything!”
“I liked the fact that they were looking at a collaborative way of creating Shifu,” says Kung Fu Panda star Dustin Hoffman. “They’d ask ‘How do you like the face?’ They put a video camera on you when you’re recording and they watch your gestures, and then construct the character and include little bits of your idiosyncrasies and gestures.”
“It was so much fun to do, not just because I have children,” says Jolie. “That sounds like a really good excuse, ‘I do it for my children.’ But really, I’m a big kid. There are some beautiful messages and some really fun characters. There’s a sweetness to it. At the same time, the setting is absolutely beautiful. I love that part of the world.”
“I never took any Kung Fu classes,” says Black. “I just saw it on TV and in the movies. It seemed to me that it was the most spiritual form of martial arts. Po reminds me of myself as a kid. He’s an innocent, chubby dreamer on a quest to find his destiny.”
There are special features in the 2-disc set. Po’s Power Play contains a few games and a section where you can learn to draw the characters. You control the games with your DVD remote. The Learn to Draw section was too hard to do using a DVD player. That really needs a computer or game machine. The only one worth watching is where the actual artist for Po shows how to draw him. In the Land of the Panda, Inside the Chinese Zodiac, and Animals of Kung Fu are fun and educational.
The animation of the Furious Five bonus movie is well executed as TV-style 2D animation, but is not the same as the more sophisticated 3D animation of Kung Fu Panda. You’ll enjoy parts of what’s on the disc, but it’s really for kids. Kung Fu Panda is fun for adults and kids.
Kung Fu Panda & Secrets Of The Furious Five Special 2-disc set
Format: AC-3, Animated, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen Language: English
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Rating: Rated PG for sequences of martial arts action
Studio: Dreamworks Animation
DVD Release Date: November 8, 2008
Duration: 112 minutes