The Arjay Conception

Yes, I saw Kung Fu Panda. And now that I have, I’d rather have seen it twice to replace seeing The Strangers last week.

Yes, there is a big fat panda that does martial arts along with some other animals, namely a tiger, a snake, a crane, a monkey and also a preying mantis.

The movie is very colorful and that, in itself, is very exciting and pleasing to the eye.

For some reason, I may have been the only one not to recognize the major actors’ voices throughout the movie. I was so engrossed in all the action. It wasn’t until the credits that I l found out about Jack Black and Angelina Jolie. I swear the voice of either the turtle or that goose thingy (the panda’s father) was this actor from the old movie The Golden Child. I guess I’ll never know because I don’t know his name.

Okay, let me try to do a real review:

So you have this panda that has kung fu dreams. But his father operates a noodle business in which he is a noodle-maker and server. The panda experiences discord between his desires and reality.

Through a miraculous accident, the panda ends up being chosen by The Master as The Dragon Warrior–someone with outstanding kung fu talent that could possibly defeat a major enemy that is returning to town. This upsets the other aforementioned animals (and insect), and their master, that have trained their entire lives for this special title.

So it goes that the panda is belittled and pushed to his limits to quit.

Okay, I have to go back to my ADD, me-centered reviews:

The discouragement that the panda faces is very emotional and evokes a lot of empathy from viewers who can relate to someone either calling them names and ridiculing them, or not believing in their potential. You know there are alway haters trying to bring you down. The panda does quit, as peer pressure will have us do, but it is the master trainer, who must also fulfill his own destiny, that agrees to help the panda. Point very well taken as it has been those that have pushed me to my own limit, that have helped me to succeed.

So, they build his skills from the ground up.

I really thought that they were going to show the panda running laps, throwing punches at a bag, and ultimately losing weight. But I think I am getting it confused with Rocky Balboa or something. The panda gains the necessary skills, but he is still the same food-eating, big-bellied, goofy bear. Good message though.

And the movie is filled with good messages, be it conventional wisdom, or eastern philosophy. Two of my favorites were: “There is no good news or bad news, only news.” and “There are no accidents.” I really had to think critically about those statements. I mean, perhaps death isn’t bad news, but if someone was murdered and mangled, that can’t be very good. And if it wasn’t an accident, does that mean it was on purpose? And if it was on purpose, does it mean that God had something to do with it since he didn’t prevent it? Okay, okay, that’s another discussion.

Anyway, the old enemy, I think he is a tiger, too, or some kind of cat, breaks free from prison and comes back to the city to claim what is his. He was trained by the trainer master and is definitely a master himself when it comes to his skills. (Damn, I really feel like I’m talking about Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon with all this “master” stuff) Even the other animals combined could not beat him.

The movie ends well and happily ever after as should be expected. It is filled with laughter and surprisingly great fighting scenes for something so kiddy in nature. The overall message is believe in your dreams and you can make them come true. My message, please go see it as it is well worth your time. I can’t wait to get it on DVD.