Po is the son of Ping (a goose played by James Hong), and is destined to follow in his father's web-footed steps as a noodle shop owner. But what he hasn't told his father is that every night, he dreams about becoming a great Kung Fu master, even though he is definitely not in the right shape for the task. His dreams also include meeting and being respected by the Furious Five, masters of the five forms of Kung Fu.
When the ancient Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) has a vision that Tai Lung, a student turned bad, is going to escape his prison, the Furious Five's and Tai Lung's master, Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), begins to panic. But Oogway calms his student and tells him that it is also time for the prophesized Dragon Warrior to be revealed. But which of the Furious Five will it be? Could it be Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu) or maybe Crane (David Cross)? In order to find out, a major exposition is held at the Jade Palace and all of the Valley of Peace is invited.
Needless to say, Po is amazed at the chance to see his idols in action, but when a series of bad luck causes him to be left outside of the arena doors, he tries everything he can to see the challenges. Unfortunately, his antics lead to him landing smack dab in front of Oogway's finger just as he is going to point at the Dragon Warrior. Confident in his choice, Oogway proclaims Po as the legendary fighter, but neither Shifu nor the five other masters can believe their eyes.
While Po begins his training, he has to not only gain confidence in himself and convince the others that, while he can't possibly be as good as they are, he might be worth training after all, Tai Lung does in fact escape. Despite the warnings of Shifu, the Furious Five leave the Jade Palace and go after the evil fighter on their own and Shifu does whatever he can to whip the black and white underdog into shape.
I really did enjoy Kung Fu Panda, both in theaters and again on DVD. It has a great message and solid comedy with a pretty star-packed cast. My particular review copy came packaged with a second DVD called, Secrets of the Furious Five. This animated adventure has Po teaching a bunch of first-time students that Kung Fu isn't all about fighting. He goes into the origin stories of each of the five fighters and how they had to learn different tenets like patience, control and confidence before they could even begin to learn Kung Fu.
Both DVDs also come jam-packed with special features. I enjoyed "Mr. Ping's Noodle House" where they show how dough is turned into pasta noodles, which is a very fascinating process that I never really gave thought to before. That DVD also include a bit about saving wild pandas, how to use chopsticks (turns out I've been doing it wrong all these years), a few games that fit into each of the Furious Five's training rooms, and a music video. The Secrets of the Furious Five disc contains instruction on how to draw the main characters of the movie, as well as a shell game similar to that seen in Po's adventure, as well as tidbits on the different types of Kung Fu and the Chinese Zodiac. There really is a lot of good stuff here that will help teach kids a lot about the Chinese culture, and its all pretty fun too.
Personally, I believe Kung Fu Panda is a must see. Jack Black does a great job, and the rest of the cast just adds to the overall experience. Like I said before, it teaches a great lesson about self-worth and it's just a fun ride all around. This movie is more than a must see, it's a must buy.
