Movie Review: Kung Fu Panda (2008)

 Hello, friends!

I've found it to be a common theme that when I was little I would enjoy a movie, but then I got to a phase where I just thought it was silly or inane. Eventually I grew out of that and once again saw many of the films for how brilliant they are. Kind of like that C. S. Lewis quote, "One day you will be old enough to read fairytales again."

Today, I'm talking about one of those movies! I remember just missing Kung Fu Panda when it came out in theaters in 2008, but I've seen it countless times since. Since my years of shunning it I now claim this to be one of the most humorous films I've ever seen. It always cheers me up to watch it, and likewise to talk about it, so let's get down to business (wrong movie) let's get to kung fu fighting.

The following is me talking about why I enjoy the movie and the messages therein but not what actually happens in it, so this article is spoiler-free. Enjoy!

Kung Fu Panda (2008):

Premise: Po eats, sleeps, and dreams thinking about kung fu. Due to an accident, Po gets chosen to be the new "Dragon Warrior" and disgruntled by this, Master Shifu is determined to make him quit. The Furious Five are disappointed at not being chosen but they aren't the only ones as word reaches Tai Lung, an exiled former student of Shifu. Tai Lung will stop at nothing to get the Dragon Scroll given to the Dragon Warrior and the way to defend is through kung fu...that is if a panda can learn how to master this ancient martial art.

Genres: Comedy, Family, Action/Adventure, Animated films.

"There is now a level zero."

Length: approx. 92 minutes.

Age Range: This is rated PG, for some mild violence (the titular action of kung fu is part of it!). Some tiny kids might be scared of Tai Lung, but all in all this works for any age.

Crew: Directed by: John Stevenson and Mark Osborne. Produced by: Melissa Cobb. Written by: Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger based on the story by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris. Animation by: DreamWorks studios. Music by: Hans Zimmer.

Kung Fu...red panda?

Starring the voices of: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Ian McShane, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Jackie Chan, Randall Duk Kim, and James Hong.

General thoughts:

How I look when I'm acting out what happens in this movie.

Me watching this movie is like Po being tickled: I'm just in stitches the whole time through. There's one scene where Po is in a hall of ancient kung fu weapons that my sister and I can't reenact without giggling. It is marvelously quotable, so much so that I couldn't even begin to tell you how many times I've said lines from it over the years. It is a movie that is as satisfying as the dew from a ginkgo leaf.

While the majority of the movie is in 3D animation, the beginning and credits have a 2D animation style that links back to other Chinese art forms. The score by the brilliant Hans Zimmer is mystical and magical, and I love the song "Kung Fu Fighting" performed by Jack Black and CeeLo Green.

"One often meets his destiny on the road to avoid it."

As for the story itself, Po is quite a relatable and sympathetic character. He goes through real struggles of trying to achieve things while everyone doubts him while staying cheery himself. This movie deals with real moments in small ways, such as having to communicate to family member that what you love is different than what they love. Po's dad runs a noodle shop and wants Po to take over, but Po wants to do "kung fuuuuuuuuuu!"

The rest of the characters are so lovable, from wise Oogway to impatient Shifu to the strengths of the Furious Five, each character has their own goals and sense of humor.

This film was so successful that it has since received three sequels. I've only seen the first of them (Kung Fu Panda 2) and think it's one of the most solid sequels I've seen. It is missing one aspect that is quite prominent in this film: food.

Food in the film:

"Well done, students...if you were trying to disappoint me."

When I was younger I was told that I was a stress eater. This was not in an official diagnosis, just observation from others, and it immediately confused me. First of all, I was never all that stressed, and second, I just liked to eat. It seemed like something that was wrong with me, but I took comfort in the character of Po, because he eats when he's upset. College since taught me that I'm not a stress eater; I eat when I'm bored. When I'm stressed, I just don't eat. Which also isn't a healthy thing to do. Po learns that what he wants to be (a kung fu master) and who he is (a panda) can be possible when he does it the way a panda would. It's not going to be the same for a snake, a bird, or a tortise. 

"I guess my body doesn't know it's the dragon warrior yet." 

Through this lens, I think this movie subtly looks at abelism. It starts because Po cannot get up the stairs. He's called "just a fat panda" many times but learns to take ownership of it and who he is actually becomes an asset. Already there are many different animals that are the kung fu experts as within the Furious Five you have Tigress, Monkey, Crane, Mantis, and Viper. The characters in this movie already understand that one can be small and mighty, but this looks at the other end. What that would like to have a panda as a kung fu master? It would be wrong for a panda to not be cute and cuddly, but Po shows other possibilities of what to do. He is made how he's supposed to be and he just needs the right training.

"Oh, careful! That soup is...sharp."

Which involves food. 

Once Shifu figures out the lengths Po will go to get a snack, he uses food as a way to train this panda. Thus commences one of my favorite training sequences in film. I've always loved this approach of maybe you're not doing it wrong, maybe the teacher just hasn't found what works for you. In Po's case it is through food and once Shifu realizes this, he becomes a better teacher himself.

From Po's dad running a noodle shop to Po making food for his friends to the idea of "secret ingredient soup," food is a medium for the characters to learn and grow.

Mmmmmm, delicious.

Why am I talking about food so much? This is my submission to Sally's Food and Film Blogathon! 

Thanks for hosting, Sally!

For my readers, what motivates you to achieve the impossible? For me it would probably be food. Or getting to watch a movie or read a book. Do you have a favorite movie in the Kung Fu Panda series? What would ideal kung fu training look like for you?

I guess all my talking here would be what Shifu would consider "flapping" so by response to his request of "Would whoever is making that flapping sound please quiet down?" I'll take my leave.

Chloe the MovieCritic

Inklings // January 2025

 Hi, friends!

How are you all doing? Right now I would be very involved in school except I'm sick (don't worry, I've been watching BBC's Pride & Prejudice so I'll be well in no time). 

Instead, I'm going to join in Heidi's Inklings! I haven't been able to participate since August and while I've come up with ideas for the other prompts I never got around to post them. To start off the year strong I'm linking up today with the activities!

How it works:

    1. At any time during the month, on your own blog post a scene from a book or film that matches the prompt, including a link back to the original post in your post.

    2. Leave a link to your post in the comments section of the monthly post and she'll post all your links with the next prompt.

Click HERE to see all of my past entries, and click HERE to see all of the entries for this month! January is kicking off with the following prompt:

A scene at sunrise

I originally had a different scene in mind, but I couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that there was a scene with character A showing character B something at sunrise. And I became very attached to whatever scene this was. With perseverance, I finally thought of it!

My pick for this month is a scene from The Book of Life (2014), which has the bonus of being animated and sunrise art is lovely.

I love this movie in more ways than is probably healthy.

Spoiler alert: this scene happens about 60% of the way through, so while there is still a lot more fun that happens afterwards (I'm stopping talking about it right before drama goes down), if you haven't seen this movie you might want to skip this post. Or you can enjoy the gorgeously animated pictures. It's your choice.

Manolo asked Maria to meet him at the bridge and when she gets there she finds a path of candles. The beginning notes of a song float through the air as the walk across the bridge is accompanied by "Can't Help Falling in Love" performed by Diego Luna's gentle voice.

What Manolo wanted to show Maria is how the first rays of light make San Angel glitter. 

"What you're feeling, that's how I feel every time I'm with you..." 

And then everything goes downhill. Good times.

Thanks to Heidi for hosting! Has anyone else seen this movie? Are there other animated movies that you love for their sunrise illustrations? Are there other movies where characters show each other the sunrise?

Thanks for reading!

Chloe the MovieCritic

Inklings // June 2024

Greetings, friends!

I hope you're having a good June in all accounts! I'm closing out this month with filling out the prompt from Heidi's Inklings!

How it works:

    1. At any time during the month, on your own blog post a scene from a book or film that matches the prompt, including a link back to the original post in your post.

    2. Leave a link to your post in the comments section of the monthly post and she'll post all your links with the next prompt.

Click HERE to see all of my past entries, and click HERE to see all of the entries for this month! That second link is where she gave the following prompt:

An archery scene in book or film

Which, mwahaha, if you don't know, archery is one of my favorite things EVER. I've been obsessed with Robin Hood since I was about 6. Archery is the reason Hawkeye is my favorite Avenger and Legolas is my favorite of the Fellowship. So, of course, I immediately wanted to do a scene from Robin Hood but the problem is...there are a lot of versions. Including both film/tv show adaptations and books, I have 10+ versions under my belt.

To shake things up then, we're going with one of my favorite Pixar movies. Which claims a spot because ARCHERY. 

My pick is from the movie Brave (2012). This scene happens early on in the film and could possibly be called the inciting incident? I won't talk about spoilers for the rest of the film.

First, some context and the set-up: Three clans come with their first born sons to compete for the hand of Merida, the daughter of Lord Fergus. Merida is less than thrilled about these Highland games until she learns that she gets to choose the sport that these three lads will compete in.

Ahem.

Now onto the scene itself.

Fergus: "It's time."

Elinor: "Archers, to your marks!"

Fergus: "Aye, archers to-to-to your marks!

Elinor: "And may the lucky arrow find it's target."

While Elinor is saying this, Merida grins, looking at her own arrows as she subtly kicks them farther under her chair. We see each of the archers step up while the crowd reacts.

Fergus: "Oi, get on with it!"

The first archer---the son of MacGuffin---barely pulls back on the string and the arrow almost misses the target.

Merida, to her father: "I bet he wishes he was tossing capers."

Fergus: "Or holding up bridges."

Both chuckle. Elinor slaps at them for not taking this seriously.

Next archer---son of Lord Macintosh---is super dramatic with getting ready. Complete with hair flip and everything. 

It's a nice shot, but it doesn't quite hit the red. Which leads to a bit of a meltdown.

Lord Macintosh: "At least you hit the target!"

Young Macintosh starts screaming and wacking the bow on the ground.

Merida: "Oh, that's attractive."

Young Macintosh throws the bow over the crowd and people wait when it disappears until a hand pops up with a voice saying. "Got it!" and the crowd cheers again.

Merida: "Good arm."

Fergus: "And such lovely, flowing locks."

Elinor: "Fergus!"

Fergus: "What?"

The final archer---son of Lord Dingwall---pours out his whole quiver while trying to get one arrow.

Every time he points it at the target the arrow drifts away. 

The king finally has enough. 

Fergus: "Oh come on! SHOOT!"

The boy looks in surprise at Fergus as he lets go. The arrow hits the middle of the target. 

There's some celebration of crude types. Elinor and Fergus are staring wide-eyed. 

Fergus: "Well, that's just grand now. Guess who's coming to dinner?" (Which I just realized could be a reference)

Elinor: "Fergus!"

Fergus: "By the way, I hope you don't might being called Lady---" 

He looks over to meet the face of a dog instead of his daughter.

Merida: "I am Merida, first born descendant of clan Dunbroch."

Elinor: *stands up, muttering* "What are you doing?"

Merida tries to shoot but she's having trouble with the dress she was jammed into.

Elinor: "Merida!"

Merida: "Curse this dress!"

Elinor: "Merida, stop this!" 

The queen hurries down off the dais but isn't able to stop her daughter.

Elinor: "Don't you dare release another arrow."

Elinor: "Merida! I forbid it!"

Talk about epic. As you can guess with the movie poster, there's a lot of archery in this film but this scene is my favorite. Top tier archery is splitting an arrow.

Though, should we count how many times Elinor says the names of her husband and daughter?

Thanks to Heidi for hosting this! Thanks to all of you for reading this! What is your favorite scene in this movie? Have you ever called someone "wee lamb"? (I'm totally going to start that now)

Chloe the MovieCritic

Movie Review: The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012)

 Ahoy, mates!

Step aboard my ship as I write out this review! We will be waging war with the high seas, so hold on and enjoy!

My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless I give you warning. This is spoiler free!


The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012):

Also known as The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
Based on: The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! - by Gideon Defoe.
The Pirates are happy with their rooting and plundering, except they haven’t had any luck lately. No matter, as they have more important things to attend to, like the Pirate of the Year competition which they hope the Pirate Captain will win! Their chances are looking slim next to the others, so they decide to get more gold to show how impressive they are. After looting a ship that turns out to be only a science expedition they run into Charles Darwin who recognizes the Pirate’s “parrot” to be a dodo! He makes the case that Polly could gain him back some prestige in the Scientist of the Year awards. The Pirates agree to help him in order to get enough gold to win the Pirate of the Year competition. Everything seems to be going well, but is the tide about the turn?

Genres: Animated, Adventure, Claymation.
Length: approx. 88 minutes.
Script: 9, blast! I can’t remember if there were any bad words and swearing or not. I’m giving this a tentative score of 9 because of that.
Crew: Directed by: Peter Lord & Jeff Newitt. Written by: Gideon Defoe.
Starring the voices of:
Hugh Grant as The Pirate Captain.

Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey, Anton Yelchin, Ashley Jensen, Al Roker, & Ben Whitehead as his crew.

David Tennant as Charles Darwin.
Imelda Staunton as Queen Victoria.
Jeremy Piven as Black Bellamy.
Salma Hayek as Cutlass Liz.
Brian Blessed as The Pirate King.
Lenny Henry as Peg Leg Hastings.
Mike Cooper as Admiral Collingwood.
David Schneider as Scarlett Morgan.
Tom Doggart, Sophie Jerrold, Sophie Laughton, Peter Lord, Kayvan Novak, & David Schaal provide additional voices.
Costumes: 6, there is a time when someone is sitting in a bathtub but not wearing anything for a few minutes and though we don’t see anything, it’s still inappropriate and not particularly funny. There are low costumes, too.
Animation: 9, I’m partial to claymation so I like it a lot. I think it’s a unique and fun style! I like how all of the characters were made to look.

Animation by: Aardman Animations.
Music: 6, not “bad” but not memorable in any way. It does capture the “piraty feel” in places.
Music by: Theodore Shapiro.
Quotability: 7, nothing really comes to mind except this:

“It’s treacherous villainy! It’s villainous treachery!”

Content: 6, there is crude humor involving pirates, drinking, suggestive things, and killing. I thought it was a little vulgar in places, but from what I read of the book (2/3) it is tame. It’s mostly suitable for kids, who are the main audience.
Originality: 8, I wouldn’t go overboard and say I’ve never seen anything like it, but there are some fun elements.
Good For: anyone who likes claymation, families.
Age Range: I’d say the range for this movie is about from 8 up, but when you get to a certain age you might just be bored of it, which is understandable. It depends on the person.
Overall Score: 7.

Worth watching?: Yes, actually! You might’ve thought that this review was going downhill, but there was a kernel of gold hidden within. It had a really good message which I’ll talk about that more in a minute.
Will I watch again?: If I had nothing else to do, then maybe. Or if I was sick. Actually, this seems like it would be a very good movie to watch if you are ill because it will make you laugh and feel better!


For the blogathon:
This is my second entry in Hamlette’s We ❤ Pirates Week! You won’t want to miss plundering the list of participants HERE. 

I’d had notes on this movie for awhile so when Hamlette announced it I jumped aboard ship immediately!


I had originally planned to review the book, too, and compare the two, but 2/3 into the audiobook I gave up because I couldn’t stand it anymore. You see, it’s just that I highly dislike satire. I have a really hard time understanding it and that is not my kind of humor at all. My sister said, “I told you so.”

I had gone into the book expecting it to be a fun and cute romp with pirates like the movie but instead was given nothing but cruelty and parody and satire. Not my kind of thing at all. From what I read, the plots hardly matched up! Therefore I was surprised by this little introduction from the Pirate Captain:

“...You see, there’s a good chance that in your more enlightened times of hover boards and A-semetrical haircuts, a daring theatrical impresario will have decided to adapt my exciting adventure with scientists into some sort of morion picture to be exhibited at your local zoetrope club. Probably, you will notice how the motion picture contains a number of differences from the book you are now listening to. I would like to reassure you that this is not because of any sinister plot to rewrite history, it’s simply that certain things are better suited to the page than to the inside of a spinning metal drum. For example, it may be that the villain in said motion picture is Queen Victoria rather than the diabolical bishop of Oxford...

“...And perhaps the motion picture contains an entire plot to do with me owning a dodo, which is obviously a ridiculous and unlikely flight of fancy. Though I would very much like to own a dodo instead of our idiot parrot, Gary, who is frankly, a nuisance. But, rest assured, that in both zoetrope display and book, my beard is still luxuriant, Black Bellamy is still a fiend with eyes of the darkest pitch, and there’s still a good bit where a chimpanzee gets dressed up in a waistcoat, and most importantly, at no point does anybody mistakenly think it is somehow inherently funny to “talk like a pirate”....”

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! - by Gideon Defoe.

I couldn’t fathom how this little note could be so accurate to something that was so different. The answer: Gideon Defoe, the author of the book, also wrote the screenplay. I’m very pleased with all of the changes that he made, which is such a rare thing for me to say.

If you haven’t experienced either then you might wonder why I’m so surprised so I’ll explain. The book is supposed to be full of humor for the sake of humor. It showed pirates as resembling real pirates with killing and cruelty willy-nilly. That’s not what I want to talk about, as this is Hamlette’s We ❤ Pirates Week! We want to talk about why we like them!

So why do we like pirates, and does that change from the book to the movie for any reason?

Yes, it does change. In the book it’s all about what the next adventure is, whereas the message of this movie is family. None of the pirates are actually related, but they are a crew and work together through it all. I think that is one of the many charms fictional pirates bring us, a camaraderie to bring them through the hardest storms.

“What is the best part of being a pirate?” Well, that’s exactly what is answered in this movie. Maybe memories and companionship are the real gold.


Thanks to Hamlette for hosting! Make sure to check out the participants HERE.

Thanks for reading! Has anyone else seen this? What is your favorite claymation movie? Why do you think that we like pirates so much?

MovieCritic