" Kung Fu Panda " ... Who Knew Jack Black would end up a Classic Kung Fu Hero?

I love " Kung Fu Panda ". Not just cause I have 2 daughters and this movie is a bridge of what I love and what they love. I love this movie cause it represents true KUNG FU!!

I don't say that lightly. I did not expect this from animation writers, seriously. But they did their homework. Keeping the story real. From Kung Fu Masters, Kung Fu Styles to true Kung Fu Philosophy.

" Kung Fu Panda " is deep. I watched it a few times now and each time I get something more out of it. But before I dig in to what I loved about this movie in terms of Kung Fu fighting and so on, let me break it down.

This is a Hollywood (Dreamworks) animated movie starring Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Seth Rogan with Lucy Liu (Charlie's Angels), Randall Duk Kim (The Thin Red Line, Matrix Reloaded) and Jackie Chan (you should know all his movies!) thrown in for hollywood "Asian" Flavoring. I was not expecting much when the trailers first came out.

It felt like " Kung Fu Panda " was going to be a stereotypical one quip wonder, go for the gag, type of thing that most animated features lean to. (with the exception of Pixar)

I resisted going. But upon the urging of my daughter Kenya, I relented and went to check it out.

Daaaaaaaang. I was impressed. The story is of a young panda, Po (Jack Black) and his passion for Kung Fu. We follow him while the universe places him in the wildest of situations, being chosen as the "Dragon Warrior" with absolutely no Kung Fu Fighting skills whatsoever.

We watch as he is rejected by the Legendary Furious Five, who represent the different animal Kung Fu styles kinda like in "The Five Deadly Venoms" : Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Mantis (Seth Rogan), Crane (David Cross), Monkey ( Jackie Chan ), and Viper (Lucy Liu).

These Legendary fighters are trained by 2 Kung Fu Masters, The Red Panda, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and The Tortoise Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim). Po is taken under Master Oogway's wing as the Chosen One and Master Shifu resists this, which only justifies the way the Legends treat Po.

The way everyone is treating Po only reinforces Po's doubt within himself about being worth anything. And he begins the negative self talk in agreement of his Heroes.

But upon Master Oogway's translation, or death, Master Shifu is told by him "You just need to believe, Promise me Shifu you will believe" when it came to accepting Po, the Kung Fu Panda, as the Dragon Warrior.

Master Shifu then shifts his perspective and surrenders to the belief that Po may be the Choosen One. And doing that makes all the difference.

We discover Po's innate Kung Fu abilities. Which is an awesome experience for the viewer. As Po discovers his sleeping talents we too, wonder if it is possible for us to follow our passions. That maybe we look like we aren't good at what we love on the surface, but with a little time and effort we could actually follow our dreams.

The viewer is Po. Jack Black is a brilliant everyman. Every thing we discover about him we discover about us. THIS IS THE VERY ESSENCE OF KUNG FU.

The story goes from being like "36th Chamber of Shaolin" to "The Prodigal Son" where Po defends all of his people against the evil threat of Tai Lung (Ian McShane). Po overcomes not only the enemy on the outer, but also the enemy within.

He discovers his inner strength and accepts his true destiny. Summed up by a line that Po's father says in the film "To make something special you just have to believe it's special" to which Po replies in wonder "There IS no secret ingredient".

Wow, Kung Fu Panda delivers some serious Kung Fu philosophy right there boy. There is so much more to this film that I could go on forever.

I want to address the Kung Fu choreography in the movie. I know, you're saying "what choreography? it's a cartoon?!" but seriously. The training sequences are terrific and the best scene is the chopstick battle between Po and Master Shifu.

Check out the video at the bottom of the page for a clip of it. Really great Kung Fu!

Bottom line is you are going to have to buy " Kung Fu Panda " if you are a Kung Fu collector. It is a unique Kung Fu movie that will stand the test of time, I'm sure.

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