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Kung Fu Panda (movie)

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Kung Fu Panda
Directed by
Screenplay by
Story byEthan Reiff
Cyrus Voris
Produced byMelissa Cobb
Starring
Edited byClare Knight
Music by
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures[1]
Release dates
  • May 15, 2008 (2008-05-15) (Cannes)
  • June 6, 2008 (2008-06-06) (United States)
Running time
92 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$130 million[3]
Box office$631,744,560[3]

Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American-Chinese animated martial arts comedy movie directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne and written by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger from a story by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris.

Produced by DreamWorks Animation, it's the first installment in the franchise. Starring Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Randall Duk Kim, James Hong, Dan Fogler, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Jackie Chan, the movie, set in a fantasy wuxia genre version of ancient China populated by anthropomorphic animals, tells the story of Po, a bumbling and clumsy giant panda and kung fu enthusiast living in the Valley of Peace. When the savage snow leopard Tai Lung is foretold to escape from his imprisonment and attack the Valley, Po is unwittingly named the "Dragon Warrior", a prophesized hero worthy of reading a scroll that has been intended to grant its reader unlimited power. Although everyone initially doubts him, including Po himself, he strives to prove himself worthy as he strives to fulfill his destiny in becoming a kung fu master.

The movie began development in October 2004, and was initially conceived as a parody of martial arts movies. However, director Stevenson decided to make an action-comedy wuxia movie that incorporated the hero's journey narrative for the lead character instead. The project was announced in September 2005. As with most DreamWorks Animation movies, the score for Kung Fu Panda was composed by Hans Zimmer, on an occasion like collaborating with John Powell. Zimmer visited China to absorb the culture, and used the China National Symphony Orchestra as part of the scoring process. Upon its premier at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2008, and theatrical release in the United States on June 6 by Paramount Pictures, Kung Fu Panda received critical acclaim and became a box office success, grossing $632 million on a $130 million and making it the third most successful movie of 2008 and the highest-grossing animated movie of the year while receiving positive reviews and being nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards.

The movie's success spawned a multimedia franchise. The first sequel, Kung Fu Panda 2, was released in 2011.

In the Valley of Peace, a land in Ancient China inhabited by anthropomorphic animals, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), an elderly and cranky red panda who is the old and strict kung fu master, learns from Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim), an ancient tortoise and his wise mentor who is the founder of kung fu and the Valley's spiritual leader, that he predicts Tai Lung (Ian McShane), an arrogant and aggressive snow leopard who was Shifu's former adoptive son and apprentice, will escape from his imprisonment and attack the Valley for the Dragon Scroll, an artifact said to contain the key to granting its reader limitless power which he was denied of. In response, Shifu sends Zeng (Dan Fogler), his palace goose assistant and messenger, to strengthen security at Chorh-Gom Prison, where Tai Lung is held, and holds a tournament for Oogway to identify the Dragon Warrior, an prophesized hero who is worthy of reading the Scroll and capable of understanding its secret. Po (Jack Black), an energetic and accident-prone yet heroic giant panda and the die-hard kung fu fan who lives in the Valley and helps Mr. Ping (James Hong), his happy-go-lucky goose father, run their noddle restaurant but dreams of learning the art of kung fu which he's unable to realize, arrives late to attend in the tournament. Eager to see the Furious Five, a quintet group of kung fu warriors and his idols trained by Shifu to protect the Valley (consisting of Tigress (Angelina Jolie), a no-nonsense and tough-as-nails, beautiful yet short-tempered tiger who is their leader, Monkey (Jackie Chan), an easy-going monkey and the fun-loving member of the Five, Mantis (Seth Rogen), a dry-humored mantis who is the member of the Five, Viper (Lucy Liu), a sweet and good-natured viper who is the member of the Five, and Master Crane (David Cross), a pragmatic and sarcastic crane who is the member of the Five), Po tries to enter into the arena and uses a chair propelled by fireworks, but he unintentionally lands in front of the Five and is unexpectedly chosen by Oogway as the Dragon Warrior much to everyone's surprise.

Believing that Oogway's choice is an accident and initially refusing to admit that the clumsy panda can be the Dragon Warrior, Shifu subjects Po into several torturous exercises and the Five dismisses him for his lack of skill in kung fu after a rough first day of training, leaving Po dejected and considering quitting. However, Oogway encourages Po to persevere through Shifu's challenging training, and Po, determined to change himself into someone he can respect, befriends the Five with his resilience and humor. Tigress reveals that Shifu's toughness comes from his shame over Tai Lung's betrayal since he has raised him as an infant. Meanwhile, Tai Lung uses one of Zeng's feathers to escape from Chorh-Gom Prison run by Commander Vachir (Michael Clarke Duncan), a hubristic and boastful rhinoceros who is its warden. Learning the bad news from Zeng, Shifu warns Oogway, who asks him to promise to believe in Po as the Dragon Warrior and names him his successor before ascending into the Spirt Realm. Shifu tells Po and the Five about Tai Lung's escape, claiming that Po's the only one who can stop him. Despairing that he can't defeat Tai Lung, Po makes Shifu confess that he doesn't know how to train him as the Dragon Warrior. Tigress overhears the conversation and leads the Five in a secret attempt to stop Tai Lung themselves.

Shifu realizes Po's full potential for physical feats when he discovers Po's capable of kung fu when he's motivated by food, so he successfully trains Po to learn kung fu in a unique style. Meanwhile, the Five confronts Tai Lung, who defeats them with his nerve-strike technique. Shifu decides that Po's ready for the Dragon Scroll, but Po discovers that it's blank. Thinking the Scroll is powerless, Shifu sends Po and the Five to evacuate the Valley while he faces Tai Lung alone. In order to comfort Po, Mr. Ping reveals that his "secret ingredient soup" has no secret ingredient at all, stating belief can make things special. Realizing that this is the Dragon Scroll's message that the key to limitless power lies within himself, Po rushes back to help Shifu.

At the Jade Palace, Tai Lung brutally defeats Shifu, but finds that the Scroll's missing. Po arrives with the Scroll and engages Tai Lung in combat with his confusing techniques. Tai Lung gets the Scroll from Po, but refuses to understand the symbolism of its blank surface. Enraged, he uses a nerve-strike on Po, who remains unaffected due to his fat body. Po overpowers Tai Lung and banishes him to the Spirit Realm with the Wuxi Finger Hold technique, which he'd taught himself. He is hailed as a hero by the Valley for restoring peace.

Voice cast

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ADR Group

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References

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  1. 1 2 "AFI|Catalog". Archived from the original on December 20, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  2. ↑ "KUNG FU PANDA". British Board of Film Classification. June 24, 2008. Archived from the original on August 4, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Kung Fu Panda". Box Office Mojo.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hough, Q.V. (December 8, 2020). "Kung Fu Panda Cast Guide: Who Voices Which Character". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on December 16, 2021. Retrieved April 25, 2021.

Other websites

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