Kung Fu Panda (Mark Osborne and John Stevenson, 2008): USA

Rewived by Emelie Zahner. Viewed at the Santa Barbara film festival

Kung Fu Panda is hysterically funny and made me laugh throughout the whole film. It is no wonder that this film has been nominated for an Oscar. It is smart and something for all ages (even if there were only me and an entire theater full of kids when I saw this film). Two big animated films were released during the same month, Kung Fu Panda and WALLE. Kung Fu Panda is nothing like WALLE; this movie  was good and fun to watch and also it had a message about friendship and trust in yourself.

Po is just a panda who makes noodles with his father and has a normal life. He does, however, dream about big things besides making noodles. He dreams about being a member of the mighty five: five ninjas who live up in the hills and are trained to become powerful ninjas to fight evil. The mighty five and their leaders are searching for the sixth member of the team, but not only that–they are searching for the mighty dragon warrior as well. And of course this is Po´s biggest dream: to become this mighty dragon warrior. But he is just a regular panda making noodles. He can’t be the mighty ninja, he doesn’t even know anything else besides how to make noodles. When the mighty five and their leaders come to Po´s town to search for the dragon warrior, Po is forced to work and sell noodles. But he really wants to see who is going to be the dragon warrior, so he sneaks out of work and goes to see the performance instead.

This film is about believing in yourself and it is about trusting that you can do whatever it takes.  Because of this, you should always have faith in yourself and never stop believing in what you are meant for. If you have dreams, you can fulfill them, just as long you don’t stop believe in yourself.

This is a classic animated movie in the same class as Madagascar and Shrek. It is smart and makes you laugh throughout the entire movie. The film mixes are serious dialogue with silly jokes. Po is just a big panda and he is a silly panda. He is clumsy and sometimes you just feel sad for him. This movie was the most fun to see during this film festival, and I can’t wait to see it again.