A Look Back on Kung Fu Panda · 11:57pm May 11th
Hey guys hope your having a good day so far! I just decided to make a blog post that helps show my thoughts on a franchise I hold dear to my heart, Kung Fu Panda! Probably one of the most unexpected banger trilogy's in recent memory, (followed by KFP 4 and potentially another trilogy), especially for animation! I wanted to go back on this trilogy and reflect with what brought us to where the franchise is now, while it won't be the most in depth thing ever, it's just my fun thoughts on it all, let's start off with things simple, first impressions from a trailer, hope you find these entertaining!
These trailers all belong to Dreamworks, and the Kung Fu panda channel, all rights are reserved to it.
You know, looking back on these first trailers, I can't help but notice how dang weird they were! I know Kung Fu panda is a comedy, but I felt like these took that a bit to far, and it may have gave the audience a wrong impression of what the movie is gonna be like, with the themes the franchise tackles, trailers like these don't exactly leave a strong impression do they?
But seriously, looking back on the first movie, it's easy to see why a lot of people like it the best, there's a lot to love, it has probably the best action in the franchise, from Tai Lung's prison escape, to the bridge fight, and Shifu Vs Tai Lung, all important moments to show off just how epic this franchise is, and it's one of the reasons it's so beloved. The character's in this franchise are top tier, Po, Shifu, and the villains of this series all do an amazing job with developing the themes of they're movies, Tai Lung is one of my favorite villains because of his introduction alone, he literally took down and maybe even killed over 1000 guards during his prison escape like it was implied, while Shen may have committed genocide, not seeing it in full makes Tai Lung's moment of viciousness better then him for me, I still love these movies, but it's hard to permanently pin down what movie I think is the best, because they all have something to bring to the table we all love, especially the soundtrack, fun fact, Hans Zimmer, one of the score composers, is an Imagine Dragons fan, and it makes things more fun for me to see when listening to the soundtrack.
I still can't believe that even when this movie came out, it turned out to be an unexpected banger, it's still a top 5 Dreamworks movie to this day, alongside the 2nd movie, but with how well this movie set up a potential trilogy, we all should be glad that these trailers gave us a small hint, of the awesomeness that was this franchise.
And now onto the second movie, what a dramatic step forward in the series! This movie does not hold back with it's dark moments, the fact that this movie's villain is a literal dictator who committed geocide on the panda species is still really dark for an opening alone! And seeing him kill other master's like Master Rhino helps show us how evil and crazy Shen really is. Po's growth in this movie was one of the best things I've ever seen, both as a kid, and an adult. I think we all have those moments in our life where we wonder if we're really at one with ourselves, but deep down we know we have inner demons we haven't fully faced yet, and if we don't push past them, we won't fully find peace with ourselves. This movie shows that perfectly with Po's growth, while he has doubts about his father and who he is during the movie, the moment where he accepts his dark past, and finds peace within himself is one of the best scenes in Dreamworks history, seriously, why did this series go hard with it's themes?! I just love it even more for that!
This is the perfect example of a dark middle chapter, this keeps a perfect balance of the movie's fun comedy, yet dark and serious moments that we never forgot as a child. Imagine seeing this in theaters, and literally seeing how Po came to be within the Valley of Peace, that will certainly leave an impact on you, and no matter how many times you rewatch it, nothing compares to the shock of how dark Po's past really is, and it just shows how strong of a character he is, both physically, and mentally. It's one of the reasons he's one of the best character's in animation for me, and.. he's voiced by Jack Black, no one else could voice Po as perfectly as he can.
And now onto the third movie, the one that was originally intended to be the end of the series, and honestly, I still think the series ends of perfectly on this note, while it is weaker then the last one without it's dark moments like the last 2, it's comedy and characters more then make up for it, this was one of Po's final steps to discovering who he is, and he had to master that in Spirit, like how Shen helped him mentally, and Tai Lung physically, these are all the steps to achieving Inner Peace, and Po's growth was just about perfect in this whole trilogy.
While I do wish this movie kept the same dark moments as the first movies, this movie was really great overall, I have heard that the reason this wasn't as dark as the 2nd was because parents were complaining about how dark Po's past was, and what they showed on screen was a bit too much, and I'm like.. seriously? I get parents are protective of they're kids and all, but in order for them to grow better, they need to push past seeing dark stuff that could be scary to them, and it does help them grow more as a person, but then again, I understand why, not every person in the world can process stuff like this, and I think that's okay, this is all what I've heard from articles and stuff, but if the 3rd movie kept up the 2nd movie's dark tone, it would've made it just as amazing.
But as the movie is on it's own, it's a perfect ending to a series, while 4 exists, and is continuing the series, I feel like ending it off here was a perfect note. Po found Inner Peace in all forms, and when he defeats Kai and frees the others, it's a true moment to shows he's at one with himself, while still being the goofy fun panda we all know and love, while I do wish the furious 5 were featured in these movies a lot more so we can develop them, I feel like Viper could've used more screen time since she's one of the most supportive character's, I think people like Ping and Li being in this movie, and accepting raising Po together is really strong, it was also just funny with how Ping interacted with the pandas in the village, he's just perfect and I always like him. This movie had all you could want to end a trilogy, and the music especially was even more fire then before, Kai's theme slaps still and I will always love it. Overall, after rewatching these movies in one day, both as a kid and adult, anyone could enjoy these movies, it has so much to offer and you would be missing out on so much if you haven't seen them, I highly recommend these movies if you haven't seen them.
And now onto the latest installment of the franchise.. Kung fu Panda 4, I'm gonna be honest, I really agree with people who've said this movie is the weakest of the franchise. While I still enjoyed it, there was just so many stuff in this movie that didn't click with me, and if you saw my review on the movie, you understand it. My main issue with this movie is it's pacing like I've said before, 1 hour and 20 minutes is not enough for a story like this to properly develop, and on top of the sub plot with Ping and Li searching for Po, while those scenes were funny, they took away time that could've had Zhen and Po properly bond.
I really think Universal thinks that animates movies should only be at least 1 hour and 30 minutes or less, no matter what movie studio makes they're movies, and I think that is really.. really dumb. There are movies that need more runtime to properly develop they're story's, while I did like Ruby Gillman, that movie also suffered from poor pacing, and it really needed to be at least up to an hour and 40 minutes or even 50. Run time is an important thing for any movie, you have to give each character proper time and development so they can feel real, and this movie unfortunately lacks because of it.
I'm sure most of you have heard of this movies troubled development because Mike Mitchell may have prioritized comedy over what made the last movies special, I've even heard he wanted to make this into a live action/ cgi hybrid! What the heck was he thinking?! Thank god the writers and animators fought back against that idea, because it would've ruined the franchise if done like how we imagine it. And if they had to go against his decisions, I hope this shows that he isn't fit for the franchise and Universal doesn't bring him back.
But back to the movie, Po doesn't really feel like he's grown at all during it, while he had fun interactions with Zhen during the movie, the themes of him having to give up the Dragon Warrior title and find someone to pass it onto, I think could work, the movie just didn't properly give us moments where he tries to accept changing, but I honestly don't think giving that title away would be that big a deal to him anymore, while it was what made his life so special, he should know that it's just a Title, and if he passes it onto someone else, he'll still be known as the hero everyone loves him as, he just should've shown more concern about who he's gonna pass it onto, and him growing to be the Spiritual leader.. I felt that was what's left for a 6th movie.
Because let's be honest, the franchise would not work without Po, him giving up the Dragon Warrior title is good on concept, but the movie ruins it because of how it turned out, and even though I have hopes the 5th and 6th movies can turn around if they properly get the development they need, this movie didn't give us what we needed to help Po grow and give up his title, and we all know how the Chameleon is the weakest villain in the series by now, her being too small to learn Kung fu is laughable, it goes against the themes of the franchise and it makes her more pathetic, I feel like she should've been more mentally broken then evil, she should've been rejected over and over again to the point it was driving her mad, we should've had a reason as to why she wanted to learn Kung fu in the first place, and if it was for a reason like.. her parents were killed by bandits and she was too weak to save them, and learning Kung fu could help her grow strong enough to protect others from suffering the same fate, but all the rejection because of her being a Chameleon is what broke her, and that's why she was evil. Again I have a better plan to fix her with my own Spike in Kung Fu Panda story, but still this would've worked a lot more, it just shows me that her backstory was probably worked in at the last minute, compared to the other villains of the franchise.
Sorry this part feels like a rant again, but I need to let you know I do enjoy this movie. The soundtrack is awesome as usual, the animation and fights are really cool, and Po and Zhen have a lot of fun interactions. I just think I won't revisit it as much as I will the other 3 movies, I do like Zhen and think she has potential to be a great character, I just hope the future movies give more to her and why she was a bandit in the first place you know? I think Tara Strong should've voiced her honestly, because I think her voice suits Zhen's character way better, and honestly.. I'm tired of Awkwafina being in so many movies, She's like the Chris Pratt of the 2020's and I feel like other character's would've worked better if voiced by someone else, and I think this may be overworking her if she continues voicing all these character's, I just hope that the next movie has her do Zhen a lot better, and writes her where we can see Zhen as a character, and not Awkwafina again.
But just know, no matter what I've said about this movie, I love this franchise as a whole, It's brought me so many fun memories, and I'll never forget them the older I get, and I'm sure we all love this franchise too, I know this is like.. the 3rd blog post I've had that relates to Kung Fu Panda, but I think it just shows how much I love it, I just wanna thank all of you for reading this post, and please let me know your thoughts on the series too! I highly recommend seeing all of them if you haven't!
OK, what do you have against Awkwafina?
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I don't have anything against her, she's just been in too many movies that it makes me think she's being overworked, She was in 4 different movies last year from what I know, including the live action Little Mermaid, and movies like Shang Chi, Raya, The Bad Guys, Angry Birds 2, and just.. so many movies that I think she's being overworked, and I think she needs a little break, I know actors should always be available and stuff, but she's been in so many movies people are just getting a bit tired of her. I'm just saying Tara Strong would've been a better choice for Zhen and I'm not saying I have anything against her dude.
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Oh sorry, it’s just the way you worded it made sound like you did.