DVD Review: Kung Fu Panda/The Secret of the Furious Five Two Pack

Movie Info:
Writer: Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger
Director: Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
Cast: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Jackie Chan , Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Randall Duk Kim
Rating: PG
Studio: Dreamworks

Release Info:
Theatrical Release: June 6, 2008
DVD Release Date: November 8, 2008
Online Availability: Amazon for $20.99

I’m going to start this review off with a warning. If you have young kids, you may want to sit them down *before* watching Kung Fu Panda and have a discussion about what is a movie. Our four year old nephew, Lil B, saw Kung Fu Panda. He’d been talking about seeing it non-stop. After checking it out at the movie theater, he proclaimed, one day, that he wanted to show his aunt, Ashtyn, his Kung Fu moves. He then proceeded to kick her, full on, in the knee. When asked where he learned such moves, he said he learned them because he was the “Kung Fu” panda.

That being said, it’s not that I think that you should ban your child from watching this movie. You just need to remember that young kids like to emulate what they see. We now have a “no Kung Fu in the house or on other people” rule enforced. So far, we’ve had no trouble with said rule being upheld. With all that in mind, I have to say that Kung Fu Panda really is a good movie. If you can avoid having your child practice their ‘Kung Fu moves’ on you, then you should really be able to enjoy this as a family.

While Kung Fu Panda is a traditional “believe in yourself” kind of heartwarming movie, you should find plenty of humorous moments and quirky lines to amuse and entertain throughout the movie. It really is kind of funny to think of a tubby panda as the “master” of Kung Fu, but with Po (portrayed fabulously by Jack Black) you can pretty much believe anything. While probably not the most realistic animation out there (it is a cartoon – so disbelief suspension is required!), this film has a lot of heart and a nice, moral lesson to go with it.

While I wasn’t as excited to see this as I was the Disney film, Wall-E, I was surprised by how much I truly enjoyed this film. I had dismissed it as just another mindless, CGI-style Dreamworks animation. If you’ve read my CGI reviews before, you’d know I miss the days of traditional animation. The stories were better, back in the day when animation wasn’t nearly as spotless, shiny, or fake looking.

Nevertheless, I’ve found a few CGI movies I can appreciate for the story. Kung Fu Panda is one of them. On a side note, I’ve realized I’m just going to have to accept CGI as the main form of animation these days, so when I say I’m not fond with it, I can no longer judge a film by its CGI, since nearly all animation is CGI these days.

The Kung Fu Panda Plot
The story starts with Po the Panda (Jack Black) having a dream about the best Kung Fu master of all time, a panda who is so good at Kung Fu, the Furious Five (a group of five, well-known, well-trained, Kung Fu experts) wants to hang out with the panda. When Po wakes up, it becomes clear that while Po is obsessed with Kung Fu, and dreams of being a Kung Fu master, in reality, things are quite different. Po is a tubby Panda, who has very little athletic ability and he obviously doesn’t know Kung Fu.

Po works in a noodle shop that is owned by his father, Mr. Ping (James Hong). The interesting thing about this is that Mr. Ping is a goose. Mr. Ping believes they are noodle people. When asking about Po’s dream, Po lies and tells him he dreamed about noodles. His father says this is the sign he’s been waiting for, because he had the noodle dream when he was Po’s age, too. It implies that Po is ready to take over running the noodle restaurant and learn the secret ingredient to his noodle dish. Po isn’t so sure he is a noodle person, but he can’t tell his father he lied. Still, Po dreams of one day being a Kung Fu master, even if it doesn’t seem like it could ever be a reality.

At the palace where the Kung Fu masters, including the Furious Five, train, the wise turtle Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) has a premonition. He tells his best student and successor, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) that a terrible thing is coming to the valley. Shifu’s former student and protégé, Tai Lung (Ian McShane), a snow leopard and one of the most vicious Kung Fu trained warriors, will escape from the prison where he is being held. It is time for Oogway to choose the Dragon Warrior, the only one who can defeat Tai Lung.

This means there will be a tournament between the Furious Five and Oogway will choose the Dragon Warrior. Shifu will train the Dragon Warrior with special training and the Dragon scroll will, for once, be read by the Dragon Warrior, the only one worthy of reading and understanding it. That is part of why Tai Lung wants to seek revenge on the valley. He had demanded the Dragon scroll and wanted Shifu to defend him when Oogway said he was not worthy of being the Dragon Warrior. Unfortunately, this led to his imprisonment, and if he gets free, he could cause some major damage.

When Po wants to go to the tournament to finally get to see the Furious Five, his heroes, he must take the noodle cart with him. This slows him down and he gets locked out of the event. Trying to get in to watch the tournament, Po will do anything he can to get a sneak peek of the action. When he blasts his way into the event and Oogway declares him the Dragon Warrior, everyone is shocked. The Furious Five are…well furious, especially Master Tigress (Angelina Jolie) and Master Shifu.

Po must train with Tigress, Crane (David Cross), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu), Monkey (Jackie Chan), and Shifu, all of whom want him to quit and give up. With Oogway certain in his choice of the Dragon Warrior, it will be up to Shifu to trust his wise teacher and Po to believe in himself, to make sure the valley is saved. Ultimately, this is a story about having faith in yourself and others, following your dreams, and believing in yourself to know when to do the right thing. If Po can even have a chance of defeating Tai Lung, he’s going to need all the faith in himself and faith in him from others, that he can get, but its not easy when he’s a clumsy, several tons, rotund Panda bear, who has very little time to learn all there is to know about Kung Fu and then some.

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
I can be honest when I say CGI very rarely looks bad when it is transferred to a DVD. In this case, the 2.35: 1 anamorphic widescreen display looks near flawless. The image has been enhanced for 16×9 televisions. With bright and vibrant colors, in a realistic palette, dark and steady black levels and a sharpness and contrast that gives the animation a near perfect look, there really isn’t much to complain about. Compression errors and other visual flaws aren’t present, which adds even more to the viewing experience. The only problem seems to very rare instances of edge enhancement and occasional noise.

With such a sound effect intensive track, Kung Fu Panda has the potential to make full use of its speakers. There are multiple soundtracks available on this DVD. I chose the English, Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track. The track’s various channels were used thoroughly and the speakers are used to full capacity as nearly every minute sound can be heard. The musical soundtrack comes through pleasantly with a full bodied sound to it and dialogue comes through loud and clear. The quality for this track is consistent with no need for volume toggling. Additional tracks include English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and French Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. Closed Captioning is available in English and subtitles are available in English, Spanish and French.

Since this is a two pack, I should comment on the audio and video of the second disc, which includes the origin story The Secret of the Furious Five. This is also anamorphic widescreen though it displays at a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The visual quality is nearly as good as that for Kung Fu Panda. While the English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track is pleasant on the ears, it isn’t nearly as stunning as what is available in the main feature. Still, this is excellent quality for something not considered the main feature.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
There are many bonus features included in this DVD Two Pack. How old you are and how much you like Kung Fu Panda will dictate how much you like these bonuses. Here is a list of all of the bonuses included on this DVD and a brief description of them.

A Directors’ Commentary with Jim Stevenson and Mark Osborne – I thought this was quite the interesting director’s commentary. There is a lot of information to soak up. Kids might not be as into this as I don’t think commentaries are particularly kid-friendly. Still, adults who love this movie will get a lot out of this commentary, with a lot of talk about the entire purpose of this movie, Kung Fu Panda.

Featurette: “Meet the Cast” – Spend over ten minutes meeting the cast of Kung Fu Panda, with cast interviews, a look into character recording sessions and one on one discussions with all of the major players in this movie.

Featurette: “Pushing the Boundaries” – This looks at the animation and other technical aspects of making this movie. A lot goes into making something like Kung Fu Panda, even if CGI is much easier than hand drawn animation (like in the good ol’ days). The model for each character and how they came to be, is discussed.

Featurette: “Sound Design” – In the audio section, I mentioned that Kung Fu Panda is quite intensive when it comes to audio. Ethan Van Der Ryn, the sound designer for Kung Fu Panda and his team of sound engineers go through all of the trials and tribulations they endured when making this movie. You’d be surprised to know what they used for specific sound effects, but you’ll learn it all in the feature.

Featurette: “Mr. Ping’s Noodle House” – You will get to see how real noodles are made, in this short bonus, when you travel to Mr. Chow’s noodle restaurant with Alton Brown from Food Network. Mr. Ping said it is the special ingredient that makes the noodle and we now know what that special ingredient is…noodles!

Featurette: “How to Use Chopsticks” – A totally useless, less than three minutes long bonus on how to use chopsticks. If you want to learn, check this out. I don’t, so it is pretty pointless.

Bonus Blurb: “Conservation International: How to Save Wild Pandas” – Jack Black gives you all the information you need on the battle Pandas in the wild face. This is an instructional plea to all those destroying the beautiful habitat of Pandas.

Music Video: “Kung Fu Fighting feat. Cee-Lo” – This is a video for the new version of the song with some animation from Kung Fu Panda.

Interactive Game: “Dragon Warrior Training Academy” – A self-explanatory DVD game.

Dreamworks Interactive Video Jukebox: Features music videos from various films put out by Dreamworks from Madagascar to Kung Fu Panda.

There are also various trailers and this concludes the bonuses for the first disc in this two disc set.

Moving on to Disc Two, you get the prequel/sequel, origins film, Secrets of the Furious Five. Here is a brief synopsis for the movie:

Master Po is teaching a beginner group of Kung Fu bunnies. He is going to train them by telling them the stories of the Furious Five, all of who are his heroes. He plans to explain to them that they were not perfect before training. Each lacked certain discipline and skills. This explains how they gained them and went on to be the Furious Five.

From here, there are additional bonuses on this DVD:

Feature: “Po’s Power Play” – This teaches anyone who wants to learn, how to draw sketches of the main characters from Kung Fu Panda.

DVD Game: “Dumpling Shuffle” – Another game kids will enjoy, this time with dumpling shuffling.

When you put this DVD in your PC DVD Rom the Pandamonium Activity Kit can be used.

Feature: “Land of the Panda” – Learn the Panda dance with these easy to learn dance moves, check out the featurette, “Do You Know Kung Fu”, learn about the true nature of animals in “Animals of Kung Fu”, play the “What Fighting Style Are You?” game, and enjoy the “Inside the Chinese Zodiac” featurette.

All in all, there are some bonuses for the kids, some for the adults and everyone is happy.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
Kung Fu Panda is a cute, fun movie with a lesson. This is one everyone in the family can enjoy, as long as they don’t try out the Kung Fu moves they learn on each other. If you’re a fan of Kung Fu Panda already, you’ll want to pick up this two pack. For just a few extra dollars, you can get a fun origins story about the Furious Five and the main attraction, Kung Fu Panda. With this being nearly two for the price of one, you don’t have much to lose. Pick this title up today.

Overall Rating:

Technorati Tags: Kung Fu Panda, The Secret of the Furious Five, DVD Review, Po, Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Dreamworks, Paramount, Kids Movie, Family

Written by Dominick Evans – Visit Website
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Dominick is in his late 20s. He lives in Michigan with his life partner, Ashtyn, their 14 year old son Robert, and their Shih-Tzu, Oliver. Dominick is a writer and the head editor for both LI Kids and Literary Illusions. He enjoys composing music and is an aspiring director/screenwriter. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his family, playing and watching sports, playing video games, watching movies, and singing.