I am probably going to hear lots of boos and hisses from a couple of the contributors and a few of our readers but I’ll say it right now and I mean it. I’m actually looking forward to Kung Fu Panda. I really was not up until a day or so ago as I feel that Dreamworks has been somewhat of a let down with their animation lately. Sure, my son has watched all their movies and has enjoyed them but other than the first two Shrek movies I feel their movies have been somewhat of a let down.
The reviews for Kung Fu Panda have been coming in though and a lot of them mention how this is Dreamwork’s best so far. So after my kid’s soccer game this morning I’m going to drag him along and he will be my excuse for checking it out. I’ll post a review coming up shortly. Has anyone else seen it or looking forward to seeing it or is this right up there with everyone’s opinion of Alvin & the Chipmunks (My Review) which I enjoyed and everyone else refused to watch.
I caught this last night, but only because I made a deal with a lady friend, a deal which included me going to see Kung Fu Panda and her not really having to do much of anything. I think it was fine though. It’s not on Pixar level of quality, but it’s enjoyable and somewhat intelligent (as far as these kind of movies go, at least). As far as a children’s animated movie, it’s worth watching.
dont apologize to anyone for seeing Kung Fu Panda. i thought the trailers indiciated typical Dreamworks fare, however critics have seemed to express that KFP aspires for more than the averate animated flick and for the most part succeeds. I have been swayed from “must avoid” to “probably will see eventually”.
Agreed Goon. The first trailers for this film were terrible and showed nothing that would indicate that there was some substance in the film.
But reviews have been surprisingly positive so now I’m interested in seeing this.
Boo. Hiss. Dreamworks Animation is officially the worst, most pandering (panda-ing?) animated studio out there. This movie looks to be a celebration of ‘laziness’ on all levels. Animation, story, even main character. I though Madagascar was total ass, and I’ve not bothered with Shrek3.
Sheesh, if BlueSky studios can put out something as graduate from their equally lazy Ice Age franchice to quality pictures like Horton Hears a Who, then Dreamworks should be capable of more than this Saturday-afternoon special.
Wall-E can’t come soon enough.
There is a lot to like in Kung Fu Panda but I’ll admit that there is definitely some stuff to dislike. I’m not going to tell you to go see it Kurt because I know you’ll want to compare it to Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli and it doesn’t compare.
HEck I want to compare it to Ratatouille & Horton, but i highly doubt it even comes half-way.
(probably better than A Shark’s Tale which is the nadir of wide-release CGI films…and guess which studio? Dreamworks.)
I’ll take a cocky Will Smith over a cocky Owen Wilson any day. Angelina Jolie as a fish is a better idea than a car with a lower-back tattoo.
Kurt, have you read Maus?
Kurt, christ man. I had a similar impression early on, and even the critics agree the marketing of the film gives the wrong impression and that it would be just more pop culture based Shrek-isms. Apparently it isnt. If KFP was months away from release I wouldnt bite on this, but judgments now that its out in theaters, the ‘boo hiss’ rhetoric is a little…
“juvenile”
I have to admit I really liked Kung Fu Panda. I have to admit to not really caring too much about a lot of Dreamworks movies lately, but then I happen to like martial arts movies and it looks like it could have been fun. Fortunately, it turns out I was right about it being fun.
Juvenile, maybe, (I’m only responding to John’s assumption that his fellow contributers would complain about KFP. Gotta be me.)
I’m going by the reviews here though, even the positive reviews seem to be giving that impression, but a few of the really negative ones have the ‘celebration of fat lazy slob’ aspect the same as my pet-hatred film “Forrest Gump” which was a celebration of Stupidity. I hate when bad virtues are earnestly put up on a pedestal. To make the fat and lazy and stupid feel not so bad about themselves.
That is where I like Ratatouille which celebrates curiosity and the ability to ‘stretch’. Not the other way around.
““Forrest Gump” which was a celebration of Stupidity.”
How is stupidity celebrated in Forrest Gump? It exposes how stupid much of society is, ie. to be succesful in football or war, it helps to be retarded.
Plus, the film equates a huge amount of success not to talent, but happy accident. Some truth in there maybe, but it sure goes about telling the story in the most smug possible way.
It’s a comedy! Do you hate The Navigator because Buster Keaton didn’t actually know how to steer the ship and got lucky when the cannon didn’t hit him in the back?
?? Confused by that statement. The point of the Navigator is totally different than the point of Forrest Gump. Thanks for coming out though H-Man.
What’s H-Man? My point is that Forrest Gump is a comedy and it’s weird to hold its morals against it. Do you hate Anchorman for celebrating stupidity too?
For the record, I hate the first two Shrek movies (never saw the third). Hate. And I enjoyed this, at least as far as animated children’s movies go. Whatever that is worth.
I’m going to save the discussion for the review which should be up tonight as long as something doesn’t go wrong.
@henrik. Do you really consider Forrest Gump a Comedy? I hate to play the ‘cultural differences’ card, but it was received by the culture at large as a Drama here. Probably my main beef.
I see the two HOSTEL films as black comedies, and perhaps that is why I enjoy them more than many folks (there are a lot of Hostel Haters out there).
How can you take a movie seriously when it has the guy falling over Watergate by calling to get somebody to check the lights on the room across the hotel? The ‘shrimp’ tirade? Lieutenant Dan? It’s very much a comedy, a very funny one, and the historical stuff in it is great. I guess the Jenny part is more dramatic, but I always took that more as an allegory of america in general going through all this stuff, but the happy little retard is satisfied moving a lawn of playing ping-pong or other such high drama.
Come on, a drama? Platoon is a drama, compare the Vietnam of Forrest Gump to that of Platoon and realize the error of your ways.
Don’t ask me to explain Canada/US. I’m too deeply mired in this half of the continent to step back and see the wider picture Henrik. I’m only reporting how it was back in 1994.
So essentially you’re not taking responsibility for your own decision to somehow consider Forrest Gump a movie that has to hold up morally to be good? Are you going to blame everything on society? I accept your weakling stance, but I look down on it.
…a few of the really negative ones have the ‘celebration of fat lazy slob’ aspect the same as my pet-hatred film “Forrest Gump” which was a celebration of Stupidity.
Actually, I always kinda thought Forrest Gump was more a celebration of innocence than stupidity. At times, Forrest does come across as stupid, but ultimately it’s his naivite, not stupidity, that helps him to adapt to all of the chaos of the 60′s and 70′s without becoming overwhelmed by it.
As for the comedy/drama debate, Forrest Gump is clearly both. There’s no denying that some of the wartime sequences, the abuses Jenny faced as a child at the hands of her father, the ending, etc., are very dramatic. But there’s just as much of the film that plays it for laughs (telling John Kennedy that he has to pee, the Watergate scene Henrik described above, the basic training sequences, etc).
While I don’t consider Forrest Gump a ‘great’ movie, I do admire it for what it is, and feel it told it’s story well enough.
Also, John, it would never strike me to put Kung Fu Panda in the same category as Alvin and the Chipmunks. Whatever else it may be (and I don’t know, because I haven’t seen it), Kung Fu Panda is at least original.
Alvin and the Chipmunks was of the same vein as the recent Scooby Doo and Garfield “franchises”: updates of previously successful material, arguably material that should never have been updated in the first place. In these three cases, not only did the filmmakers stoop towards the lowest common denominator (easy fart jokes to get the kids guffawing), they didn’t even come up with the concept on their own! They stood on the backs of others, and then shot no higher than the crotch and ass for their laughs.
@Dave “Kung Fu Panda is at least original.”
Everyone was KungFu Fighting on the soundtrack? Hardly fuckin’ original. I cry foul on all elements of originality.
Come on…how can you have a Kung-Fu Panda movie and NOT have ‘Kung-Fu Fighting’ on the soundtrack?
It. Is. The. Same. Fucking. Song. They. Use. To. Promote. And. Sell. Any. Asian. Comedy. Or. American. Martial. Arts. Picture.
=
Tired. Lame. Pathetic.
Ok, I’ve calmed down again. For some reason the context and song worked well in City of God (a film using if for period-purposes), but seriously, it’s been in tired use in American culture for decades. Thru the late 1970s, all of the 80s 90s and now 2000s. How much longer to we have to hear the song to bridge the gap of comedy + martial arts.
Not the only reason why I have a hate on for KFP, but it’s one of ‘em.
I agree, fuck Kung-fu fighting!
Kurt: What song would you recommend to ‘bridge the gap’, to show your film (in which you have 30 seconds to promote a comedy aimed at kids about kung-fu pandas) has Martial Arts as it’s subject matter, yet is still one that the home market (in this case, America) can enjoy? I’m not a big fan of the song either. In fact, I hate having to defend it. But there’s a reason it’s been used for so long, in so many different situations: what the hell else are you gonna use?
Also, I think I should clarify my ‘original’ comment in regards to Kung Fu Panda. I certainly don’t mean Kung Fu Panda looks to be Charlie Kaufman/Being John Malkovich original. My remark was made solely in the context of the other films mentioned in my post (and John’s mentioning of Alvin and the Chipmunks in his original article). In this day and age, when animated movies can simply take characters from previously successful materials and throw in a few patented toilet jokes and STILL makes gobs and gobs of money, it’s nice to see something new come out once in a while.
Kurt, honestly.
you’re being an ass.
seriously.
Forrest Gump is just some dumbass who stumbles through several decades of weird coincidences and successes. It is certainly not a celebration of stupidity. If anything, many of Forrest’s successes can be attributed to maintaining some of his mothers wiser quips.
You’re judging Kung Fu Panda’s originality on a trailer. You should know better, man. The number of great movies that have had awful trailers is staggering. Childrens films are looking for MONEY. They will do what they can to bring people in. You can judge not to see a movie based on a trailer all you want, that is what is there for. but now you’re judging the actual FILM on the trailer, and by Dreamworks past. Failing to see that even though its the same studio, that films have different directors with different passions, different writers with different levels of dedication to their stories. Example – the writers of Kung Fu Panda are longtime writers for “King of the Hill”, long acclaimed as one of the best animated series on television, with dry wit and sharp satire that can love its characters and treat them with respect and realism even while it pokes fun at their ignorance.
You are being absolutely, completely unfair. Seriously.
I like King of the Hill. I like a number of cast members in KFP. I’m judging by the trailers AND reading a number of reviews from folks I read often. No I’ve not seen the film, but I’m in a 2minute-trailer-vacuum either. I’ve been burned too many times by watching goofy american takes on Kung-Fu mythology and what not.
Hey, if some cult forms around KFP and it is praised by loads of folks I respect then I’ll catch it at a later date. (note this has happened on Speed Racer recently, a movie I’m actually trying to see before it leaves the cinema, based on a number of strong positive reactions to the film).
Nothing gets my goat up like “KUNG FU FIGHTING” on the marketing materials (and this didn’t help Steven Chow’s SHAOLIN SOCCER one bit, the film was a massive failure at the box-office).
When it comes to Kung Fu (and only kung-fu), I’ll stick to the Chinese/HK comedies on the subject. American farces on the subject (Rush Hour I’m looking at you) leave me cold.
There is a lotta flicks out there, in the theatre and on DVD, gotta narrow it down somehow. KFP certainly doesn’t make the grade for my $$$ or my childrens eyeballs.
@goon: “But there’s a reason it’s been used for so long, in so many different situations: what the hell else are you gonna use?”
I think that is a weak defense, but what the hell else are you gonna use?
“I think that is a weak defense, but what the hell else are you gonna use?”
In the trailer I groaned more at the Kill Bill music than the Kung Fu fighting use.
“gotta narrow it down somehow.”
When you’re judging a films overall originality, sorry – using the trailer still doesn’t make the grade with me.
To Which I will respond that I’ve done my ‘reviews’ research. yes, that ain’t foolproof, everyones reaction to a movie is different and all, but I’ll take my busted system, what the hell else am I gonna use?
(OK, I’ll stop making my lame joke, but wha…OK, I’ll stop)
I posted the review up but I’m going to defend the choice to judge a movie based on its trailer. I really had no intention of seeing KFP until all the reviews started coming in. If the studio can not take 2 minutes out of a movie that make the movie look good then there is something wrong with either the movie or the trailer creators.
Good trailers have gotten me into shitty movies and shitty trailers have kept me away from good movies. I’d love to have the time and energy to watch every movie so I could form a true opinion but until I win the lottery and retire I will have to go with the fact that I likely will not go to movies with shitty trailers and KFP definitely had some bad trailers.
As for the Kung Fu Fighting song… it only plays during the closing credits so if it does bother you can leave without missing any of the movie.
I usually stick around through the entire credits but I had to deal with a 5 year old saying that he had to go to the bathroom so I didn’t see or hear much of them.
(And I groaned at the Kill Bill music (which by the way is from originally from a Junji Sakamoto film, and bares the title of a Kinji Fukasaku film)
Obviously in KFB, it is playing on the Kill Bill thing though; Dreamworks’ lazy shorthand.
Ugh.
@John – “As for the Kung Fu Fighting song… it only plays during the closing credits so if it does bother you can leave without missing any of the movie.”
It bothers me by its very presence. Says a lot of what the studio intended for the film. To me, anyway.
I Fucking HATE “Kung Fu Fighting”. It was one of the main reasons I had no interest in seeing KFP. If the producers are really that lazy to use this fucking song that’s been used to marked almost every fucking martial arts movie in the states then something most be wrong.
It’s like they think that people don’t realize that the film has kung fu in it so they have to underline it with a song that has “Kung Fu” in the title. Fucking unimaginative lazy fucks.
Pardon my french but this song really gets my goat.
“As for the comedy/drama debate, Forrest Gump is clearly both. There’s no denying that some of the wartime sequences, the abuses Jenny faced as a child at the hands of her father, the ending, etc., are very dramatic. But there’s just as much of the film that plays it for laughs (telling John Kennedy that he has to pee, the Watergate scene Henrik described above, the basic training sequences, etc).”
Forrest Gump is not a comedy, it’s a drama through and through. We are not meant to go “HA HA HA” when Gump does something childlike, we are meant to go “Awwwww that’s cute”. It has light moments but they are not set up as jokes with punch lines as most comedies do. This “comedy” is equivalent to when we see a cute puppy look at the camera and tilt its head. Awwwww.
This “Kung Fu Fighting” debate is getting out of hand. There’s nothing wrong with the song and frankly, I don’t see the big deal. 30 year old men may have issues with it but the movie isn’t trying to sell to you (though in a way it is since you have the money), it’s trying to sell to your kids, kids that will then drive you up the wall batty to take them out to see the movie. Not sure if even that’s successful with all the marketing but to pin it on the use of one song seems wrong.
Thank you Marina.
You know what I fucking hate… the James Bond theme. I mean come on its been done at least 20 times. Its like action movies have no originality any more.
What if “Eye of the Tiger” was used in every sports film? That would be fantastic.
There is Dreamworks for you, Commerce before art. At least Pixar seems to be aiming a little higher. I realize this ‘ultra-boiled-down’ point leaves me vulnerable to all manner of attack.
Look at the last series of ads for pixar films and then contrast them to Kung Fu Panda. Pixar has a level of creativity (Ratatouille, Cars had the ‘fake-car-ad’ trailer, etc. Monsters Inc had the talky ‘whose-on-first’ style teaser) They are creative even in their ads.
Nope, major fail for the laziness of Kung Fu Fighting. Bleh.
@John. James Bond don’t count, as it’s a franchise, but what if ever high-action-adventure film used the James Bond theme? Eh? Think you’d be fed up?
lol… so instead of Kung Fu Fighting Pixar at least goes with the theme for Great Escape. That tune has never been used before.
I don’t buy the argument of The Great Escape theme being as over-used. Besides it works in the context of that portion of the trailer on a small level. I have to admit that I didn’t even know that theme until you mentioned it, despite seeing TGE twice.
Kung Fu Fighting is so fucking broad and over-played. While the Great Escape is not a great bastion of originality, the curious ‘documentary-styled’ teaser for Wall-E with the sketches from other films was an unusual way to make a trailer…
“What if “Eye of the Tiger” was used in every sports film? That would be fantastic.” – I’m guessing this is a joke but as far as I’m concerned, you can’t get too much “Eye of the Tiger” – freakin’ awesome tune.
And agreed, that Dreamworks is showing some lack of creativity but it’s already well established that nothing comes close to the greatness of Pixar so aren’t we just re-hashing what we all already know? And to be fair, I’m not as big a fan of Pixar as others but I do love me Finding Nemo. “I wish I could speak whale”
“Pixar has a level of creativity (Ratatouille, Cars had the ‘fake-car-ad’ trailer, etc. Monsters Inc had the talky ‘whose-on-first’ style teaser) They are creative even in their ads.”
The Kung Fu Panda teaser has the panda telling people to turn off their cellphones. For me that’s about as creative as spoofing whose-on-first or making a car.
While I appreciate creativity and originality, I think berating a movie for a song that plays in the trailer and not actually in the film is a bit petty. Apparently (from what I’ve read here) the song only plays in the credits. So big deal.
I have to admit to chuckling a bit at Jack Black’s humor in the trailer. The “ski-doosh” bouncing off the belly thing was old school Black (ala Tenacious D/High Fidelity). Pretty funny.
Still, I doubt I’ll ever drum up the time to see this. {sarcasm} Especially with The Incredible Hulk coming out this weekend. Ya-HOO!! {/sarcasm}
Using a song in a trailer that’s been used over and over and over to the point of nausea not only conveys unoriginality but also it talks down to the viewer. Like I said before it feels like they are pointing towards the screen and shouting “Look kids Kung Fu! Like in the song!”
That’s why I rolled my eyes when I saw the trailer and gave me no hope that this would be any good because it lacks originality.
But the film is obviously better than the trailer suggests so I blame the idiot marketing people for throwing people off. A trailer is supposed to get you interested in the product not push you away.
Oh no. Here we go with the incredible hulk talk. For my two cents…I don’t expect anything on the level of Ang Lee’s film, which I thoroughly love and enjoy, but I am expecting to be entertained and maybe even surprised.
Harry Knowles really liked Hulk, but then again he likes just about everything.
Yeah…I’m not exactly jumping at the bit to figure out what some of the mainstream blogsites think of the film because for the most part, these are the same folks that panned and continue to pan, Ang Lee’s film. And if I did take some of those reviews to the bank, I probably wouldn’t be seeing “The Happening” this weekend either. But I’m a difficult person to dissuade once I’ve made up my mind and I’ve decided I’ll go and see both.
I’m definitely down for THE HAPPENING. The Hulk, I’ll be taking a pass on, thank-you very much.