Kung Fu Panda

[SimonM]

I really enjoyed it. I really took a liking to Po, and esp. liked the masterful body language and facial expressions of the characters.

On a side note, the Tai Lang character sorta seems inspired by the villains portrayed by Hwang In-Sik (in The Young Master); Hwang Jang-Lee (in Lackey and the Lady Tiger); and Chang Shan (Shaolin vs. Lama).

Not to forget the crazy master in chains who plays villain to the second half of Swordsman II.

[LoneTiger108]

Just when you thought Kung Fu movies had turned the corner into respectability, along comes this:

Black To Voice Kung Fu Panda

D reamWorks Animation is developing Kung Fu Panda, an animated film featuring the voice of Jack Black, which is set for 2008, Variety reported.

The film will be influenced by cartoonish live-action movies like Kung Fu Hustle and will star Black as the voice of a lazy panda prophesied to save the Valley of Peace, the trade paper reported.

The film will be directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne. Melissa Cobb will produce, from a screenplay by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab.

I recently went to a private screening at Paramount in London, where a freelance writer interviewed me.

Here's his take on what I was babbling about!

http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/...289517,00.html

[冠木侍]

don't know who your listening too, but you should stop. american films usually do well in china. even the departed did well in china.

I already added a disclaimer. Save your sarcasm.

[GeneChing]

...then again, he could be on the plant. Didn't Japan bust McCartney for that?

And some one refresh me - how many lines did Lucy have in KFP to define her character?

Kung fu fightin'
By Chris Betros
TOKYO —

Hugable, loveable and squeezable. Those were the three characteristics of Po, the panda star of the animated film “Kung Fu Panda.” So producers had to find an actor with those same qualities. “That’s me. I’m the only such human being on the plant,” quipped Jack Black during a visit to Tokyo with co-star Lucy Liu, director Mark Osborne and DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg (making his 91st visit to these shores).

A typical DreamWorks animation extravaganza, “Kung Fu Panda” debuted at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and received a standing ovation from the 2,000-strong audience. With voice talents such as Black, Liu, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane and Jackie Chan, “Kung Fu Panda” has been a big hit all around the world (including China), which has been very gratifying, said Black.

Set in ancient China, “Kung Fu Panda” revolves around a clumsy panda named Po (Black), who is being groomed by his father to take over the family noodle shop but secretly aspires to be a kung-fu warrior. To his surprise, Po is revealed as the chosen one to defend the valley. But the villainous leopard (McShane) doesn’t agree and Po must get into shape for the final battle, under the tutelage of temple master (Hoffman), Tigress (Jolie), Viper (Liu), Monkey (Chan) and other assorted characters.

Most of the cast underwent six hours of martial arts training (for no particular reason), the end result being that they can pretend to do kung fu, said Black, 39. “This is my best pose,” he said, jumping up onto the table and showing some moves. “Everytime I do this, I need a massage.”

Liu, 39, making her 5th visit to Japan, said the most challenging aspect of the film was working in a room without other actors. “Usually you get energy from other actors, but when you are recording on your own, it is not that easy,” she said. “You have to put your faith in the director and hope he lets you be as free and open as possible. But I really jumped at the chance to do this movie. My parents, who live in Taiwan, don’t really know what I do, so this is one movie they can embrace because the backdrop is where they are from.”

Black, who was last in Japan five years ago for “School of Rock,” said he loved the chance to be able to improvise in a way actors are normally not allowed to do. “All the great animation films in recent years have been ones where the voice actors could flex their improv muscles. Just look at Robin Williams as the genie in ‘Aladdin’ or Eddie Murphy as the donkey in ‘Shrek.’ It’s a thrill to be able to work in that style.”

Black, known at time for his frenetic style of acting, said he got some useful tips from Hoffman. “He taught me the value of whispering a line rather than screaming it out. I think that along with the accolades the film has been getting worldwide, the best memories I have are the day-to-day fun we had doing the vocal performances.”

Black, who balances his movie career with his band Tenacious D, already has three new movies in the pipeline, and has just signed on for “School of Rock 2: America Rocks,” in which his character goes on a cross-country road trip with a group of summer school students, teaching them about the history of rock and roll and examining the roots of various music genres.

Meanwhile, Liu said she would love to make a third “Charlie’s Angels movie,” but is happy to do more animation. “It’s nice not having to concentrate on my hair, make-up and wardrobe. I can just focus on the character.”

[GeneChing]

Maybe Jackie and Lucy will get a few more lines...

Did you like Kung Fu Panda, the animated martial arts farce that showed Jack Black's true calling might be acting/emoting in cartoons? Better question, did your kids like it?

Chances are they did. Loved it. It was a huge hit for Dreamworks this past summer. And when it comes to video Nov. 9 (You KNOW you have to have it.), it will be bundled with a direct-to-DVD sequel-prequel titled The Secret of the Furious Five. Dreamworks has been doing stuff like this, adding a penguin featurette to Madagascar a couple of years back, for instance.

[GeneChing]

....WALL-E is my bet.

Kung Fu Panda is up for Best Animated Feature. As much as I loved Kung Fu Panda (I own it, or rather I should say Santa gave it to my kid ), I think WALL-E (which I also...um, which Santa also gave to my kid ) is a stronger Oscar candidate overall. But in the end, I'm very happy to see the words "Kung Fu" in the nominee list. It's sort of the yang to the yin of the razzies.

Go Slumdog Millionaire!

The nominees are...

[sanjuro_ronin]

....WALL-E is my bet.

Kung Fu Panda is up for Best Animated Feature. As much as I loved Kung Fu Panda (I own it, or rather I should say Santa gave it to my kid ), I think WALL-E (which I also...um, which Santa also gave to my kid ) is a stronger Oscar candidate overall. But in the end, I'm very happy to see the words "Kung Fu" in the nominee list. It's sort of the yang to the yin of the razzies.

Go Slumdog Millionaire!

The nominees are...

I would agree, Wall-E was superb.

[GeneChing]

I still think the Oscar will go to WALL-E

"Kung Fu Panda" sweeps Annie Awards
Sun Feb 1, 2009 9:31pm EST
By Gregg Kilday

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Kung Fu Panda" pulled out all its martial arts moves at the 36th annual Annie Awards, where it was named best animated feature.

The DreamWorks Animation feature dominated Friday's awards ceremony at UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles, presented by ASIFA-Hollywood, the Los Angeles chapter of the International Animated Film Society.

"Panda" won the top prize over such other nominees as the critical favorites "WALL-E" and "Waltz With Bashir" and swept the feature film categories with 10 trophies, topping Pixar's "Ratatouille" run last year, when it earned nine Annies, including best feature.

Additionally, DWA's "Secrets of the Furious Five," a 24-minute short that appears on the "Panda" DVD, took four awards in the TV production/shortform categories, and Activision's "Kung Fu Panda" game won the award for best video game.

Since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences set up its best animated feature category in 2001, the Annie winner has gone on to score the animation Oscar every year except for two years ago, when the Annies opted for "Cars" but the Academy chose "Happy Feet."

Rounding out the top prize recipients, Aardman Animations' "Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death" was named best animated short subject.

ShadowMachine's "Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II" was honored as best animated TV production, while Nickelodeon's "Avatar: The Last Airbender" won the prize for best TV production produced for children.

"Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs," from the Curiosity Co. and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, was victorious in the home entertainment category, and Duck Studios' "Heart" ad for United Airlines was the TV commercial prize winner.

he "Panda" awards parade to the winner's podium continued throughout the evening. It included a directing award for John Stevenson and Mark Osborne, writing honors for Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, animated effects for Le-Ming Lawrence Lee, character animation for James Baxter and storyboarding for Jen Yuh Nelson.

Dustin Hoffman, who plays kung fu master Shifu in "Panda," earned the award for voice acting in a feature film.

Nico Marlet took home two awards for character design, for "Panda" and "Secrets." Tang Heng also was a double winner for production design on both projects. And Hans Zimmer and John Powell also were recognized twice, for "Panda's" music and the "Secrets" score, where they were joined by Henry Jackman.

KFP did well in China too.

Secrets of success behind "Kung Fu Panda"
Source: CCTV.com
01-31-2009 10:11

Last year, nine movies grossed over one hundred million yuan at the Chinese box office. One of the biggest winners is Kung Fu Panda, a Hollywood take on China's martial arts tradition and the beloved furry bear.

Po is a panda who works in a noodle restaurant. He is a kung fu fanatic with secret dreams of becoming a grand master. In true Hollywood style, Po's long-cherished dream eventually comes true, despite his excessive weight and comic clumsiness. As the Dragon Warrior, he defeats the archenemy of the valley and saves all the animals.

While the movie was created by Dreamworks in the United States, the key elements - the panda and kungfu both come from China. From costumes and design to music, Kung Fu Panda makes a point of presenting the charm of Chinese culture. Its creators worked hard to make sure they got it right. And the results, such as the Furious Five, have met with acclaim in China.

With this sincere attitude to Chinese culture, it is no wonder that Kung Fu Panda has done so well in China.

Editor:Liu Fang

[GeneChing]

I got the double DVD release (or I should say my kid got it from Santa). It should have been longer.

Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman Return in DreamWorks Animation's SECRETS OF THE FURIOUS FIVE, the Annie Award-Winning Follow-Up to Kung Fu Panda

Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman Return in DreamWorks Animation's SECRETS OF THE FURIOUS FIVE, the Annie Award-Winning Follow-Up to Kung Fu Panda

Packed with Special Features, New Adventure Arrives for the First Time as a Single DVD on March 24, 2009

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Discover the origins of Kung Fu Panda's unforgettable menagerie of martial arts masters in SECRETS OF THE FURIOUS FIVE from DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. (NYSE: DWA) , revealed as a single DVD for the first time ever from Paramount Home Entertainment on March 24, 2009, following its broadcast debut on NBC on February 26. This delightful adventure won four prestigious Annie Awards for Best Character Animation, Character Design, Music and Production Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form, following the path of Kung Fu Panda, which took home an astounding 10 awards, including animation's highest honor, Best Animated Feature. SECRETS OF THE FURIOUS FIVE once again features the voices of Jack Black as the heroic and beloved Kung Fu-practicing panda, Po, and Dustin Hoffman as his teacher, Master Shifu, a role that won him an Annie Award for Voice Acting. The SECRETS OF THE FURIOUS FIVE single-disc DVD arrives just in time for Easter gift giving and packs a punch with interactive bonus features that add to the awesomeness of this hilarious animated adventure.

With more of the action, humor and Kung Fu Panda characters that charmed moviegoers worldwide, SECRETS OF THE FURIOUS FIVE delves into the history of the fearless defenders of the Valley of Peace as they perform thrilling feats of bravery in exciting exploits that also deliver heartwarming life lessons. This time, Dragon Warrior Po faces what may be his greatest challenge: teaching a class of beginning Kung Fu students. Drawing on his encyclopedic Kung Fu fan-boy knowledge, Po captivates his rambunctious young scholars with the early tales of Monkey, Tigress, Mantis, Viper and Crane, revealing how they unlocked important teachings about the art and ideals of Kung Fu, including patience, courage, confidence, discipline and compassion.

DreamWorks Animation's SECRETS OF THE FURIOUS FIVE Synopsis

Skadoosh! The story continues! He may have defeated Tai Lung, but Dragon Warrior Po (Jack Black) must now face Shifu's (Dustin Hoffman) biggest challenge, teaching Kung Fu to a group of eager bunnies from the Valley of Peace. Although Po is now able to face the fiercest of villains, he is completely out of his element in the classroom. To gain the unruly group's attention, he leans on the one thing closest to his heart; his knowledge of Kung Fu lore. He tells the students the stories of how each of the five unlocked an important lesson which allowed them to become "excellent" and put them on the road to being the Kung Fu masters they are today. In the end, Po will see that through sharing these stories, he has taught the bunnies much more important lessons than he ever could have through Kung Fu exercises.

[Zenshiite]

Secrets of the Furious Five is pretty great wude stuff.

My son watches that almost as much as he watches Kung Fu Panda and Wall-E.

[BrokenTitanium]

I read recently that there will be a Kung Fu Panda 2 sometime on 2010 or 2011.

[GeneChing]

I would be overjoyed to see KFP take it, but my money is still on W-E.

'Kung Fu Panda' vs. 'WALL-E" for animation Oscar
BY RAFER GUZMÁN | rafer.guzman@newsday.com
February 19, 2009

Art versus commerce, critical taste versus popular opinion - not the issues usually associated with animated cartoons. But these are the undercurrents of this year's Oscar race for best animated feature, making the category a bit more exciting than usual.

In June, Disney/Pixar released "WALL-E," about a droopy-eyed, trash-compacting robot who saves the Earth from a polluting mega-corporation. It became a massive favorite among critics, who compared it to Charlie Chaplin's silent masterpieces (its first 40 minutes are nearly wordless) and crowned it the year's best film in the Village Voice's recent critics' poll. Until recently, "WALL-E" seemed the clear front-runner for the animation Oscar, to be announced Sunday.

But then came last month's Annie Awards for animation, a low-profile but important honor. And the top prize went to - "Kung Fu Panda"?

That DreamWorks Animation product, about a chubby panda (voiced by Jack Black) who becomes an unlikely martial-arts master, received decent reviews but became a major crowd-pleaser. Worldwide, "Kung Fu Panda" outgrossed "WALL-E" by about $100 million, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.

How important are the Annies? Since the Academy Awards debuted the animation category in 2002, the Annies have predicted the Oscar pick every year but one. With that in mind, here's how the deck is stacking up:

MOVIE "Bolt"

THE DEAL With a surprisingly effective John Travolta as the voice of a cuddly mutt who believes he's a superhero, this Disney film was arguably as adorable as "Kung Fu Panda" and certainly more of a tearjerker. But this movie would have to exert a superheroic effort to win.

MOVIE "WALL-E"

THE DEAL The adorable, mopey little robot known as Waste Allocation Load Lifter-Earth Class, may find himself tossed onto Oscar's trash heap.

MOVIE "Kung Fu Panda"

THE DEAL Expect gracious applause if this cute but conventional movie wins on Sunday. Now that the Annies have spoken, only contrarians would bet against this one.

[冠木侍]

Funny, I came across this article last night online.

I haven't seen Wall-E yet.

It would be cool if Kung Fu Panda comes home with the prize but it seems like it was an underdog to begin with. People didn't seem that interested in it when it first came out, even though it ended up grossing more money.

Disney/Pixar seem to have a brand name that catches peoples' attention, and with good reason. I'm gonna see if I can watch Wall-E this weekend before the big day on Sunday.

[GeneChing]

We've announced our winners to our recent DVD sweepstakes for Secrets of the Furious Five DVDs.

[GeneChing]

There will surely be more on this next week. As you know, we were very active with quake relief. We are still collecting donations for Martial Arts for Quake Victims through DVD sales

Quake survivor "Panda" bounds into China's theaters
2009-05-08 03:56:50 GMT2009-05-08 11:56:50 (Beijing Time) SINA.com
Disney's "Trail of the Panda" will hit the screen on the Chinese mainland on May 8. (Photo: chinadaily.com.cn)

Hoping a cuddly black-and-white national treasure will again produce Chinese box-office gold, Walt Disney Studios is releasing "Trail of the Panda" here Friday (May 8).

The release precedes by days the first anniversary of the deadly earthquake that uprooted the endangered species' home. It follows by almost a year the record-breaking box-office run of DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda," which earned more than $14.7 million in China last summer.

Disney's second Chinese-language film, "Trail" unspools on 900 of the country's roughly 4,000 screens via Huaxia Film Distribution.

The story of an orphaned boy who saves a twin panda cub separated from its mother, "Trail" was nearly ruined last spring. As shooting wound down in the Wolong Giant Panda Nature Reserve in southwest China's Sichuan province, an 8.0 quake struck May 12, killing more than 70,000 people in the area.

Twenty-eight members of the film's crew abandoned film and equipment and hiked through the mountains for three days before they were rescued by the Chinese military.

The six pandas used to play the film's star, Pang Pang ("Chubby" in Chinese) survived, but the panda that portrayed the mother of the twin cubs was killed.

"We were toward the tail end of the shoot, with maybe five days to go, when the earth began to shake and just didn't stop," said Jennifer Liu, CEO of Beijing-based Ying Dong Media, which made the film for $5 million. A former Disney employee, Liu co-wrote and produced the film.

Inspired by a true story, the Yu Zhong-directed film was co-written and produced by Jean Chaolpin, creator of "Inspector Gadget."

CELEBRATING BEAUTY

At Wednesday's Beijing premiere, Chalopin said he hopes the film "will celebrate the beautiful place, Sichuan, and these beautiful animals."

Although Chinese critics praised "Kung Fu Panda" for its story and animation, DreamWorks was accused of trying to cash in on China's national treasure and there was a short-lived attempt at a boycott.

The "Trail" film crew lived with the pandas and their caretakers for four months under strict supervision. The penalty in China for panda poaching is public execution.

With much of the mountainous Sichuan scenery they'd filmed destroyed, the filmmakers turned to editor David Richardson for help. "We had to come up with a different way to edit," Liu said. "It was a task David made easy by stitching together what we'd been unable to get after the quake."

Shot in Mandarin, "Panda" was dubbed into Cantonese for south China moviegoers and for its Hong Kong release. Depending on its performance at the Chinese box office, Disney will dub the film into other languages for distribution overseas, Liu said.

Disney's first Chinese-language film, the 2007 coming-of-age story "Secret of the Magic Gourd" -- a live action/animation hybrid -- was a co-production with Hong Kong's Centro Digital Pictures and the China Film Group. It opened on 300 screens in China and earned more than 21 million yuan ($3.1 million).

"Secret" won the best children's film prize at China's 16th annual Golden Rooster Awards and was released stateside on DVD in January, with "High School Musical" star Corbin Bleu providing voice work.