blinded by awesomeness!
26 Jun 2008 06:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mayoraaseiSpent the last few days being an utter fangirl over Kung Fu Panda XDD
Well, I didn't really like the namesake panda, who reminds me a lot of the pig in Journey to the West...lazy, silly, disrespectful, cowardly...and can't see his toes whatever formation his stomach is in XDDD
Master Shifu (which translates hilariously to Shifu-shifu in Chinese LOL) is the AWE. The absolutely glittering piece of very expensive metal in a very glittering film XDD
It is sad that 1 in 10 reviewers don't know what Master Shifu is. (I didn't either...I thought he was a racoon XD) He's a red panda! Red panda!! Not "Master Racoon" or "mousy-looking Yoda" thank you very much!!!
It's obvious that the producers and scriptwriters have a fine level of appreciation for Chinese culture, and enough knowledge of the wuxia (martial arts films/books) subculture to be poking gentle fun at it. Without any disrespect, of course.
It's a movie of opposites brought into harmony, which is quite a wonderful achievement.
A movie about China produced by Hollywood, but nevertheless overflowing with subdued oriental values and expressed in a way easily perceivable by western audiences. That's not to say everything adhered to some tight representation of Chinese culture, but it mixes western and Chinese ideas in a way that does not conflict - at least not as much as, say, Disney's Mulan.
It is a movie full of predictability and unpredictability. Respecting its origins, it draws from a range of well-used wuxia cliches, but always brings the audience up short with a surprise interjection or a sudden change from what usually happens.
It's a highly comical movie, but somehow still manages to be more emotionally moving and developed than.....oh, I don't know, something twice its length and five times its cast *cough*Narnia*cough*
The interaction between Tai Lung and Shifu produces an interestingly profound subplot of thwarted dreams and over-indulgent love. The selection of Tai Lung as a smooth-voiced smiling gentleman (well, almost...at least for two minutes XD) makes him much less a two-dimensional villain than a prodigy fallen from grace.
The vivid palette and fluid use of very Chinese motifs and objects (like chopsticks, bamboo flutes, Taoist symbols) are complemented by a beautiful soundtrack decked with traditional Chinese instruments. The most poetic moment of the movie is a Japanesque sequence of beautiful fluttering petals.
Fortunately, unlike Disney, it doesn't try to ram its final message down your throat. It is, of course, a "be yourself" message (seems like Hollywood stills fails to come up with anything else), but dressed as "don't try to become who you cannot be - become who you are best at being". The final fight, after Po (our panda) realises this, is sure to send everyone into stitches.
Because Po is best at being big, fat, wobbly, food-loving and very clumsy XDD
Definitely a recommend. And +10 points because people are idiots for trying to boycott this.
Honestly...whining "our national treasure" is getting "exploited" just amounts to an admission that China can't produce anything of the same calibre. And it's not as if China lacks the money or the talent, if it sets its heart to look.
If anything, the movie is more like a free promo for Chinese tourism/culture study industry =__=;;;;
================== I divide, aye ==================
*Cough* Since when was Krawk Island this strong? =__= We've been clean-sweeping everyone except Mystery Island. Admittedly we still have two of the strongest teams to play, but last year Darigan and Shenkuu totally made us eat dust =0=;; I remember even Haunted Woods took a good chip out of our score. Maybe...maybe it's because this year we got rid of the freeloaders who joined simply because of Pirates of the Caribbean! Thank god there was no sequel!
Also I remember a rumour from last year that a group of very good YYB players from one of the helpsites were originally on the HW team (who won first year), and who were playing on the DC team last year (DC won last year) and last year a rumour floated around that they were going to join KI this year. Wow...the power of a small number of people....? =/
Well, I didn't really like the namesake panda, who reminds me a lot of the pig in Journey to the West...lazy, silly, disrespectful, cowardly...and can't see his toes whatever formation his stomach is in XDDD
Master Shifu (which translates hilariously to Shifu-shifu in Chinese LOL) is the AWE. The absolutely glittering piece of very expensive metal in a very glittering film XDD
It is sad that 1 in 10 reviewers don't know what Master Shifu is. (I didn't either...I thought he was a racoon XD) He's a red panda! Red panda!! Not "Master Racoon" or "mousy-looking Yoda" thank you very much!!!
It's obvious that the producers and scriptwriters have a fine level of appreciation for Chinese culture, and enough knowledge of the wuxia (martial arts films/books) subculture to be poking gentle fun at it. Without any disrespect, of course.
It's a movie of opposites brought into harmony, which is quite a wonderful achievement.
A movie about China produced by Hollywood, but nevertheless overflowing with subdued oriental values and expressed in a way easily perceivable by western audiences. That's not to say everything adhered to some tight representation of Chinese culture, but it mixes western and Chinese ideas in a way that does not conflict - at least not as much as, say, Disney's Mulan.
It is a movie full of predictability and unpredictability. Respecting its origins, it draws from a range of well-used wuxia cliches, but always brings the audience up short with a surprise interjection or a sudden change from what usually happens.
It's a highly comical movie, but somehow still manages to be more emotionally moving and developed than.....oh, I don't know, something twice its length and five times its cast *cough*Narnia*cough*
The interaction between Tai Lung and Shifu produces an interestingly profound subplot of thwarted dreams and over-indulgent love. The selection of Tai Lung as a smooth-voiced smiling gentleman (well, almost...at least for two minutes XD) makes him much less a two-dimensional villain than a prodigy fallen from grace.
The vivid palette and fluid use of very Chinese motifs and objects (like chopsticks, bamboo flutes, Taoist symbols) are complemented by a beautiful soundtrack decked with traditional Chinese instruments. The most poetic moment of the movie is a Japanesque sequence of beautiful fluttering petals.
Fortunately, unlike Disney, it doesn't try to ram its final message down your throat. It is, of course, a "be yourself" message (seems like Hollywood stills fails to come up with anything else), but dressed as "don't try to become who you cannot be - become who you are best at being". The final fight, after Po (our panda) realises this, is sure to send everyone into stitches.
Because Po is best at being big, fat, wobbly, food-loving and very clumsy XDD
Definitely a recommend. And +10 points because people are idiots for trying to boycott this.
Honestly...whining "our national treasure" is getting "exploited" just amounts to an admission that China can't produce anything of the same calibre. And it's not as if China lacks the money or the talent, if it sets its heart to look.
If anything, the movie is more like a free promo for Chinese tourism/culture study industry =__=;;;;
*Cough* Since when was Krawk Island this strong? =__= We've been clean-sweeping everyone except Mystery Island. Admittedly we still have two of the strongest teams to play, but last year Darigan and Shenkuu totally made us eat dust =0=;; I remember even Haunted Woods took a good chip out of our score. Maybe...maybe it's because this year we got rid of the freeloaders who joined simply because of Pirates of the Caribbean! Thank god there was no sequel!
Also I remember a rumour from last year that a group of very good YYB players from one of the helpsites were originally on the HW team (who won first year), and who were playing on the DC team last year (DC won last year) and last year a rumour floated around that they were going to join KI this year. Wow...the power of a small number of people....? =/
