Kung Fu Panda/Secrets of the Furious Five (Two-Pack) DVD Review

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 12.20.2008

DreamWorks Animation's newest CGI franchise is out on DVD, but will it blind you with it's awesomeness or fall flat on its belly?

Directed by: Mark Osborne & John Stevenson (Kung Fu Panda)/Raman Hui (Secrets of the Furious Five)
Written by: Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger (Kung Fu Panda)/Todd Berger, Jed Diffenderfer & Paul McEvoy (Secrets of the Furious Five)

Starring:
Jack Black - Po
Dustin Hoffman - Master Shifu
Angelina Jolie - Master Tigress
Ian McShane - Tai Lung
Seth Rogen - Master Mantis
Lucy Liu - Master Viper
David Cross - Master Crane
Randall Duk Kim - Master Oogway
James Hong - Mr. Ping
Dan Fogler - Zeng
Michael Clarke Duncan - Commander Vachir
Jackie Chan - Master Monkey
Will Shadley - Nerdy Bunny
Eamon Pirruccello - Impatient Bunny
Grace Rolek - Shy Bunny
Max Koch - Mantis
James Sie - Viper Dad / Pig
Meredith Scott Lynn - Viper Mom
Jessica Di Cicco - Young Viper
Stephanie Lemelin - Mei Ling
Tom Owens - Ladybug
Carol Kane - Sheep

Domestic Gross: $215,434,591
Worldwide Gross: $633,395,021

DVD Release Date: 11/8/2008
Running Time: 91 minutes (Kung Fu Panda); 24 minutes (Secrets of the Furious Five)



Rated PG for sequences of martial arts action

While Pixar Studios may be the heavyweight champion of the CGI animated movie, there is little doubt that the number one contender is DreamWorks Animation. The studio seemed tied into competition with the Disney-associated studio from the start with their first computer-animated feature, Antz, opening opposite A Bug’s Life in 1998 and getting trounced in the box office. Still, the insect-populated film turned a profit for the studio and encouraged them to try again. The result was an unprecedented success, as 2001’s Shrek broke box office records for a CGI animated film en route to a $268 million domestic gross and nearly half a billion dollars worldwide. The even more successful Shrek 2 came three years later, and it still stands as the most successful animated film of all-time—and one of the most successful films of all-time period. While the studio has yet to come close to equaling those numbers again, they have still been able to consistently churn out hits, with Over the Hedge, Shrek the Third, Madagascar and Bee Movie all managing to find audiences, at one level or another.

This success and perceived rivalry with Pixar carried through this summer. With the highly anticipated WALL-E on the horizon for Pixar, DreamWorks put together what they hoped to be a winner. Inspired by the success enjoyed by the martial arts comedy Kung Fu Hustle in 2004, the studio created Kung Fu Panda. Headlined by Jack Black and packed with well-known actors such as Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Seth Rogan and Jackie Chan, the film was another huge success for the studio; while WALL-E would narrowly out-gross the movie state-side, when it came to worldwide gross there was no contest, as the panda pounded the robot by over $130 million. It also drew a high level critical praise, and it is no surprise that a sequel is scheduled for release in 2011. In the meantime, DreamWorks has given the film its release on DVD, along with a companion, direct-to-video feature called Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five.

The Movies

The main feature tells the story of Po (Black), a panda who dreams of being more then he is. After an opening sequence that is nicely animated in a traditional style (as opposed to CGI), we learn that Po works in the noodle restaurant that has been in his family for generations. His father (Hong) expects that he will take over the family business, telling Po that “We are noodle folk. Broth runs through our veins.” Po, however, wants to be a kung fu master and idolizes the Furious Five—Tigress (Jolie), Monkey (Chan), Crane (Cross), Viper (Lieu) and Mantis (Rogen)—and their master, Shifu (Hoffman). When the martial arts masters give a demonstration so the venerable Oogway (Duk Kim) can choose the legendary Dragon Warrior among them, Po’s attempts to see causes a fireworks catastrophe that results in his being chosen, seemingly by accident. Shifu and the warriors are appalled, and the Master intends to run the panda out of training…a fact he finds more difficult then he realizes. Po is having the time of his life being mercilessly pummeled. Unfortunately his time is running out, as Tai Lung (McShane), Shifu’s first student, has escaped from a highly fortified prison and seeks the title of Dragon Warrior. It falls on Po to stop him, and Shifu to prepare him for the battle.

Kung Fu Panda, as directed by Mark Osborne and John Stevenson, is a lightweight, enjoyable movie that brings more to the table then would be expected. The script, by first time feature writers Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger, take several cues from martial arts films and both spoof and honor them at the same time. Aibel and Berger have a very light story to work from as concocted by the team of Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, but they take that story and make something that is sincerely funny and yet earnest at the same time. By combining what audiences know and love from the epic kung fu films of the past with jokes that honor the genre at the same time it pokes fun at it, the screenwriters create the perfect sort of framework for the directors to build the movie around. Meanwhile, Osborne and Stevenson work with production designer Raymond Zibach and art director Tang Kheng Heng—neither of whom are slouches in the field of animated films—and create some truly beautiful, dizzying animation sequences. The film sparkles most clearly during the fight sequences, such as the big demonstration at the Jade Palace where Po stumbles into his apparent destiny or the prison escape of Tai Lung. The creators combine exciting action with strong visuals, and the result is something quite impressive.

Of course, the visuals would be lacking without a strong cast to back it up. This is clearly a Jack Black vehicle, and he owns the film as Po. The standard strategy for computer animated films seems to be loading your cast with big names; this is a tactic that doesn’t always work well, but here it works out quite nicely. While Black has a distinctive voice, you can certainly buy him as Po, and it is quite easy to let his real-life appearance fade away in order to believe in him as the hapless panda. Much like he was with Tropic Thunder, Black reins himself in as opposed to his headlining live-action work and it works to his benefit. Dustin Hoffman is clearly having a lot of fun as Shifu, making him a surly, demanding teacher who must overcome his own imperfections before he can help Po do the same. He adds a gravitas to the film without weighing it down; a tricky feat to achieve, but one Hoffman is easily able to do. The supporting cast is quite good; Jolie leads the Furious Five with a feline growl to her performance, McShane is quite threatening as the evil Tai Lung, and Rogen, Lieu, Cross and Chan all fill out the Furious Five well enough. Good performances also come out of the brief roles given to James Hong as Ping, Randall Duk Kim as Oogway, Dan Fogler as Zeng and Michael Clarke Duncan as rhino commander Vachir.

Is the movie flawless? Certainly, that’s not the case. The story is pretty threadbare when you come down to it and while it clearly works for children with the anthropomorphized characters, funny lines and slapstick situations, the message that there is no special ingredient in making someone great seems to be one that might go over kids’ heads; the action may also be too much for some younger children. However, the film’s pace is strong and never lets one focus too long on the flaws, making it an enjoyable experience from start to finish and one of DreamWorks’s better CGI efforts to date.

Kung Fu Panda Rating: 8.0

The companion DVD Secrets of the Furious Five features a twenty-four minute short with the same title. Taking place after the events of Panda, Po is assigned by Shifu to instruct an introductory kung fu class. His students, an unruly lot of bunnies, are far from easy to teach and want to know all about how to beat people up. Po tries to teach them that combat is only a part of kung fu, and proceeds to tell the children the stories of how the Furious Five came to be the martial arts heroes that they are as part of the lesson.

Furious Five diverges from the style of its predecessor somewhat by animating the pasts of the Furious Five in traditional cell animation, modeled after the shadow puppet-esque style from Panda’s opening sequence. The decision almost certainly resulted in a less expensive project, but it still looks quite good. The story is more children-oriented then the main film and goes a bit heavier on the lesson aspect as a result; the theme is that inner power is more important than the ability to kick ass and take names. It’s a fun short that will certainly appeal to children and to adults, though in a lesser way for the more grown-up audience. Made on a far cheaper budget, most of the cast does not return; only Black, Hoffman, Cross and Duk Kim reprise their voices, leaving talents like veteran voice actors Tara Strong and Jackie Chan’s son Jaycee to play the younger roles of the heroes. It may not quite carry the quality of the full-length film, but it is certainly no slouch in the charm department and will be a short the children will surely love.

Secrets of the Furious Five Rating: 7.0

Combined Films Rating: 7.5

The Video

The video transfer for Kung Fu Panda, presented in a 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio, is nothing short of splendid. The film has a very colorful palette, and all the colors show up quite attractively on the nicely-done transfer DreamWorks gives us. There are no issues with sharpness or haloing, and the digital CGI allows the film to have no source flaws. One might notice a little bit of softness in some of the scenes, but it’s entirely negligible and easily missed on all but the best televisions.

Video Rating: 9.5

The Audio

The audio track, presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 format, is nearly as strong as the video. Music, dialogue and sound effects blend together nicely to create a full and luxurious experience for the ears. There is a strong sense of leveling across all speakers, and the battle sequences come off very effectively. At no point does one have to strain to hear or mess with the volume levels. The disc also contains an English Dolby 2.0 track and 5.1 Spanish and French. Subtitles are available in English, Spanish and French.

Audio Rating: 8.5

Special Features

Audio Commentary with Directors Mark Osborne and John Stevenson: Many animated film commentary tracks can come off feeling dry and unengaging, as the directors focus on too much of the technical details. Osborne and Stevenson avoid that trap as they talk us through the movie, giving us plenty of details on the technical aspects but mixing in just as much on the creative process as well. The duo keeps the track moving along at a brisk pace and leaves us with few dead spot, resulting in a worthwhile track to check out once you’ve seen the film.

Meet the Cast: (13:14) This thirteen-minute long short introduces us to the voice cast, featuring snippets of interviews and shots of them working behind the microphone. While the tone of the short remains as the sort of congratulatory, compliment-rich thing one expects out of these, they do provide some good tidbits from the actors, all of whom are relatively inexperienced in voice work, about the experience and what it was like.

Pushing the Boundaries: (7:04) This is a rather broad examination of the computer animation process that went into creating the movie. We see a lot of the things we’ve seen before on features like this, including early models of the characters and how new technologies had to be created to handle it. The prerequisite discussions of how complex the work is are included, though they make some nice points about how difficult it is to create characters fur or clothing, much less characters with both. It’s engaging, but not so informative if you’ve seen many of these before.

Sound Design: (3:52) This is a brief overview with the directors and sound editor and designer talking about the movie’s audio design. Again, details are a bit sketchy, though we get some nice pieces of the sound crew at work.

Music Video: This is a music video for Cee-Lo’s “Kung Fu Fighting” cover. The cover is lackluster and the video similarly so, with the usual shots from the movie included and a cameo from Black. Not my cup of tea at all.

Mr. Ping’s Noodle House: (4:40) This featurette, narrated by Alton Brown of Iron Chef America, covers the creation of Chinese noodles. It’s mildly interesting, but certainly not must-see DVD material.

How to Use Chopsticks: (2:55) This short is pretty self-explanatory, as we are shown the proper way to use chopsticks. If you’ve been trying and failing to use those things for years like people I know, this could finally set you on the right track.

Conservation International: Help Save Wild Pandas: (1:57) The requisite pro-environmental message pops up here, with Black hosting and letting us know what we can do to help preserve the dwindling population of panda bears worldwide. Yes, it’s absolute propaganda, no doubt about it, but it’s fluffy propaganda and I can’t find myself disagreeing with the cause.

Dragon Warrior Training Academy: The first DVD feature for the kids, this features a few interactive DVD games to earn the fabled title of Dragon Warrior from the movie. The games are, as typical, irritating and not particularly fun, but they’ll keep the kids occupied for a bit.

Printables and Weblinks: A DVD-ROM feature, this has more kid-oriented activities to bring them further into the world of the movie. They all look interesting enough for kids, though certainly not too intriguing for this reviewer.

The DVD features on Secrets of the Furious Five are, much like the last few features from the main disc, more kid-oriented then adult.

Po’s Power Play: This section is separated into three subsections. “Learn to Draw” teaches viewers in an easy-to-follow set of steps how to drew each of the Furious Five, while “Dumpling Shuffle” is a game where you have to guess which bowl has the dumpling under it after they’ve been moved around. The last piece, “Pandamonium Activity Kit,” features more DVD-ROM activities to keep kids busy.

Land of the Panda: This section has five pieces to it. “Learn the Panda Dance” is again obviously kid-oriented, and teaches them how to do the steps of the ‘Panda Dance.’ “Do You Kung Fu” gives us a warning not to beat each other up, then shows the fighting poses that inspired the Furious Five. There is “Inside the Chinese Zodiac,” which is a nice little lesson about the Chinese Zodiac that will help you find what animal you were born under, and “Animals of Kung Fu Panda” which gives some basic information about the real-life animals and how they inspired the kung fu styles they’re named after. The last piece is “What Fighting Style Are You?” which asks a series of multiple choice questions before telling you what style you most represent.

Special Features Rating: 8.0

The 411: Jack Black is an actor who, when left to his own devices, can sometimes overdo things. Here he reins himself in and makes Kung Fu Panda a thoroughly enjoyable movie. Supplemented by a nice cast including Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie and Ian McShane, he carries us through a lightweight script and provides a lot of laughs along the way. The beautiful visuals of the film keep things interesting, and by the end you're left with one of the cuter movies, and certainly one of the best animated films, of the year. The companion piece, Secrets of the Furious Five, is not as strong due to the lack of the original voice cast, but still provides a pleasant distraction. A strong visual and audio transfer and a decent set of special features makes this one adults and kids alike should enjoy for various parts.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]