Kung Fu Panda: a classic?

Maybe not

MCT

Issue date: 6/11/08 Section: Features

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Media Credit: staff photo

Plenty of adolescent boys probably think of Angelina Jolie as having been created on a computer of their own hormone-addled minds. But there she was at Cannes last month, doing the French poodle-and-pony show for a computerized cartoon film she wasn't even in. Except for her sultry voice.

"It is a real pleasure as a mom to be able to bring your kids to a film that you also really feel is a good film and goes back to the classic animated films," she said, during the press blitz igniting the international launch of Kung Fu Panda, the highly hyped DreamWorks feature, which cross-pollinates Bruce Lee with your Teddy bear.

Kung Fu Panda is one of the last 2D films DreamWorks Animation reportedly plans to make, but when Jolie said "classic," what did she mean? Two very different animated movies were capturing the imagination, or at least dominating discussions, along the Croissette last month: Panda, of course, and Waltz With Bashir, an Israeli-made, animated documentary about the massacre of Palestinians in 1982 Lebanon. While the latter may, ultimately, be deemed a classic over time, it's not exactly what Jolie had in mind.

No, "classic" in the enchanted realm of big-budget, big-screen cartoon projects--which might include, perhaps, star Jack Black cavorting with dancing pandas on the French Riviera--is more about pushing the same audience buttons via the same emotional devices and structures.

Like an audience at the now-104-year-old Peter Pan being asked to clap their hands and believe in fairies ("Save Tink!"), faith is always a major factor in the way the animated feature plays out on an impressionable audience. What changes is the ambience, the animal species of the characters and of course, the filmmaking technology. What seldom changes is the underdog status and the Joseph Campbell-esque hero's journey.

Take Po (voice of Black), the Ursa Major of the current movie season and the scion of a noodle-making clan in ancient China. His most distinguishing characteristic seems to be that he is the laziest bamboo-eater in Asia. So when greatness is thrust upon him in Kung Fu Panda, the outlook isn't good.

Among recent releases, Barnyard--in which Otis, the chronically laid-back male cow (please don't ask) inherits leadership of the farm--is close to the template for Kung Fu Panda. But it's hardly the only example: Ratatouille presents an unavoidable comparison with Panda (and a box-office take it would like to emulate). In it, a French rat aspires to be a French chef. In light of that, a panda throwing spinning back-kicks seems relatively plausible.

Continued...

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