Having learnt about this calamity, Shifu informs Oogway, who makes him promise to believe in Po Oogway then passes on to the heavens in a stream of peach blossoms. Meanwhile, Zeng's warnings are ignored, and Tai Lung escapes from prison by picking his locks with one of the goose's feathers and vanquishing the guards. During this time, Po learns that Shifu's cold and distant behaviour stems from his own shame over Tai Lung's betrayal, having raised him from infancy. Po considers quitting, but after receiving encouragement from Oogway, he endures his training and gradually befriends the Five with his resilience, culinary skill, and good humour. Po arrives too late to enter the arena desperate to see his idols, he accidentally launches himself into the middle of the arena, where Oogway acclaims him as the Dragon Warrior, to the astonishment of everyone present.īelieving Oogway's decision to be an accident, Shifu tries to dispose of Po with a harsh training regime, while the Five dismiss Po as an enthusiast with no potential in martial arts. Panicked, Shifu sends Zeng the goose to increase the security of the prison, while he holds a tournament for the Five so that Oogway can identify the Dragon Warrior, the prophesised hero worthy of reading the Scroll, which is said to grant limitless power on its reader. The wise Master Oogway, Shifu's mentor, predicts that Shifu's former protégé, the evil Tai Lung, will escape from prison and attack the valley to obtain the Dragon Scroll, a legendary artifact he had previously been denied. In the Valley of Peace, a land in Ancient China inhabited by anthropomorphic animals, the clumsy panda Po helps his adoptive father Mr Ping to run their noodle restaurant, but dreams of fighting alongside the Furious Five – Tigress, Monkey, Crane, Viper, and Mantis – a group of kung fu masters trained by Master Shifu.
The success of Kung Fu Panda launched a multimedia franchise and a series of two sequels, with Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) and Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016).
The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film but lost both awards to Pixar’s WALL-E. The film became DreamWorks' biggest opening for a non-sequel film, making it the third highest grossing film of 2008, the highest-grossing animated film of the year worldwide, and also had the fourth-largest opening weekend for a DreamWorks film at the American and Canadian box office, behind all three Shrek sequels. Kung Fu Panda opened in 4,114 theaters, grossing $20.3 million on its opening day and $60.2 million on its opening weekend, resulting in the number one position at the box office. The film received positive reviews for its mature themes, faithfulness to the Chinese environment and tradition, action sequences, and writing. Kung Fu Panda premiered in the United States on June 6, 2008. He visited China to absorb the culture and get to know the China National Symphony Orchestra as part of his preparation. As with most DreamWorks Animation films, Hans Zimmer (this time collaborating with John Powell) scored Kung Fu Panda. The computer animation in the film was more complex than anything DreamWorks had done before. It was originally intended to be a parody of martial arts films, but director Stevenson decided instead to make an action-comedy wuxia film that incorporates the hero's journey narrative archetype for the lead character. The film was originally conceived by Michael Lachance, a DreamWorks Animation executive.
When a notorious kung-fu snow-leopard named Tai Lung is foretold to escape from prison, Po is unwittingly named the "Dragon Warrior" - a kung-fu legend that allows him to defeat. The film is set in a version of ancient China populated by anthropomorphic animals and revolves around a bumbling panda named Po, a kung-fu enthusiast. Directed by John Stevenson (in his feature directorial debut) and Mark Osborne, the film stars the voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Randall Duk Kim, James Hong, Dan Fogler, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Jackie Chan.
It is the first installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise. Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American computer-animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures.