Movie and Television Reviews

Perfect visuals:

In a computer animation-drenched cinematic age, it's hard to believe that special effects can still impress on their own, but, starting with Po's (the Panda) Anime-style dream of Kung Fu greatness through to a stunning prison escape, the bright colors of the Chinese countryside, and the superbly choreographed fights, Kung Fu Panda is visually stunning.

Perfect story:

Po's father makes noodles, but Po wants to be a Kung Fu champion like the Furious Five, the five best students of Kung Fu master Shifu. When Master Oogway (the super-master, I guess.) has a premonition that the dangerous Tai Lung will escape from prison, he initiates a public ceremony to choose a new Dragon Warrior, distinguished from normal warriors by his possession of a dragon scroll.

Po manages to get on the courtyard and himself chosen as a dragon warrior. What happens next is the standard: hope, failure, non-acceptance, self-doubt, learning to believe in one's self, determination to succeed, training montage, success story arc, but it's a standard for a reason, no? Flawless execution of is the key.

The Karate Kid (Special Edition)

Perfect mass philosophy:

For a certain mind: the more abstract, the more profound. In Kung Fu Panda, we get something having to do with Buddhist-Eastern surrender to fate and acceptance of powerlessness (You can plant a peach seed, but no matter what you want it to be, it will be a peach tree.). Fine. Everybody else will focus on one man's struggle to succeed in a meaningful way (Po doesn't learn his craft to compete for a trophy, but to save a village.).

Barack Obama 2008 - Presidential Election Bumper Stickers (Medium) by Barack Obama

Perfect marketing:

What better way to capitalize on a growing Chinese-world marketplace than a story set in uncontroversial ancient China and featuring the one uniquely Chinese export that Westerners love- acrobatic martial arts.

Perfect humor:

Quality fat jokes, good subversion humor (Ace Ventura and mysticism in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls) and only a couple of body secretion jokes make this the funniest kids' movie in a while.

Imperfection not of its own making:

A fault of Kung Fu Panda is really an unavoidable genre weakness: Fighting gets boring after a while.

ACE VENTURA: WHEN NATURE CALLS (DVD MOVIE)

Message/ Politics:

Kung Fu Panda has one profound free market message that I could not only relate to, but actually almost choked me up: Po fails when he tries to adapt to the accepted forms of Kung Fu. When Po develops a style based on his own vision and unique talents, he triumphs. Take that, central planners!

I don't know how the prison guard unions will react to Kung Fu Panda. Some members might see it as a caricature (literally) of their incompetence while others might view it as an excuse for more funding. Then again, in government, when has the former disqualified the latter?