If there is one movie out there that is basically the textbook definition of “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover!”, that would be Kung Fu Panda. On paper, this sounds like the dumbest idea ever. A big fat panda voiced by Jack Black learning Kung Fu?! That feels like an idea that came from the same person that thought The Emoji Movie would be a great hit! And that’s not even going to the overall marketing and trailers for this movie, which played the movie as being nothing more than a water down slapstick comedy aimed for toddlers. However, once the movie came out during the summer of 2008, we all could not have been wrong about Kung Fu Panda.
I believe it’s safe to say that Kung Fu Panda has been far in a way Dreamwork’s most surprising franchise to date. Heck, with the exception of Shrek and How To Train Your Dragon, you could argue Kung Fu Panda is their best and most consistent franchise to date. This was a series of films that most folks didn’t think could hold it’s own standalone film, let alone a franchise, with a premise that sounded like the stupidest idea imaginable. However, not only is Kung Fu Panda is able to work despite it’s silly premise, it’s able to work BECAUSE of it.
It’s able to use that “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” mindset that not only acts what most folks thought of Kung Fu Panda when watching it but use that as the central theme throughout the film. And it’s that theme that makes for the perfect way to tell the story of the main character of Po, the titled panda that learns kung fu. A story that is yet again another chosen one narrative with the main character having to go through the typical hero’s journey but is able to use it’s admittedly absurd premise to find a completely fresh and unique way to tell it. It’s that exact reason and much more that makes Kung Fu Panda the right movie to talk about when it comes to films that is successfully able to redefine the typical chosen one narrative.
When we first meet Po, he seems like the last person that is worthy of being the chosen one, or as the movie refers to it as The Dragon Warrior. Sure, he is shown to be a massive fanboy of kung fu, with him having dreams of becoming the ultimate dragon warrior and owning his own action figures of the entire Furious Five group, but he comes off as an absolute clumsy oaf who don’t seem to take anything seriously. However, despite having a straight forward future with running a noodle shop with his TOTALLY not adapted father Mr. Ping, his heart doesn’t seem to eagerly awaiting for that kind of future. He’s awaiting for that special opportunity to fight alongside the Furious Five. He’s awaiting to become a kung fu warrior. It’s then the day that Po has been waiting for arrives, the day that known kung fu legend Master Oogway announces who The Dragon Warrior is.
After a handful of hilariously comedy bits in seeing how Po tries to enter a closed palace for the ceremony along with admitting to his father that noodles aren’t really his thing, we see Oogway choosing the Dragon Warrior. And that Dragon Warrior turned out to be no one other than Po himself. Not Tigress, not any member of the Furious Five, and not even a tall and muscular man! The Dragon Warrior is a fat panda named Po.
That moment is not only Oogway choosing the fate of kung fu in the valley of peace set in China but the fate of the actual movie in general. He is basically counting on the most unlikely person imaginable for the job. He is counting on the titled panda character voiced by Jack Black to carry the entire picture and make Po’s heroic journey feel earned. It may seem unimaginable but Oogway has fate in himself, his students, and most importantly, the audience to be alongside Po’s quest to become the Dragon Warrior by any means necessary.
Shifu is the one kung fu master that has to train Po to become the Dragon Warrior, as he had trained the Furious Five. His goal is to teach the panda kung fu and have him become good enough to not only defeat the sinister Tai Lung, Shifu’s fallen apprentice that has escaped from prison with a massive grudge against his former master, but also to claim the dragon scroll, which is believed to have the secrets to limitless power of kung fu. However, as you would expect for as someone that is as bumbling and clumsy as Po looks, it does not start off well at all.
Po’s early days of training are nothing short of disaster. Fallen short of every possible training lesson, session, and technique needed to master any sort of kung fu, Po had lived up to his first impressions of being the worst possible person for the job of the Dragon Warrior. Due to that, every one around him seems to think that Oogway made a mistake picking Po. Shifu believes it, the Furious Five believes it, and worst of all, Po himself believes it as well. The only person that does NOT believe Oogway was wrong is well…Oogway himself.
After receiving word of Tai Lung escaping from prison, Shifu realizes that their days may be numbered before evil strikes the heart of the valley of peace. Matters are made even more complicated when Oogway’s time has come and dies of old age at the Sacred Peach Tree, blown away by wind and pink petals. Even though Shifu has done everything in his power to get rid of Po, he now knows he has no choice but to do everything in his power to train Po and become the ultimate Kung Fu master.
Before he is able to do that, Po tries to run away from the responsibility after coming to the realization that he is the only one that can stop Tai Lung. We then have a great moment between Shifu and Po when the former asks the latter why he didn’t quit when everyone was trying to get rid of him. Po claims that despite all of the constant failing and insults from Shifu and the gang, he powered through with it because he figured that if there was anyone that can change himself from being just a big fat panda to a noble warrior, it was Shifu. This right there is a major defining moment of the movie.
This is when the movie has it’s main character basically questioning it’s own premise and overall existence. There is no way a big fat panda can be the one to be the hero that saves the day, it has to be someone way more than him. Po doesn’t want to be that anymore because that’s not what is normally defined as being a hero. No matter how good he can be at kung fu, Po will always be that big fat panda in his overall appearance and nothing can change that. Nothing except for possibly the dragon scroll.
With Shifu figuring out that the only way to motivated Po to be the best Kung Fu warrior imaginable is with food, he takes unconventional measures to train Po, measures that he could never have done with the Furious Five. Because of that, Po is able to succeed and have now learn how to properly Kung Fu. After the Furious Five attempt to take Tai Lung head on and failing, Shifu believes that it is now time to hand Po the dragon scroll, which is believed to do basically anything to help the Dragon Warrior master Kung Fu in ways unimaginable.
However, something unexpected happens once Po opens up the dragon scroll. It’s blank. Literally completely blank. Only showing himself in a golden reflection. No kung fu cheat codes, no magical or whimsical power! Nothing but Po himself. All of that build up and hype for the dragon scroll turned out to be literally for nothing!
Now, a movie where the big overall reveal turns out to be nothing is a HUGE risk, especially when there has been so much build up towards it. It could make the whole experience feel like it was a giant waste of time with trying to keep a secret that ultimately amount to literally NOTHING. However, Kung Fu Panda not only makes it completely work but it might just be the best “nothing” twist that I’ve seen in any movie.
After Po and the Furious Five go their separate ways with Shifu, who awaits his former student’s arrival, we see Po running into his father once again as the whole valley evacuates. Despite learning kung fu, it seems like Po is right back where he started at the beginning of the film, awaiting his noodle tradition future with his adopted father. It’s then that Mr. Ping believes it is time for him to let his son know of his little secret. That secret being the secret ingredient of his secret ingredient soup. And just like with the dragon scroll, the secret ingredient is literally nothing.
That’s right! That secret that Mr. Ping has kept from his son for so long turned out to be literally nothing. It’s nothing but plain old noodle soup. Even though there is no secret ingredient, Mr. Ping believes he doesn’t need it for his soup to be a success. The fact that he believes his soup making skills are special is good enough for him. The fact that he believed in it hard enough and made it happen was the true secret ingredient to all of this.
And there it is right there! That was the meaning of The Dragon Scroll! That was the point that Oogway was trying to get across! There is no secret ingredient to becoming a hero, it’s just you! Your overall appearance doesn’t matter! It’s only a matter if you believe in yourself willingly to accomplish the goals you set out to achieve! That moment right there is not only telling Po himself not to take himself for granted but also the audience as well!
It’s Po using the skills he learned from Shifu and the knowledge he discovered from his father to defeat the sinister Tai Lung. It’s nothing that was learned from any member of the Furious Five or even Shifu himself, it was all on Po. And that realization comes into fruition when Tai Lung finally gets his hands on The Dragon Scroll only to find out it’s literally nothing. All of that training and years of anticipation for the dragon scroll to find out it’s literally nothing. The main difference here is that Po is able to discover the inner meaning of himself with that reveal while Tai Lung is unable to. It’s because of that and more that Po is the one victorious in the end and Tai Lung ends up in skadoosh land.
There have been many different ways of telling the traditional chosen one narrative. There has been plenty of franchises out there that have done that and done it well. However, there isn’t one that I can recall that was able to tell it as fresh, unique, and most importantly, subversive as Kung Fu Panda. It’s like the filmmakers behind were fully aware of it’s absurd premise that audiences would judge too harshly on the surface. It’s like they wanted to use that sense of doubt from everyone to not only prove all the naysayers of the film wrong but literally have that be the main driving force of the film. And if the success of this film is anything to go by, I would say they succeeded spectacularly.
It’s that positive mindset of not doubting yourself that has led DreamWorks to the success with Kung Fu Panda. At the end of the day, when you set yourself out to achieve something, it’s only you that can accomplish it. There’s no secret weapon or trick to do it all, it’s just you. It’s only if you have the confidence to believe in yourself will you be able to accomplish your dreams when given the opportunity. Po was able to do that just well throughout the series and hopefully you can too with whatever you set out to be. Only then where you might just become your own version of the chosen one or The Dragon Warrior.
Next up in the marathon: Kung Fu Panda 2– How To Make The Perfect Villain
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