The Tale of Po, The Kung Fu Panda

***SPOILER ALERT***

IF YOU READ BEYOND THIS YOU MAY READ THINGS ABOUT THE MOVIE YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED IT YET

I had not given this movie much attention in the trailer days prior to it's opening, and wasn't even considering going to see it until our local drive in guy said that he too had passed it by thinking it would suck, until he watched it for previewing, and decided to show it on opening day as the family movie of the summer. He called it the "underestimated hit of the summer".


Well the kids saw a neigborchild with a panda toy from McD's and wanted one too, and I decided that perhaps we'd go see it anyway, for the kids.

Well, the kids loved it, but *I* loved it too.

At first, They introduced us to Po, the fat panda who loved Kung Fu so much, his natural curiosity caused him to be accidentally ( but remember there are no accidents) picked to be the one who would fight the evil character, much to the distaste of the Kung Fu fighters who had trained for a long time to be one of the ones picked to be the one to fight the evil character.

Po was in awe of being chosen as he ate, slept and breathed Kung Fu.

Once Po got chosen and he had to be trained, no one wanted him there, and the fat jokes started. I cringed at this point thinking this could be where the movie goes very very bad.

In honesty I had no real belief it wouldn't go sour at this point, given our society and how socially acceptable it is to harass fat people, and how we live in a multi billion dollar diet industry.

For the minute I thought it would turn out to be a Jane fonda workout, kung fu style for a panda bear kind of movie, where he loses his excess weight, gains a six pack washboard stomach and goes on to win the battle becasue he conformed to the pressure to change.

I cringed because I figured this movie had the ability to tell a great story or really destroy a good opportunity at a chance to tell a good moral, and I wasn't positive where it would go.

I am happy to say though, that this didn't last long, and though I HATE when the fat jokes come out in a movie, this time it was a setup to make a point, and therefore a necessary segment in the movie.And I'm glad they didn't go overboard with them, but only used enough to make the point and get the setup done.

After thinking there would never be anyway to train Po, Po's master discovers that his motivation is through food, and starts to train him to do kung Fu, Panda style, and motivates him with food rewards etc... there is a bit of a "karate kid" montage when he is being trained with noodles and wonton soup, and it was cute and funny and done well. I found myself chuckling along with the kids, and really enjoying the movie at this point.

The real moment comes in the movie though, when the secret scroll is opened to reveal the secret of being the dragon master and the scroll is blank. Everyone is shocked, and po shrinks down in defeat, thinking he could never be the one and should have known better all along.

He goes back to his father, who happily accepts him back home to take on the family business ( a noodle restaurant.) Po has a heart to heart with his dad, and he reveals to Po that there is no secret ingredient in the "secret ingredient soup" his family's resturant has been selling for generations. His father tells him, that the secret ingredient is believing it is there all along.

Po has his lightbulb moment, recalling the blank scroll that he could see only his reflection in, and runs off to save the village from the evil character who has returned to destroy everything in his sight.

Of course being a child's movie, you know that the good will win over the evil, so there is no spoiler in telling you Po wins the battle, and the war, and gains the respect of his teasers from earlier in the movie when I was cringing.

The best part of the movie though, is when Po is kicking butt, panda style, by bouncing the bad guy off his fat panda belly full of noodle soup and it makes funny noises the kids will love.

I guarantee you will love this movie too. The choices of actor voices for the parts were perfect, and I really enjoyed it a lot. This is one we plan to purchase when it is released on DVD.

The fat hero saves the day :) I LOVE it!