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Ok, I'm 35 years old and I'm loving the Kung Fu Panda franchise Oh, I'm not going to award the films classic status or anything like that, but they do deliver the thing I find somewhat elusive in cinema these days, which is goosebump moments.

The first film had two stand out goosebump scenes... the villain's escape from the unescapable prison and then his subsequent tangle with the Furious Five on a fast disintergrating rope bridge. I was mildly flabbergasted that a cartoon was delivering some of the best martial arts action I'd seen since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

A lot of sequels fall into the trap of thinking that bigger is better. Kung Fu Panda 2 doesn't fall into the trap, it dives into it head first and almost seems like a non-stop action scene from beginning to end. Yet somewhere in all the chaos, some truly jaw dropping sequences emerge, such as Po and the Five using a collapsing tower Fellowship of the Ring style or Po finding his inner peace during a cannonball onslaught.

The other trick of the franchise is to reference proper Kung Fu during the action scenes, so that whilst nobody would claim it's remotely believable, you do get a sense that they are playing by some sort of rules. Po lacks the agility of the Furious Five members, so they use gravity and momentum to literally hurl him into combat. He then acts as a sort of anchor for them to launch into action. It's all very well thought out.

What an action cartoon full of animal kung fu masters should most definitely not be getting away with is genuinely profound moments. Yet the first film was full of them (the ancient turtle dissolving into a flurry of blossom, beat that Yoda!) and whilst this latest effort rarely stops moving, when it does finally pause for breath, it throws a complete curveball with a flashback sequence that is tear jerking stuff.

Strangely (considering the concept), where Kung Fu Panda's chi is not so strong is the humour. There is an over reliance on the use of the words like awesome and hardcore and a lot of the attempted jokes are just Jack Black trying to be funny in the sound booth. Still, throw enough silliness at the screen and you will raise the odd chuckle e.g. the dramatic reappearance of Po before the big climax falls flat as he is too far away for the villain to make out what he is saying.

I guess where Kung Fu Panda appeals is that most of us have the martial arts dream as kids and the first film really tapped into that. The second takes the concept and runs with it and is confident enough to try for an Empire Strikes Back style cliffhanger. Well you count me in for the next one. Hopefully my son will be old enough to justify a 37/38 year old going to see a kids cartoon.

ProTip: It's not a secret if you tell everyone...

I have always loved kung fu panda.

Great series of movies and I've watched them since I was a child.

AvatarForm wrote:ProTip: It's not a secret if you tell everyone...

If you tell people it becomes a super special friend secret!

purplefood wrote:

AvatarForm wrote:ProTip: It's not a secret if you tell everyone...

If you tell people it becomes a super special friend secret!

That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard anyone say my life.

Congratulations.

Chowderhead wrote:

purplefood wrote:

AvatarForm wrote:ProTip: It's not a secret if you tell everyone...

If you tell people it becomes a super special friend secret!

That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard anyone say my life.

Congratulations.

Its my specialty...
I save the best stuff for writing codeci with

AvatarForm wrote:ProTip: It's not a secret if you tell everyone...

If you can't trust the internet, who can you trust

purplefood wrote:

Chowderhead wrote:

purplefood wrote:

AvatarForm wrote:ProTip: It's not a secret if you tell everyone...

If you tell people it becomes a super special friend secret!

That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard anyone say my life.

Congratulations.

Its my specialty...
I save the best stuff for writing codeci with

It's CODEXES! Mr Ward...

AvatarForm wrote:

purplefood wrote:

Chowderhead wrote:

purplefood wrote:

AvatarForm wrote:ProTip: It's not a secret if you tell everyone...

If you tell people it becomes a super special friend secret!

That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard anyone say my life.

Congratulations.

Its my specialty...
I save the best stuff for writing codeci with

It's CODEXES! Mr Ward...

Pretty sure it's Codices, actually.

Also, I love children's movies like Kung Fu Panda mainly because:
1) The daughter enjoys them
2) They're better than most of the other crap Hollywood puts out

Are we going to get from GW a Codex: Kung Fu Panda?

WarOne wrote:Are we going to get from GW a Codex: Kung Fu Panda?

I heard it was total cheese thanks to the Wuxi Finger Hold.

Kung-Fu panda is great. Havent seen number 2 yet but I think it will be petty good

WarOne wrote:Are we going to get from GW a Codex: Kung Fu Panda?

Actually we are hoping to include them in Codex: Deathwatch along with a new cavalry unit and the Jokaero and a few other units...

purplefood wrote:

WarOne wrote:Are we going to get from GW a Codex: Kung Fu Panda?

Actually we are hoping to include them in Codex: Deathwatch along with a new cavalry unit and the Jokaero and a few other units...

Inquisitor Shi-Fu?

Emperors Faithful wrote:

purplefood wrote:

WarOne wrote:Are we going to get from GW a Codex: Kung Fu Panda?

Actually we are hoping to include them in Codex: Deathwatch along with a new cavalry unit and the Jokaero and a few other units...

Inquisitor Shi-Fu?

Don't be ridiculous...
G'Rarfe cavalry (S6 T6 W4 and A 4 with FnP and Fc)
Pandair assault troops (S4 T4 and they follow the codex Astartes because they respect it so much)
Inquisitor Zu Keepa of the Ordo Xenos
I'm not authorised to tell you anymore.

This thread is like a mirrored scroll...

*loves the panda as well*

If you guys haven't seen the second one, you need to. It's even better than the first, and was just a brilliant movie. The Villain is quite awesome as well (and voiced by Gary Oldman!).

Sasori wrote:The Villain is quite awesome as well (and voiced by Gary Oldman!).

Yep, I quite liked how they did something a bit different from the brute force of the first villain to someone more graceful and conniving

I enjoy the kung fu panda franchise, sadly it hasn't come out in AUS yet (few days, 23rd). so put spoiler tags if you do talk about it in more detail

29 years old and I loved the first one, I can not lie. The straight to DVD second one was low budget cash in and was obvious about it. New kung fu panda should be very funny

Chowderhead wrote: I have always loved kung fu panda.

Great series of movies and I've watched them since I was a child.

Wow.

I feel old.

Albatross wrote:

Chowderhead wrote: I have always loved kung fu panda.

Great series of movies and I've watched them since I was a child.

Wow.

I feel old.

So did I...