Kung Fu Panda: An American Story

Despite my natural dislike for animation movies – I like to see real people acting – I decided to give “Kung Fu Panda” a chance after a friend strongly recommended it to me. So I got myself a “Kung Fu Panda” DVD, shoved it into my laptop, thinking it would either be a highly entertaining 1.5 hours or the most boring evening I had in months. I’m happy to report it was the former; “Kung Fu Panda” is not only funny but also and more importantly a uniquely American film.

Here’s the basic story (for a longer summary, I suggest you go to WikiPedia ); a panda going by the name of Po wants to become a Kung Fu fighter but he’s ill-equipped to take on anything stronger and fiercer than bamboo. Not only is he a panda, he is also a panda who loves to eat cookies and, well, everything else. Despite his physique, Po becomes the hero of the story by beating tiger warrior Tai Lung.

It’s an incredibly funny movie – especially the scene in which Po is finally able to do the split after his teacher tells him that another fighter hides his cookies in a cupboard which is located at quite an inconvenient spot, high up at the ceiling, pushed between two walls – had me going for 15 minutes.

But what makes this movie even greater is that there’s much more to it than humor. Its message is truly American.

Sure, Po is in theory the anti-hero who can’t get anything done. True enough. But he turns out to be a real hero who, by pure dedication, succeeds in turning his weakness into his strength. Po does not merely overcome his arch-enemy Tai Lung, he overcomes the fiercest enemy of all: himself.

“Kung Fu Panda” is entertaining, a joy to watch for adults and children alike, but it’s also a movie that makes a fundamentally sound and conservative (and American! ) principle: If you work hard, you can become anything you want. You may face obstacles along the way – No, you will face obstacles – but the only one able to stop is you .

As if that’s not conservative and American enough, “Kung Fu Panda” also breaks with the average modern movie by allowing an ugly and fat panda to become the hero of the story. Po’s change takes place on the inside not the outside; he was and remains a chubby panda. This is not a film where the ugly girl becomes the beauty queen or the nerd blossoms — in this respect KFP is a nice break from our look-obsessive society.

Concluding, this animation movie perfectly combines humor with a message conservatives can believe in; no matter who you are, no matter who your parents are (Po’s father is a goose who owns a noodle soup shop), you can become everything you want, as long as you work hard and refuse to give up.