Late last year, AICN’s Moriarty passed along an enthusiastic response to an unfinished cut of Kung Fu Panda. “It’s like a gateway drug to Shaw Brothers films,” exclaimed his very reputable source (hint: it was Chuck Mangione). The teaser was inconclusive, but now… I’m starting to see it.
There have been happy vibes emanating from this project ever since it went into production: when I was researching an article on anime for Variety back in 2006, Kung Fu Panda was all anyone at DreamWorks Animation wanted to talk about. In fact, an animator who was working on another project at the studio confided that he thought it would be the studio’s first “Pixar-worthy” film. The disappointment in his voice was palpable.
It’s just Kung-Fu Panda‘s very bad luck to drop in the summer of Wall-E.
I love the variety of fighting styles shown off in this trailer, and must shamefully admit to laughing out loud at the slo-mo shot of Po’s backside engulfing Tai Lung’s head (I’m so sorry, Mom). The film will debut at this May’s Cannes Film Festival in an out-of-competition capacity (which means nothing since fucking Shrek 2 was eligible for the Palme d’Or), and will then try to not pull a Surf’s Up on June 6th. Hopefully, the chilluns will have had their fill of Prince Caspian by that point; otherwise, DreamWorks Animation’s first good movie could also wind up being their costliest flop.