Art of Kung Fu Panda (Trilogy)
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Kung Fu Panda is a media franchise consisting of three films produced by DreamWorks Animation and directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne (first movie), Jennifer Yuh Nelson (second movie/third movie), and Alessandro Carloni (third movie), from 2008. Kung Fu Panda's first chapter was the ninety-seventh movie overall to be created by DreamWorks. The story is set in a fantasy, wuxia genre version of ancient China populated, by anthropomorphic talking animals. The plot of the first movie revolves around a bumbling panda named Po who aspires to become a kung fu master. When an evil kung-fu warrior is foretold to escape from prison, Po is unwittingly named the chosen one destined to bring peace to the land, much to the chagrin of the resident kung-fu warriors.
The idea for the film was conceived by Michael Lachance, a DreamWorks Animation executive. The film was originally going to be a parody, but director Stevenson decided instead to shoot an action-comedy wuxia film that incorporates the hero's journey narrative archetype for the lead character. The computer animation in the film was more complex than anything DreamWorks had done before. As with most DreamWorks animated films, Hans Zimmer (collaborating with John Powell this time) scored Kung Fu Panda. He visited China to absorb the culture and get to know the China National Symphony Orchestra as part of his preparation. This was the third film to be a part of the Madagascar Comedy Animated Films team. A sequel, Kung Fu Panda 2, was released on May 26, 2011 (along with a television series, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness) later that same year as a part of a franchise. The third installment called Kung Fu Panda 3 debuted on January 29, 2016.
The pictures on this page are a collection of artworks created for the movies and the spin-off series.
THE STORY
In China, the Valley of Peace is protected by Furious Five, a quintet of kung-fu warriors residing the overlooking Jade Palace and trained under the founder of the kung-fu tradition, the ancient tortoise Grand Master Oogway, and his red panda protege, Master Shifu. When the day came for Oogway to choose the legendary Dragon Warrior, he instructs Shifu to hold a tournament where the winner among the Five would receive the power of the Dragon Scroll, which is said to give nigh-supreme power to whomever the chosen Dragon Warrior is once he or she reads it. However, due to Oogway foresees that the news of the choosing would attract the return of their first student and Shifu's foster son Tai Lung, who will only react by attacking the Valley in revenge on those he felt wronged him, the palace's messenger Zeng is dispatched Chorh-Gom Prison to have the high-security around so that Tai Lung would be unable to break out.
Meanwhile, in the village down in the Valley, Po Ping, a giant panda, and kung-fu fanatic who works in a noodle restaurant owned by his adoptive father Mr. Ping is anxious to see the tournament but is instead forced to take a noodle cart up the hill to the Jade Palace. When he arrives, the gates are closed, and the tournament already starts. Desperate to see it, Po tries several ways to get inside. In a final attempt, he straps himself to a set of fireworks, by which he propels himself into the middle of the arena just as Oogway is about to point out the new Dragon Warrior, which the tortoise indicates is Po to everyone's horror. Unwilling to believe that a "clumsy, fat panda" can become the Dragon Warrior, Shifu tries to berate and humiliate Po into quitting, subjecting him to a grueling series of matches with the Five, all of whom despise Po as an upstart, a failure, and a nobody. Po is dejected after his first day of training, but when he is given advice by Oogway, he refuses to give up…
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