Kung Fu Panda (2008)

Directors:

Mark Osborne
John Stevenson

Writers:

Jonathan Aibel (screenplay) &
Glenn Berger (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

6 June 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Comedy | Family

Tagline:

Prepare for awesomeness.

Plot:

In the Valley of Peace, Po the Panda finds himself chosen as the Dragon Warrior despite the fact that he is obese and a complete novice at martial arts.

Plot Keywords:

Kung Fu | Hero | Panda | Master | Slacker

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 12 wins & 20 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. Dec. 19	7:30 AM	MAX
Mon. Dec. 28	7:20 AM	MAX

Cast

Jack Black	...	Po (voice)
Dustin Hoffman	...	Shifu (voice)
Angelina Jolie	...	Tigress (voice)
Ian McShane	...	Tai Lung (voice)
Jackie Chan	...	Monkey (voice)
Seth Rogen	...	Mantis (voice)
Lucy Liu	...	Viper (voice)
David Cross	...	Crane (voice)
Randall Duk Kim	...	Oogway (voice)
James Hong	...	Mr. Ping (voice)
Dan Fogler	...	Zeng (voice)
Michael Clarke Duncan	...	Commander Vachir (voice)
Wayne Knight	...	Gang Boss (voice)
Kyle Gass	...	KG Shaw (voice)
JR Reed	...	JR Shaw (voice)
Laura Kightlinger	...	Awed Ninja (voice)
Tanya Haden	...	Smitten Bunny (voice)
Stephen Kearin	...	Gong Pig / Grateful Bunny (voice)
Mark Osborne	...	Pig Patron (voice)
John Stevenson	...	Rhino Guard (voice)
Jeremy Shipp	...	Blind Gator (voice)
Melissa Cobb	...	Bunny Mom (voice)
Kent Osborne	...	Pig Fan (voice)
Emily Robison	...	Bunny Fan # 1 (voice)
Stephanie Harvey	...	Bunny Fan #2 (voice)
Riley Osborne	...	Baby Tai Lung (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Erin Torpey	...	Viper

Directed by
Mark Osborne
John Stevenson

Writing credits
Jonathan Aibel		(screenplay) &
Glenn Berger		(screenplay)
Ethan Reiff		(story) &
Cyrus Voris		(story)

Produced by
Jonathan Aibel	....	co-producer
Glenn Berger	....	co-producer
Melissa Cobb	....	producer
Lorne Orleans	....	IMAX version
Kristina Reed	....	associate producer

Original Music by
John Powell
Hans Zimmer

Cinematography by
Yong Duk Jhun

Film Editing by
Clare De Chenu		(as Clare Knight)

Production Design by
Raymond Zibach

Art Direction by
Tang Kheng Heng

Production Management
Mary Bills	....	production manager
Corrie Coughlin	....	additional production supervisor
Rene Harnois Jr.	....	production supervisor
Jeff Hermann	....	production manager
Maude Lewis	....	production supervisor
Robyn Mesher	....	production supervisor
April Struebing	....	production supervisor
Patrice Avery	....	production supervisor (uncredited)
James Beshears	....	post-production executive (uncredited)

Art Department
Kelly Asbury	....	additional storyboard artist
Damon Bard	....	sculptor
Max Boas	....	visual development artist
Richard Daskas	....	visual development artist
Alfred Gimeno	....	storyboard artist
Rodolphe Guenoden	....	storyboard artist
Bill Kaufmann	....	visual development artist
Mark Koetsier	....	storyboard artist
Christophe Lautrette	....	visual development artist
Caprice Ann Ridgeway	....	art researcher
Henrik Tamm	....	visual development artist
Rachel Tiep-Daniels	....	visual development artist
Spyros Tsiounis	....	storyboard
Melchior Zwyer	....	visual development artist
Pat Sito	....	matte painting coordinator (uncredited)

Sound Department
Erik Aadahl	....	supervising sound editor
James Ashwill	....	foley mixer
Anna Behlmer	....	sound re-recording mixer
Derek Casari	....	adr engineer
Blake R. Cornett	....	sound recordist
John T. Cucci	....	foley artist
Craig Heath	....	sound recordist (as Craig 'Pup' Heath)
P.K. Hooker	....	sound effects editor
Mike Hopkins	....	adr supervisor
Jonathan Klein	....	foley editor
Roy Latham	....	original dialogue mixer
Wayne Lemmer	....	adr editor
Cory Mandel	....	sound re-recording mixer
Michael Miller	....	original dialogue mixer
Andy Nelson	....	sound re-recording mixer
Morten Folmer Nielsen	....	adr editor
Morten Folmer Nielsen	....	adr recordist
Dan O'Connell	....	foley artist
Paul Pirola	....	sound effects editor
Zachary C. Ross	....	sound intern
Chad Roucroft	....	sound recordist
Carlos Sotolongo	....	original dialogue mixer
Ethan Van der Ryn	....	sound designer
Ethan Van der Ryn	....	supervising sound editor
Larry Winer	....	original dialogue mixer

Visual Effects by
Fernanda S. Abarca	....	surfacing artist
Motohisa Adachi	....	effects developer
Karla M. Alvarado	....	visual effects production assistant
William E. Arias	....	lighter
Shinsaku Arima	....	effects animator
David Bailey	....	matte painter
Brad Blackbourn	....	head of pre-viz
Andrew Bonello	....	visual effects compositing engineer
Silviu Borac	....	senior research & development engineer
Eric Bouffard	....	matte painter
Jess Bressler	....	lighting artist
Daniel J. Brick	....	matte painting technical director
Scott Brisbane	....	lead matte painter
Ronn Brown	....	matte painting supervisor
Jason Brubaker	....	compositor
Wendell Bruno	....	assistant DMR editor (IMAX version)
Stuart Campbell	....	final layout artist
Craig Cannon	....	paint fixer
Jessica Canter	....	surfacing artist
Kevin Carney	....	character effects technical director
Gregg Carrier	....	software engineer
Jason Carter	....	layout artist
Zachary Carter	....	animation technical director
Chloe Chao	....	research and development
Wes Chilton	....	effects animator/developer
Sebastien Chort	....	lighting artist
Mitch Cockerham	....	character technical director
Shaun Collaco	....	lead lighting and compositing artist: Dreamworks Animation
Clint Colver	....	digital lighter
Robert Edward Crawford	....	layout/previs artist
Jonathan R. Cummings	....	technical director
Kwesi Davis	....	production engineer
Gilbert Davoud	....	character technical director
Barry Dempsey	....	surfacing/lighting technical director
Caine Dickinson	....	lighter: DreamWorks Animation SKG
Sandy Dong	....	surfacing artist
Adam J. Ely	....	digital matte painter: PDI/Dreamworks
Kolja Erman	....	effects technical director
Aaron Estrada	....	lighting and compositing
Ken Faiman	....	character effects animator
Cassandra Fanning	....	digital effects artist
Peter Farson	....	character technical director
Mark Fattibene	....	cg supervisor
Sean Fennell	....	lead crowd artist
Adrian Fernandes	....	additional CG supervisor
Eric Fernandes	....	cg supervisor
Oliver Finkelde	....	character effects technical director: DreamWorks
Louis Flores	....	visual effects lead
T.J. Galda	....	character technical director
Ashraf Ghoniem	....	crowds artist
Caroleen Green	....	matte painter
Alex Gurevich	....	lighting technical director
Craig Halperin	....	digital effects artist
Michael P. Hamler	....	lead lighter
Lei Han	....	lighting artist
Andy Harbeck	....	surfacing artist
Christian Hatfield	....	effects animator (as Christian A. Hatfield)
Marty Havran	....	modeler
Matt Head	....	visual effects artist
Edward Helmers	....	lighter
Corey Hels	....	layout artist: Dreamworks Animation
Ronald D. Henderson	....	research and development
Robert Holder	....	lighter: DreamWorks
Cindy Hong	....	lead lighter
Robbin Huntingdale	....	surfacing artist
Lok Ming Hwa	....	lighting / technical director
Lucas Janin	....	effects animator
Yong Duk Jhun	....	head of layout
Tobin Jones	....	senior fx animator
David Jordan	....	lighting artist
Jeff Kasunic	....	lead lighter: DreamWorks
Louis Katz	....	lead matte painting compositor
Andrew Young Kim	....	effects animator
Lisa Kim	....	lead lighting artist
Soo Kyung Kim	....	lighter
Takumi Kimura	....	lighting artist
Jennifer Leigh King	....	digital artist
Gokhan Kisacikoglu	....	digital effects artist
Domin Lee	....	visual effects
Gary H. Lee	....	layout/previs artist
Jaemin Lee	....	visual effects artist
Jaewon Lee	....	modeler
Li-Ming 'Lawrence' Lee	....	lead effects animator
Greg Lev	....	lead lighter
Victor Lew	....	visual effects artist
Kirk Lilwall	....	third assistant editor: DMR (IMAX version)
Benjamin Lishka	....	lead lighter
Nathan Loofbourrow	....	character technical director supervisor
Markus Manninen	....	visual effects supervisor
Mariette Marinus	....	character technical director
Jeffrey Martin	....	character effects animator
Jason Mayer	....	effects artist
Matthew McCrory	....	lighting artist
John McGee	....	digital artist
Steve McGrath	....	modeler
Mark A. McGuire	....	head of global technical direction
Phil 'Captain 3D' McNally	....	stereoscopic supervisor
Antonio Meazzini	....	digital effects artist
Zeki Melek	....	visual effects
Tom Molet	....	character technical director
Ori Neidich	....	media tools & post-production technology engineer
Rob Nitsch	....	character effects technical director: Dreamworks
William Opdyke	....	visual effects
Michael J. Pan	....	production engineer
Rupali Parekh	....	lighting artist
Alex Parkinson	....	character effects supervisor
Alex Parkinson	....	crowds supervisor
Alex Parkinson	....	effects supervisor
Nikita Pavlov	....	visual effects
Mary Payne	....	lighting artist
Andrew Pearce	....	director of reseach and development
Drew Perttula	....	pipeline engineer
Sven Pohle	....	character technical director
Bryan Poon	....	character effects
Dagan Potter	....	visual effects
Travis Price	....	surfacing
Paul Rivera	....	matte painter
Kevin Rodgers	....	character technical director
Eric Roth	....	lighting artist
Nico Scapel	....	character technical director
Paul Schoeni	....	modeler
David Schoneveld	....	visual effects
Scott C. Sells	....	digital effects artist
Sameer Shah	....	lighting technical director
Chris Simmons	....	digital artist: lighting
Marty Sixkiller	....	media tools supervisor
Marty Sixkiller	....	software engineer
Aaron Smith	....	CG supervisor
Drew Solodzuk	....	DMR editor (IMAX version)
Young Song	....	surfacing artist
Matt Steele	....	character technical director
Curt Stewart	....	effects artist
April Struebing	....	production supervisor: Character Effects
Francois Sugny	....	effects animator
Joe Ark Sun	....	character effects animator
Ka Yaw Tan	....	lighting artist
Olcun Tan	....	effects developer
Hector Tantoco	....	digital artist
Amy Taylor	....	character effects technical director
Don Taylor	....	lead lighter
Dave Tidgwell	....	visual effects lead
Rachel Tiep-Daniels	....	modeler
John Truong	....	character effects animator
Ozgur Ustundag	....	lighting artist
George Vajna	....	second assistant DMR editor (IMAX version)
Marla Valentine	....	matte painting compositor
David Patrick Valera	....	layout artist
Brent Villalobos	....	production engineer
Koen Vroeijenstijn	....	visual effects animator
Dave Walvoord	....	CG supervisor
Matthew Wang	....	layout technical director
Gina Warr	....	lead lighting artist
Jason P. Weber	....	character effects technical director
Joshua West	....	modeler
Gabriel White	....	lighting artist
Rhiannon Leffanta Wilhelmi	....	layout artist
Lori Williams	....	digital artist
Ron Williams	....	character effects animator
Eve Wong	....	lighting technical director
Laura Wood	....	production engineer
Stephen Wood	....	visual effects animator
Joanna Wu	....	additional lighter
Greg Wuller	....	supervising technical director
Zhang Xiao	....	visual effects animator
Emily Yi	....	digital artist (as Emily How)
Melva Young	....	lead lighter
Can Yuksel	....	visual effects animator

Camera and Electrical Department
Eric Liebowitz	....	still photographer

Animation Department
Manuel Almela	....	animator
Kelly Asbury	....	additional story artist
Isabel Auphan	....	senior animator
Tommy Bacorn	....	artistic development
James Baxter	....	animation director: dream sequence, James Baxter Animation
Kendra Baxter	....	general manager: dream sequence, James Baxter Animation
Jeremy Bernstein	....	animator
Liz Borges-Herzog	....	digital paint artist
Wee Brian	....	animator
Deter Brown	....	animator
Jason Brubaker	....	assistant animator
Jason Brubaker	....	compositor: dream sequence, James Baxter Animation
Alessandro Carloni	....	animation supervisor
Alessandro Carloni	....	story artist
David Couchariere	....	animator
Joel Crawford	....	story artist
Eric Deuel	....	animator
Jed Diffenderfer	....	story artist
Raymond Fabular	....	assistant clean-up artist: dream sequence, James Baxter Animation (as Raymond Flores Fabular)
Raymond Fabular	....	rough inbetweener: dream sequence, James Baxter Animation (as Raymond Flores Fabular)
Raffaella Filipponi	....	animator
G. Mark Fitzgerald	....	animation production assistant
Rex Grignon	....	animator
Ron Griswold	....	animation rig engineer
Rodolphe Guenoden	....	animation supervisor
Alexandre Heboyan	....	animator
David Hofmann	....	layout artist
Steven Hornby	....	animator
Michael Kiely	....	animator
Marisa Ledina	....	animation scanner
Gary H. Lee	....	previs artist
H.B. 'Buck' Lewis	....	character designer
Philip K. Livingston Jr.	....	character effects animator
Marci Mack	....	animation staff
Kevin MacLean	....	animator
Mary Ann Malcomb	....	animator
Nicolas Marlet	....	character designer
Hezekiah McMurray	....	layout artist
Helen Michael	....	key clean-up artist: dream sequence, James Baxter Animation
Pia Miniati	....	animation rig engineer
Ken Morrissey	....	animator
Anna Newman	....	animation research and development
Fredrik Nilsson	....	animator
Mark Nonnenmacher	....	digital matte painting
David Pate	....	animator
Gabriele Pennacchioli	....	animator
Pierre Perifel	....	additional animator
Noah Peterson	....	character effects animator
Jason Reisig	....	supervising animator
Ben Rush	....	animator
William Salazar	....	supervising animator
Matthew Schmidt	....	layout artist
Hameed Shaukat	....	producer: dream sequence, James Baxter Animation
Jeremy Shaw	....	animator
Chris Sherrod	....	rough layout artist
Chris Sonnenberg	....	assistant animation director: dream sequence, James Baxter Animation (as Chris Sonnenburg)
Olivier Staphylas	....	animator
Tina Staples	....	ink and paint artist: dream sequence, James Baxter Animation
Mike Stern	....	animator
Paul Theren	....	senior modeler
Gary Thomas	....	story artist
Erik Tillmans	....	compositor: dream sequence, James Baxter Animation
Ennio Torresan	....	additional story artist
Theodore Ty	....	animator
Christopher Vigil	....	animation production assistant
Dan Wagner	....	head of character animation
Makiko Wakita	....	animation production coordinator
Alexis Wanneroy	....	animator
Claire Williams	....	color modeler: dream sequence, James Baxter Animation
Jennifer Yuh	....	story artist
Kathy Zielinski	....	animator
Guido Zimmermann	....	character technical director

Casting Department
Ania Kamieniecki-O'Hare	....	casting assistant (as Ania Kamieniecki)
PoPing AuYeung	....	casting: Asia (uncredited)

Editorial Department
James Beshears	....	editorial and post-production executive
Mary Blee	....	additional editor (as Mary Margaret Blee)
William J. Caparella	....	additional editor
John K. Carr	....	additional editor
Terry Claborn	....	color timer
Doug Cooper	....	digital colorist
Wayne Hellinger	....	post-production coordinator
Mo Henry	....	negative cutter
C.K. Horness	....	editorial department
Robert J. Lemos	....	assistant editor
Darrin Ly	....	assistant editor
Kelly Matthews	....	editorial production assistant
Paul Neal	....	editor: high definition
Kyle Pascucci	....	film and color supervisor (as Kyle D. Pascucci)
Timothy Peeler	....	digital colorist (as Tim Peeler)
Anna Solorio-Catalano	....	first assistant editor

Music Department
Slamm Andrews	....	additional score recordist
Chris Barrett	....	score assistant engineer
Jeffrey Biggers	....	additional score recordings (as Jeff Biggers)
Tom Broderick	....	score technical engineer (as Thomas Broderick)
Julie Butchko	....	music clearances
Dan Butler	....	music business affairs
John A. Coleman	....	orchestrator
Jane Antonia Cornish	....	orchestrator
Germaine Franco	....	orchestrator
Gavin Greenaway	....	conductor
Isobel Griffiths	....	orchestra contractor
Karen Han	....	soloist: erhu
Charlene Ann Huang	....	music coordinator
Henry Jackman	....	composer: additional music
Kevin Kliesch	....	orchestrator
Steven Kofsky	....	music production services
Daniel Lerner	....	score technical engineer
James S. Levine	....	additional overdub production
Katia Lewin Palomo	....	score assistant engineer
James McKee Smith	....	composer: additional music
Liz McNicoll	....	music business affairs
Dave Metzger	....	orchestrator
Alan Meyerson	....	music scoring mixer
Michael John Mollo	....	music assistant
Perry Montague Mason	....	orchestra leader (as Perry Montague-Mason)
Shawn Murphy	....	additional score recordist
Jake Parker	....	orchestrator
Sunny Park	....	executive in charge of music
Ben Parry	....	choir master
Richard Robson	....	score technical engineer
Adam Milo Smalley	....	music editor (as Adam Smalley)
Ken 'Kaz' Smith	....	music coordinator
Peter Oso Snell	....	assistant music editor
John Ashton Thomas	....	orchestrator
Greg Vines	....	score mixing assistant
Lucy Whalley	....	assistant orchestra contractor
Nick Wollage	....	score engineer
Nick Wollage	....	score recordist
Andrew Zack	....	score coordinator

Transportation Department
Adam Fox	....	driver: dustin hoffman (uncredited)

Other crew
Adam Agardy	....	training and technical development
Holly Allen	....	production engineer
Rain Angeles	....	systems administrator (as Cherilee Angeles)
Kelly Asbury	....	additional story artist
Steve Baker	....	research and development
Alain Banas	....	hardware engineer
Will Bilton	....	research and development
Stewart Birnam	....	senior software engineer
Marty Brenes	....	hardware engineer
Greg Bulman	....	engineering system administrator
Grant Callaghan	....	technical resource administrator
Mark T. Carlson	....	effects engineer
Ariandy Chandra	....	title designer
Scott Chapin	....	engineering system administrator
Jeff Chasin	....	production coordinator
Eric Chen	....	martial arts consultant
Zach Clairville	....	production assistant
Michael Coronado	....	hardware engineer
Sarah Counnas	....	technology production manager
Jayson DeLancey	....	production engineer
John Detke	....	engineering system administrator
Holly Dorff	....	adr voice
Holly Edwards	....	studio executive
Zain Effendi	....	samples coordinator
Christopher Ell	....	production coordinator
Sean Ellis	....	engineering system administrator
Bart Feliciano	....	systems administrator
Marc Fleury	....	engineering system administrator
Paul Franz	....	technical resource administrator
Reid Gershbein	....	research and development
Adnan Ghani	....	hardware engineer
Tiffany Giddens	....	intern
Thomas Goddard	....	technical resource administrator
Daniel D. Gregoire	....	previsualization supervisor
Rodolphe Guenoden	....	choreographer: kung fu
Juli Gumbiner	....	technical resource supervisor
David Hail	....	unit publicist
Audrey Holland	....	production assistant (as Audrey Genevieve Holland)
Tiffany Hopper	....	engineering system administrator
Tiffany L. Hopper	....	engineering system administrator
Stephanie Huber	....	administrative assistant
Brent Hutchins	....	production coordinator
Joseph Izzo	....	production coordinator
Mark Jackels	....	production engineer
Geoffrey Jarrett	....	technical resource administrator
Sean Kamath	....	system architect
Jason Kankiewicz	....	infrastructure engineer
Scott Kilty	....	systems administrator
Hans Ku	....	alliance manager
Michael Lachance	....	creative executive
Tracy Larson	....	production coordinator
Jeff Lee	....	engineering system administrator
Mark Lelles	....	engineering system administrator
Ed Leonard	....	chief technology officer
Jim Leuper	....	effects engineer
Jason Lloyd	....	hardware engineer
Nicholas Long	....	technical lead
Michael Lynn	....	production coordinator
Jim Mainard	....	special projects
Derek Mann	....	systems administrator
Rich Marco	....	engineering system administrator
Kelly Matthews	....	story production assistant
Mark J. Matthews	....	research and development
Peter McCown	....	production assistant
Rezk Mekhael	....	engineering system administrator
Brandon Miles	....	engineering system administrator
Corrin Milewski	....	research and development supervisor
Peter C. Miller	....	software quality assurance
Mike Mitchell	....	creative consultant
Olivier Mouroux	....	unit publicist
Brendan Murphy	....	assistant to producers
Paul Newell	....	infrastructure engineer
Brendan O'Connor	....	production coordinator
John O'Sullivan	....	systems administrator
Raffi Parikian	....	engineering system administrator
Paul Parmer	....	editorial systems engineer
Harbor Peoples	....	office manager: technology
Matt Pomeroy	....	script supervisor
Jason Lee Pope	....	engineering system administrator
Travis Price	....	surfacer
Ernesto Quiroz	....	hardware engineer
Paul Replicon	....	technical resource administrator
Joshua F. Richards	....	research and development
Daniel Rich	....	engineering system administrator
Michael Riley	....	title designer
Roberto M. Romo	....	engineering system administrator
David Rosenbaum	....	production coordinator
Stephen E. Ross	....	engineering system administrator
Donald Schmidt	....	research and development
Jeremy Shipp	....	editorial production supervisor
Mark Soraparu	....	story assistant
Morgan J. Steele	....	administative assistant
Allen Stetson	....	lead technical director
Michael Svihura	....	research and development
Mark M. Tokunaga	....	manager of digital resources
Tim Toll	....	engineering system administrator
Tina Tseng	....	production accountant
Ivan Van Norman	....	production assistant
Lorraine Vos	....	first assistant production accountant
Makiko Wakita	....	production coordinator
Charley Walters	....	international adaptation manager
Jon Young	....	media coordinator
Daniel Yu	....	research and development
Jennifer Yuh	....	head of story
Brian Chacon	....	manager of systems operations (uncredited)
Shaun Potts	....	technical resource administrator (uncredited)
Cathy Sitzes	....	technical resource administrator (uncredited)
Loren White	....	post production intern (uncredited)

Thanks
Debbie L. O'Keeffe	....	special thanks
Stuart Sumida	....	special thanks
Gary Trousdale	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• DreamWorks Animation
• Pacific Data Images (PDI)

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (2008) (non-USA) (all media)
• Bontonfilm (2008) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
• DreamWorks Animation (2008) (USA) (theatrical)
• Paramount Pictures (2008) (France) (theatrical)
• Tatrafilm (2008) (Slovakia) (theatrical)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (2008) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (2008) (Greece) (theatrical)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (2008) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (2008) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Universal Pictures International (UPI) (2008) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Universal Pictures International (UPI) (2008) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Universal Pictures International (UPI) (2008) (Russia) (theatrical)
• DreamWorks Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• DreamWorks Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Finnkino (2008) (Finland) (all media)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Paramount (2008) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Paramount (2008) (Sweden) (DVD) (Blu-Ray Disc)

Special Effects

• James Baxter Animation (dream sequence)
• PDI DreamWorks

Other Companies

• 20th Century Fox Studios  post-production facilities (as Twentieth Century Fox Studios)
• Absolute Rentals  post-production rentals
• Air Lyndhurst Studios  score recorded at (as Air Lyndhurst Studios, London)
• Dakota Music Services  music preparation (as Dakota Music)
• Hewlett Packard  rendering services
• Hewlett Packard  workstations and servers
• Howard Schwartz Recording  recording studio (as HSR NY)
• Interscope Records  soundtrack
• Isobel Griffiths Limited  orchestral contractor: London
• L.A. Mad Dogs  adr voice casting (as L.A. Maddogs)
• L.A. Studios, The  recording studio
• London Session Orchestra, The  orchestra (uncredited)
• London Voices  choir
• One Step Up  foley services
• POP Sound  recording studio
• Shine  end title sequence designed and produced by
• Shine  post-production
• Technicolor  prints

Also Known As:

Kung Fu Panda: The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)

MPAA:

Rated PG for sequences of martial arts action.

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Sonics-DDP (IMAX version) | SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

South Korea:All | Australia:PG | UK:PG | Finland:K-7 | Malaysia:U | Singapore:G | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Ireland:PG | USA:PG (certificate #44302) | Hong Kong:I | Switzerland:0 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:0 (canton of Vaud) | Taiwan:GP (original rating) | Portugal:M/4 | Portugal:M/6 | Germany:6 | Netherlands:6 | Brazil:Livre | Sweden:7 | Argentina:Atp | Peru:PT | Portugal:M/6 (original version) | New Zealand:PG | South Africa:PG | Canada:G

Company:

DreamWorks Animation

Trivia:

Shifu's Chinese name, as shown in the end credits, means "Teacher-Master" ("Shi-fu" in Pinyin transliteration). Shifu is a red panda, but with a lot more white fur than red.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Po accidentally breaks the Urn of Whispering Warriors, the pieces move around on the floor.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Po: Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Steve Carell/Usher (#33.12)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Kung Fu Fighting

Finally, Dreamworks Animation has a classic.

After various 3D animated movies ranging from lacklustre "star" movies ("Madagascar"), boring tripe ("Shark Tale", "Bee Movie"), and over-rated, over-hyped overkill ("Shrek"), Dreamworks can finally be proud of a truly great film. (Sidebar: I actually enjoyed "Flushed Away" and "Over The Hedge".) First, the bad. If I could complain about ANYTHING it may be a few of the voices. Besides Po, Shifu and Oogway, the rest of the cast seemed pretty 'phoned-in'. Thankfully, those characters are pretty inconsequential so they're not really missed.

Now the good... or rather great. While classic kung fu movies are poked fun at, Kung Fu Panda does an excellent job of treating the genre with great respect in a movie geared towards kids. And while it IS kid friendly, it is not dumbed down to the point where it's childish. All the classic elements of those great kung fu flicks are there, while still keeping it pleasantly G-rated.

Let me get this out of the way: this movie has some of the greatest 3D animated fight scenes. Ever. What elevates them from good to great is that while I expected the unbelievable, gravity-defying stunts that are REQUIRED of a good kung fu movie, there is an amazing amount of 'realism' to the physics in this movie. Just watch the jailbreak and you'll understand.

Speaking of animation, the cinematography, character design and backgrounds are all done very, very well. Whether it's flying through the air alongside a leaping character, the painting-like backgrounds, or the wonderful opening sequence (reminiscent of Samurai Jack), they're all beautiful. Snap zooms, slow-motion, and flying cameras are also used with great skill to further the experience.

Even the music and sound is outstanding. Asian drums rumble in the background of intense fights... stones shatter and crumble away... fight sequences rise and fall with each of the music cues, or is that the other way around? Beautiful.

What helps make this a new classic in my eyes is what it doesn't have. There are no Matrix, Spiderman, or other dated references. There are no inside jokes related to the voice actors. There isn't even any double entendre or unnecessary crude humour. Much like "Finding Nemo" or "Monsters Inc", there's just plenty of pop-culture-free goodness that is terribly entertaining.

The last great part of this movie is often the most overlooked part of a good family film... heart. This movie has oodles of it. Other movies have tried to have a lesson in the end like 'be yourself' ("Shrek"), or 'the value of friends' ("Madagascar"), or... 'be yourself' ("Shark Tale"), but "Kung Fu Panda" has genuine cinematic moments with dialogue that carries real weight. Best line: Oogway regarding yesterday, tomorrow and today.

So, finally, as a complete sucker for Pixar animation, I'm glad that another animation company can actually put proper thought and execution into a FAMILY movie. What else can I say? Congratulations Dreamworks. 10 out of 10.