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:

Po the Panda is the laziest animals in all of the Valley of Peace, but unwittingly becomes the chosen one when enemies threaten their way of life.

Plot Keywords:

Noodles | Unlikely Hero | Obesity | Chopstick | Scene After End Credits

Awards:

1 nomination

US Showtimes:

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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)

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
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
Robyn Mesher	....	production supervisor
April Struebing	....	production supervisor
Patrice Avery	....	production supervisor (uncredited)

Art Department
Damon Bard	....	sculptor
Max Boas	....	visual development artist
Richard Daskas	....	visual development artist
Rodolphe Guenoden	....	storyboard artist
Bill Kaufmann	....	visual development 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

Sound Department
Erik Aadahl	....	sound designer
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
Rylee Fansler	....	voice-over recordist
Craig Heath	....	sound recordist (as Craig 'Pup' Heath)
P.K. Hooker	....	sound effects editor
Roy Latham	....	original dialogue mixer
Wayne Lemmer	....	sound editor
Michael Miller	....	original dialogue mixer
Andy Nelson	....	sound re-recording mixer
Dan O'Connell	....	foley artist
Paul Pirola	....	sound effects editor
Zachary C. Ross	....	sound intern
Carlos Sotolongo	....	original dialogue mixer
Ethan Van der Ryn	....	sound designer
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
Silviu Borac	....	senior research & development engineer
Eric Bouffard	....	matte painter
Daniel J. Brick	....	matte painting technical director
Scott Brisbane	....	lead matte painter
Ronn Brown	....	matte painting supervisor
Jason Brubaker	....	compositor
Stuart Campbell	....	final layout artist
Craig Cannon	....	paint fixer
Kevin Carney	....	character effects technical director
Jason Carter	....	layout artist
Chloe Chao	....	research and development
Wes Chilton	....	effects animator/developer
Sebastien Chort	....	lighting artist
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
Ken Faiman	....	character effects animator
Cassandra Fanning	....	digital effects artist
Peter Farson	....	character technical director
Oliver Finkelde	....	character effects technical director: DreamWorks
Louis Flores	....	visual effects lead
T.J. Galda	....	character technical director
Ashraf Ghoniem	....	character effects technical director
Caroleen Green	....	matte painter
Alex Gurevich	....	lighting technical director
Michael P. Hamler	....	lead lighter
Lei Han	....	lighting artist
Christian Hatfield	....	effects animator (as Christian A. Hatfield)
Edward Helmers	....	lighter
Corey Hels	....	layout artist: Dreamworks Animation
Robert Holder	....	lighter: DreamWorks
Cindy Hong	....	lead lighter
Emily How	....	digital artist
Lucas Janin	....	effects animator
Yong Duk Jhun	....	head of layout
David Jordan	....	lighting artist
Jeff Kasunic	....	lead lighter: DreamWorks
Louis Katz	....	lead matte painting compositor
Lisa Kim	....	lead lighting artist
Soo Kyung Kim	....	lighter
Jennifer Leigh King	....	digital artist
Gokhan Kisacikoglu	....	digital effects artist
Domin Lee	....	visual effects
Gary H. Lee	....	visual effects
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
Markus Manninen	....	visual effects supervisor
Mariette Marinus	....	character technical director
Jeffrey Martin	....	character effects animator
Jason Mayer	....	effects artist
Matthew McCrory	....	lighting artist
Steve McGrath	....	modeler
Mark A. McGuire	....	head of global technical direction
Antonio Meazzini	....	digital effects artist
Zeki Melek	....	visual effects
Ori Neidich	....	media tools & post-production technology engineer
Rob Nitsch	....	character effects technical director: Dreamworks
William Opdyke	....	visual effects
Rupali Parekh	....	lighting artist
Alex Parkinson	....	character effects supervisor
Alex Parkinson	....	crowds supervisor
Alex Parkinson	....	effects supervisor
Nikita Pavlov	....	visual effects
Noah Peterson	....	character finaler
Sven Pohle	....	character technical director
Bryan Poon	....	character effects
Dagan Potter	....	visual effects
Travis Price	....	surfacing
Madhava Reddy	....	digital intermediate
Paul Rivera	....	matte painter
Eric Roth	....	lighting artist
Nico Scapel	....	character technical director
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
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
Gabriel White	....	lighting artist
Rhiannon Leffanta Wilhelmi	....	layout artist
Lori Williams	....	digital artist
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
Melva Young	....	lead lighter
Can Yuksel	....	visual effects animator

Animation Department
Manuel Almela	....	animator
Isabel Auphan	....	senior animator
Jeremy Bernstein	....	animator
Wee Brian	....	animator
Deter Brown	....	animator
Jason Brubaker	....	assistant animator
Alessandro Carloni	....	animation supervisor
Alessandro Carloni	....	story artist
Eric Deuel	....	animator
Jed Diffenderfer	....	story artist
Raffaella Filipponi	....	animator
G. Mark Fitzgerald	....	animation production assistant
Rex Grignon	....	animator
Rodolphe Guenoden	....	animation supervisor
Michael Kiely	....	animator
H.B. 'Buck' Lewis	....	character designer
Kevin MacLean	....	animator
Mary Ann Malcomb	....	animator
Nicolas Marlet	....	character designer
Hezekiah McMurray	....	layout artist
Pia Miniati	....	animation rig engineer
Anna Newman	....	animation research and development
Fredrik Nilsson	....	animator
Mark Nonnenmacher	....	digital matte painting
David Pate	....	animator
Jason Reisig	....	supervising animator
Ben Rush	....	animator
William Salazar	....	supervising animator
Matthew Schmidt	....	layout artist
Jeremy Shaw	....	animator
Chris Sherrod	....	rough layout artist
Olivier Staphylas	....	animator
Mike Stern	....	animator
Paul Theren	....	senior modeler
Gary Thomas	....	story artist
Christopher Vigil	....	animation production assistant
Dan Wagner	....	head of character animation
Makiko Wakita	....	animation production coordinator
Jennifer Yuh	....	story artist
Kathy Zielinski	....	animator
Guido Zimmermann	....	character technical director

Casting Department
Ania Kamieniecki	....	casting assistant
PoPing AuYeung	....	casting: Asia (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Mary Blee	....	additional editor
William J. Caparella	....	additional editor
John K. Carr	....	additional editor
Wayne Hellinger	....	post-production coordinator
C.K. Horness	....	editorial department
Kelly Matthews	....	editorial production assistant
Paul Neal	....	editor: high definition

Music Department
Chris Barrett	....	score assistant engineer
John A. Coleman	....	orchestrator
Jane Antonia Cornish	....	orchestrator
Germaine Franco	....	orchestrator
Gavin Greenaway	....	conductor
Isobel Griffiths	....	orchestra contractor
Karen Han	....	musician: 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
Dave Metzger	....	orchestrator
Alan Meyerson	....	music scoring mixer
Perry Montague Mason	....	orchestra leader
Jake Parker	....	orchestrator
Sunny Park	....	executive in charge of music
Ben Parry	....	choir coordinator
Adam Milo Smalley	....	music editor
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
Andrew Zack	....	score coordinator

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

Other crew
Holly Allen	....	production engineer
Rain Angeles	....	systems administrator (as Cherilee Angeles)
Steve Baker	....	research and development
Alain Banas	....	hardware engineer
Allison Bernardi	....	media coordinator
Will Bilton	....	research and development
Marty Brenes	....	hardware engineer
Greg Bulman	....	engineering system administrator
Scott Chapin	....	engineering system administrator
Jeff Chasin	....	production coordinator
Eric Chen	....	martial arts trainer
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
Christopher Ell	....	production coordinator
Sean Ellis	....	engineering system administrator
Marc Fleury	....	engineering system administrator
Reid Gershbein	....	research and development
Adnan Ghani	....	hardware engineer
Tiffany Giddens	....	intern
Juli Gumbiner	....	technical resource supervisor
Audrey Holland	....	production assistant
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
Hans Ku	....	alliance manager
Michael Lachance	....	creative executive
Tracy Larson	....	production coordinator
Jeff Lee	....	engineering system administrator
Mark Lelles	....	engineering system administrator
Jim Leuper	....	effects engineer
Jason Lloyd	....	hardware engineer
Michael Lynn	....	production coordinator
Rich Marco	....	engineering system administrator
Kelly Matthews	....	story production assistant
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
Brendan O'Connor	....	production coordinator
John O'Sullivan	....	systems administrator
Raffi Parikian	....	engineering system administrator
Paul Parmer	....	editorial systems engineer
Andrew Pearce	....	director of research and development
Matt Pomeroy	....	script supervisor
Jason Lee Pope	....	engineering system administrator
Travis Price	....	surfacer
Ernesto Quiroz	....	hardware engineer
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
Morgan J. Steele	....	administative assistant
Allen Stetson	....	lead technical director
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
Jon Young	....	media coordinator
Daniel Yu	....	research and development
Jennifer Yuh	....	head of story

Thanks
Michael John Mollo	....	special thanks
Debbie L. O'Keeffe	....	special thanks
Stuart Sumida	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• DreamWorks Animation
• Pacific Data Images (PDI)

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures
• DreamWorks Animation (2008) (USA) (theatrical)
• Finnkino (2008) (Finland) (all media)
• Paramount Pictures (2008) (France) (theatrical)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (2008) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (2008) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Universal Pictures International (UPI) (2008) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Universal Pictures International (UPI) (2008) (Russia) (all media)

Special Effects

• PDI DreamWorks

Other Companies

• China National Symphony Orchestra  orchestra
• Absolute Rentals  post-production rentals
• Dakota Music Services  music preparation
• Interscope Records  soundtrack
• London Session Orchestra, The  orchestra (uncredited)
• 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:

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

Certification:

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

Company:

DreamWorks Animation

Trivia:

Po employs the bear-style of kung fu in his final fight with Tai Lung.

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)

A Nutshell Review: Kung Fu Panda

It seems like this is a movie made for all the fanboys out there, regardless of what their obsessions are about. You know, being one who idolizes certain somebodies or some things, and given a day that Fate decides to throw you a curveball and give you that one opportunity to come up close and personal to meet and greet your idol in the flesh, or be thrown into the exact situation that you've always been dreaming about. What would you do, and would you go weak in the knees or be overcome with disbelief that you're actually, finally, realizing your dream? Panda Po (voiced by comedian Jack Black) epitomizes exactly that in Kung Fu Panda, and that struck a chord in me and with many in the audience as well. And for that, no matter how cliché the story would become, it had already done its deal and made the connection. It is no wonder it is rated G here, and I expect that the holiday season would allow cash registers to ring, for animation fans with the different styles utilized to tell the story (you must be on time and not miss the opening sequence), for kung fu fans to get a kick out of classic kung fu moves personified in their animal forms - Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Crane (David Cross), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Monkey (Jackie Chan) - collectively known as the Fearsome/Fab Five, and for the kids, given the obvious reason that hey, the protagonist is a cuddly bear. The marketing department, if not already done, should stock up on the plush toys, not only of the hero, but the supporting casts as well. And make their younger forms available too, for they will sell. Story-wise, I can't help but to note its tip of its hat towards the Jackie Chan martial arts movie of the past like Snake in Eagle's Shadow, Eagle Shadow Fist, etc. The formula which follows a misfit with weak or zero martial arts background having to undergo harsh training under a kung fu master, finally realizing his true calling in time to defeat the villain everybody fears. With the Jackie Chan movies, the demise of loved one always trigger off a chain reaction, but since this is G-rated, you won't have the pleasure of having blood spilled, but with so many splatter-type movies in recent times, I have to admit this was refreshing, and even having animated animals that talked, didn't irk me as they are just so lovable here, in their own right. It's an excellent and very even mix of comedy and drama, even though they are quite cliché at times if you grew up with the formula, but I thought that was the point. While the trailers might have given away some stuff, there are still lots more available which are hidden up the sleeves, and some minor word replacement such as "suck" to "stink", though you would likely be able to stay a step ahead throughout and even guess whatever secrets the movie have, actually are. For its stylistic training sequences, they became a throwback and a link to the fore-mentioned Jackie Chan movies. The fight choreography isn't done shoddily too with its designing of fights true to the characters' forms, and integrating them all in a manner rarely seen before. Since it's an animated flick, it was able to, and probably ramped up whatever's possible in the kung fu fantasy realm, to give us everything from rooftop flights to an incredible prison break. It didn't waste any effort in tapping from the wealth of kung fu material, what with the various names of deadly moves, secret manuals, teacher-student feuds, and the best part of it all? Humour being quite unexpectedly well placed, with more hits than misses to break out into a hearty laugh by the panda antics. For all its A-list voice actors in the movie, with the likes of Michael Clarke Duncan, Dan Fogler, Ian McShane and those who provide voices to the 5 key animals, Kung Fu Panda is clearly a Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman vehicle. The bantering between the two is priceless as the latter plays Sifu (duh) the master teacher, a highly-strung and serious character who has a past they are shameful about (don't they all). And as his own teacher Oogway (read: Wu Gui, aka tortoise, voiced by Randall Duk Kim) advises, herein lies an opportunity for Sifu to rediscover himself when training possibly the next-big-thing (pardon the pun) Po, whom he foretold as the mythical Dragon Warrior. So begins the forging of friendship, long lasting bonds and trust between the two, even though they got off the wrong footing. And you can probably feel for Po, because for a fanboy type, having your idols scoff at you at first opportunity, is actually quite painful. As a kids movie, there's almost always a message to take away. Here, it's a reminder to believe in oneself, which I guess is a universal theme to instill some confidence in the young ones. You might not look the best, nor are the best amongst your peers, but so long as you have that attitude to want to learn, that should put you in good steed. As a summer blockbuster movie, it's fun, thoroughly entertaining, and doesn't try to be too smart. It's likely to be a crowd pleaser across all age demographics, and an ultimate popcorn fare, so long as you manage to keep the popcorn away from the thieving hands of the panda. And with this release beating local film Kung Fu Gecko to the screens, I wonder what's the status currently on the Nickson Fong project.