Western Animation / Kung Fu Panda

Prepare for awesomeness.

"Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose Kung Fu skills were the stuff of legend."

— Po

Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 CG-animated action-dramedy film from DreamWorks Animation, balanced between Funny Animal humor, gorgeous art, and epic martial arts action.

Set in an anthropomorphic animal version of Chinese legend, the story follows Po, the (obviously adopted) son of a noodle shop owner. A gushing fanboy of kung fu, Po is a lumbering, awkward and gluttonous Manchild who lives in the shadow of the legendary Jade Palace, home of six of China's greatest kung-fu warriors. When their Old Master, Oogway, makes his selection of the Dragon Warrior, Po is astounded to learn that it's him. His battle for acceptance by the people he's looked up to his whole life leads him on both comic and tragic turns, especially once he finds out what being The Chosen One actually means: fighting Tai Lung, the One-Man Army who believes he deserves the title of Dragon Warrior... and will destroy anyone who objects. And Po still hasn't learned kung fu.

The film's fusion of classic kung-fu tropes, Funny Animal slapstick, and The Hero's Journey has proven extremely successful, resulting in an entire franchise of TV shows, specials and rides for DreamWorks. There have been three sequels — Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016) and Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024).

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Kung Fu Panda provides examples of:

Movie

• Tropes A to D
• Tropes E to M
• Tropes N to Z

Short films

• Tropes Short Films

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♫ Everybody is kung fu fighting (Hoo! Huh!)
Your mind becomes fast as lightning
Although the future is a little bit frightenin' (Little bit frightenin'!)
It's the book of your life that you're writing! (Life that you're writing...) ♫