KUNG FU PANDA vs. STAR WARS

…well, not Star Wars proper, but the latest Clone Wars “film” and Episode III anyway.
This blog actually started off as merely a status update on my Facebook account. It read. “[I] still think Kung Fu Panda is better than Clone Wars and possibly Episode III”
Let’s take ‘em one at a time:

KFP v. CW
Not much of a fight here. Kung Fu Panda has a better plot, better score and better animation. The animation and art were so well done that my wife commented that it seemed as if you reached for the screen you would feel the fuzziness of the fur of Po (the panda) and other on screen animals such as Tigress.

This one’s a K.O. – kapow!

KFP v. SWEIII:ROTS
Animation up against live action? Let me rephrase… 100% Animation v. 90% animated 10% live action. Revenge of the Sith ended up being the big lead up to the big letdown. Granted it’s the most “Star Wars” of the prequels, but as I watched KFP I kept thinking, “man, if this plotline was tweaked a bit and used for EPIII it could have been a much stronger movie.
In KFP you feel the tension of the characters. Po who longs to be a kung fu master. Shifu’s struggle to find the Dragon Master in the most unexpected place and struggling to become the Master after his master, Oogway, “passes”. Tigress struggles with the desire to be the dragon master, being usurped by an undisciplined, cavalier wannabe. TaiLung’s relentess pursuit to become the dragon master destroys his own destiny.

Oogway’s comment “One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.” Reminded me of ROTS, but it was foreboding in KFP, whereas in ROTS the dialog was so stiff, and delivered so poorly. (In fact, much of ROTS felt like one last dip to he cameo well)

I wondered: What would it have been like had these roles were filled this way:
Again, the cut and paste does not work – adjustments would need to be made
Oogway –Yoda
ShiFu – Kenobi
TaiLung – Anakin
Po – a Jedi who excels quicker than Anakin whom Anakin eventually destroys

If you see KFP, keep this in mind as you watch and you’ll see what I mean.

You’d need to remove most of the humor, but Anakin’s fall was less well developed than TaiLung’s. TaiLung was an orphan “adopted” by ShiFu. TaiLung quickly became a master of KungFu but wanted to be Master of all, with powers unknown to any other. He is frustrated and angered when he is forbidden to become the Dragon Master and turns dark.

Anakin wanted much the same in regards to power, but the delivery and overall plot (Anakin’s dream / Padme’s death) was rushed and left me saying… “wait..what?…already?” Most villians’ backstories either contains a sudden traumatic event that breaks them to the point of a life turned to evil or they experience a slow disintegration.

For whatever reason KFP, while not spending time on TaiLung’s backstory gave a much more powerful turn to the dark side than ROTS gave to Anakin.

T.K.O for KFP