As summer movies get bigger and bigger, they often make the audience feel smaller and smaller. Kung Fu Panda is a simple and lighthearted exception. But in the movie, this panda isn’t just cuddly1; it’s an overweight dreamer.
Kung Fu Panda begins with a brilliantly colored dream. In the dream, panda Po imagines he’s part of the Furious2 Five, a group of elite3 kung fu fighters: a tiger, a mantis4, a bird, a snake and a monkey. When Po wakes up, though, he’s far from their ranks and can’t even conquer a flight of stairs. He’s the son of a noodle shop owner, a goose.“I don’t dream about noodles, Dad,” Po says. “I love kung fu.”
The Furious Five are led by the Master Shifu whose own guru, the turtle, Oogway, fears their nemesis5 Tai Lung will return and destroy their valley. All Oogway wants is peace in the valley.
To defend the valley and the Chinese town, Oogway must find the Dragon Warrior6 to fulfill an ancient prediction. As you might guess, Po is unexpectedly thrust into this role despite any evidence of talent, and the movie is essentially about whether he can live up to this destiny.
Animal heroes
The film is apparently not your typical Shrek or Toy Story copy but a real martial arts film.“Our way meant having animal characters as living embodiments7 of the original animal fighting styles of kung fu,” said director John Stevenson.“We didn’t want the kung fu in our film just to look like human beings wearing animal suits doing fighting.” Here are the moves of these animal kung fu masters and stars who gave them voices:
Po (Jack Black)
Traditional styles of kung fu aren’t a good fit for this giant panda. So, Po must embrace8 his true panda nature and use his physical attributes, including his large belly and rear end.
Jack: I liked the concept of it, you know, this innocent panda who has a dream of being a kung fu master but really is kind of a clumsy9 fool. I thought there was a lot of potential for humour in it. I didn’t really research very much. I just felt like the character was very close to me and I just had to look back to my youth, my innocent days, and I drew just from my own experience.
Tigress (Angelina Jolie)
Tigress strikes directly, using speed and power to destroy opponents’ defenses. Tigress is elegant, fighting honorably and never using her claws.
Jolie: I just look for, whether it be any project, something that I find about a character that I admire, that I like, that I think sends, you know, a good message, or something that’s got some strength to it.
So I loved that in a film like this, that I knew my children would see, that the boys would think it was really cool and love the whole movie but that also my daughters would, of course, have a good role model as a girl.
Monkey (Jackie Chan)
Monkey is the only one of the five to fight with a tool, usually a staff. Monkey confuses his enemy, striking at will10 from any position with speed, skill and passion.
Jackie: I don’t know cartoon. But when I make my action movies, just like cartoon, a lot of action, no violence, a lot of comedy, it’s clean comedy. Because I know there’re so many kids around the world. They like action movies. They like cartoons.
Viper11 Lucy Liu
Viper’s ability to change into any shape makes her nearly impossible to hit. She uses her lightning-fast reflexes to avoid blowers before she hits back.
Q: They film you when you are doing the voiceovers12. And they can take things that are characteristic of you and put them into the character. Did you see anything of Lucy in Viper?
Liu: Not really. I mean, her eyes are gigantic and, obviously she’s got a small mouth. I didn’t feel like I could see a lot of it. But I think that that’s the subtlety13 of when they do film you. There’re gestures that you’re not aware of when you’re talking, when you’re acting, when you’re doing things. You’re doing them and you do forget that the camera’s there. I think that’s what they want. They want what is natural to what you would do normally.
Shifu (Dustin Hoffman)
Shifu moves faster than any challenger. He uses the most force with the least effort. His signature move is the Wuxi finger hold, with which he can overpower an opponent with the touch of a finger.
Dustin: They put us in a room. We each have a microphone. It’s—you know, as you say, you’re isolated. And it’s a strange feeling, because acting is interacting, and here you can’t do that.
We start with nothing and then we slowly just get ideas and we let that begin to influence us. A moustache14, the way we part our hair or the way we dress—kind of the rhythm, the physical rhythm we have, and here that’s already created and now you come in and they would say to you, “We want you to fill that somehow,” and that was, I felt, challenging.
Behind the scenes
★Kung Fu moves are based on real animal movements. Some of the animal inspirations for Kung Fu are tigers, snakes, mantises, monkeys, and cranes15. But not pandas.
★When the Furious Five first battle Tai Lung, the rope bridge they’re on unravels16. So Mantis wraps his spines17 around the loose ropes, plants his hind legs on the cliff, and holds up the bridge. Powered by strong muscles, the spines on a real mantis’ front legs are used to grasp prey. The spines are so powerful, in fact, that some mantises have been seen grasping small mice and birds.
★Po’s teacher, Shifu, is a red panda. The two characters could not be more different, just like the real animals. Red pandas more closely resemble raccoons; giant pandas are members of the bear family. Giant pandas also outweigh the cat-size red pandas by about 250 pounds.
★Po may work as a noodlemaker, but his real title should be noodle-eater! He’s constantly chowing down18, even when he’s supposed to be practicing kung fu. But his big belly doesn’t stop him from climbing incredible heights to escape blows from Tai Lung. Real giant pandas are also skilled climbers—and supersnackers. They swiftly scale19 fir trees as 75 feet, even though the average panda eats about 30 pounds of bamboo a day.
随着暑期电影制作规模不断扩大，观众们越来越觉得无所适从。《功夫熊猫》却是一个特例，它剧情简单轻松。不过该片中的熊猫显然不会激起人们的拥抱欲，因为他可是个超重量级的梦想家。
《功夫熊猫》始于一个华丽辉煌的梦。梦中，熊猫肥波幻想着自己跻身“盛怒五杰”之列——五大功夫高手：老虎、螳螂、鸟、蛇和猴子。可当肥波一觉醒来，现实中的他半点功夫也不会，连一段楼梯都征服不了。他是面条店掌柜鹅的儿子。“我的梦想不是做面条，爸爸。”肥波说，“我喜欢功夫。”
盛怒五杰以师父为首，师父的宗师乌龟担心复仇者太郎会卷土重来，摧毁山谷。乌龟一心要维护山谷的安宁。
为了保卫山谷及山谷下的中国城，乌龟必须找到龙斗士，实现一个古老的预言。你可能猜到了，肥波出人意料地被委以此重任，尽管他毫无天分可言。肥波是否能完成使命？剧情就此展开。
动物英雄
这部电影显然不是你心中那种如《怪物史莱克》或《玩具总动员》之类的动画片，而是一部真正的功夫片。“我们的手法要让动物角色们展现出现实中的打斗风格。”导演约翰·史蒂芬森说，“我们可不想让影片中的功夫看起来像是人化装成动物动手动脚。”以下即为这些动物功夫大师及其配音演员们的招式：
肥波（杰克·布莱克配音）
功夫的传统风格并不适合这只大熊猫。所以，肥波必须迎合真实熊猫的天性并利用自身特性，包括他的大肚子和屁股。
杰克：我喜欢这个创意，你知道，这只天真的熊猫梦想成为一代功夫巨星，但他其实是个笨手笨脚的傻瓜。我想它身上有许多潜在的幽默元素。我没真正地研究过。我只是觉得这个角色与我非常接近，我不由回想起自己的年轻时代、纯真岁月，并从自身经历中获得启发。
虎妞（安吉丽娜·朱莉配音）
虎妞直接进攻，用速度和力量摧毁对手的防御。虎妞举止优雅，光明正大地战斗，从不用利爪。
朱莉：无论什么影片，我都会从中寻找一个角色，能让我欣赏、让我喜欢；可以传递一些美好的信息，或是可以从中获得力量。
所以我喜欢像这样一部电影里所蕴含的东西，我知道我的孩子们会看到。男孩们会想它真酷，并爱上整部电影；女儿们毫无疑问也会，她们有了个做女孩的好榜样。
猴子（成龙配音）
猴子是五杰中惟一使用武器的，通常是根棍子。猴子运用速度、技巧和激情出其不意地随处展开攻击，让敌人方寸大乱。
成龙：我不了解动画片。但当我拍动作片时，就像动画片一样，会有许多动作而不是暴力，有许多喜剧元素，是很纯净的喜剧片。因为我知道全世界有很多很多小孩子，他们喜欢动作片，他们喜欢动画片。
毒蛇（刘玉玲配音）
毒蛇能变幻成任何形状，几乎不可能被击中。她以闪电般的敏捷反应躲开攻击者，并迅速反击。
问：你配音时他们在拍你。他们会把你的特点糅合到角色中。你在毒蛇中看到了玉玲的影子吗？
刘：其实没有。我是说，她的眼睛无比大；而且很明显，她又长了个小嘴巴。我似乎看不出我们有多少相像。但我想这正是他们拍摄你的微妙之处。当你说话、表演、做各种动作时，有许多姿势你并无意识。你全身心投入其中，忘了还有摄像机在那儿。我想这就是他们想要的。他们想要像你平常那样自自然然的样子。
师父（达斯汀·霍夫曼配音）
师父的动作比任何对手都快。他能以最少的气力发出最大的能量。他的杀手锏就是巫师指，他仅用一个手指轻轻一触就能将对手制服。
达斯汀：他们我们关在一个房间里。我们每人有一个麦克风。这就像你说的，我们与世隔绝。这是种很奇怪的感觉，因为表演是交互式的，在这儿你却做不到。
我们起初一片空白，而后慢慢有了想法，并开始让这种想法影响我们。不论是我们的小胡子、发际线的位置还是着装风格——这种每人都有的身体韵律与生俱来。现在，你走进来，他们会对你说：“我们想要你设法将这些表现出来。”我觉得这就是挑战。
幕后
★功夫招式以观察到的真实动物的动作为基础。一些功夫设计灵感来源于老虎、蛇、螳螂、猴子和仙鹤。不过没有熊猫。
★盛怒五杰首次大战太郎时，他们所踏的索桥坍塌了。于是螳螂将松散的绳索缠在自己的刺上，后腿立于悬崖，支撑着索桥。凭借强壮的肌肉，真正的螳螂可用前腿上的刺捕捉猎物。螳螂的刺非常有力，事实上一些螳螂曾捕捉过小老鼠和鸟。
★肥波的师父是一只红色熊猫。这两个角色不同之处太多了，与现实中一样。红色熊猫更像浣熊，大熊猫则是熊家族的成员。大熊猫要比猫一样大小的红色熊猫重约250磅。
★肥波也许是个做面条的，但其实他真正的名号应该是“面条贪吃鬼”！他总在狼吞虎咽，甚至该练功夫了还是如此。不过他的大肚子并不妨碍他爬到令人难以置信的高度以躲避太郎的攻击。真正的大熊猫也是训练有素的攀登者——及超级好吃鬼。即使熊猫平均每天吃掉30磅的竹子，它们还是能迅速爬上75英尺高的杉树。
1. cuddly adj. 令人想拥抱的
2. furious adj. 狂怒的
3. elite n. 精锐
4. mantis n. 螳螂
5. nemesis n. 复仇者
6. warrior n. 勇士，斗士
7. embodiment n. 化身
8. embrace v. 接受
9. clumsy adj. 笨拙的
10. at will 随意
11. viper n. 毒蛇
12. voiceover n. 配音
13. subtlety n. 微妙
14. moustache n. 胡须，小胡子
15. crane n. 仙鹤
16. unravel v. 分开
17. spine n. （动物的）刺，刺毛
18. chow down 狼吞虎咽
19. scale v. 攀登
20. broth n. 肉汤
21. agitated adj. 激动的
22. ingredient n. 配方