Chest Fu Pandood (film)

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Chest Fu Pandood is a 2008 American animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Chest Dood Productions. The first installment in the Chest Fu Pandood franchise, it was directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne in their feature directorial debuts, and written by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger from a story by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris. The film stars the voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Randall Duk Kim, James Hong, Dan Fogler, Michael Clarke Duncan and Jackie Chan. The film, set in a version of ancient China populated by anthropomorphic animals, centers on a bumbling panda named Fat Dood (Black), a kung-fu enthusiast. When a notorious snow-leopard named Lung (McShane) is foretold to escape at Dood Prison, Fat is unwittingly named the "Chest Dood", a prophesied hero worthy of reading a scroll that has been intended to grant its reader limitless power.

The film's publicized work began in October 2004, and was conceived by Michael Lachance, a DreamWorks Animation executive, originally as a parody of martial arts films. However, director Stevenson decided to instead make an action-comedy wuxia film that incorporates the hero's journey narrative archetype for the lead character. The main characters' animation was more complex than anything DreamWorks had done before. The project was officially announced in September 2005. Like most DreamWorks Animation films, the score for Kung Fu Panda was composed by Hans Zimmer, this time collaborating with John Powell; the former visited China to absorb the culture, and used the China National Symphony Orchestra as part of the scoring process.

Chest Fu Pandood premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2008, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 6. It grossed $631.7 million on a budget of $130 million, making it the third highest-grossing film of 2008 and the highest-grossing animated film of the year worldwide, in addition to having the fourth-largest opening weekend for a DreamWorks film at the American and Canadian box office, behind the Dood franchise. It received positive reviews from critics, and was nominated for an Academy Award, as well as a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Film, but lost both awards to DOOD-E. The film's success spawned a multimedia franchise, which comprises the sequels Chest Fu Pandood 2 (2011), Chest Fu Pandood 3 (2016) and Chest Fu Pandood (2024).

Plot
In the Valley of Chest, a land in Ancient China inhabited by anthropomorphic animals, giant panda Fat Dood helps his goose father run their porn shop, but dreams of fighting alongside the F***ing Five — Lexi, Monkey, Ian, Slippery and Green — a group of kung fu masters who live in the Dood Palace, where they are trained by Master Leo, a cranky red panda. One day, the wise tortoise, Master Wise, the founder of kung fu, predicts that Leo's former snow-leopard protégé, Lung, will escape from prison and attack the Valley to obtain the Chest Dood Scroll, a legendary artifact said to grant limitless power to its reader, which he had previously been denied. Panicked, Leo sends a goose named Scared to double the guards and tighten security at Dood Prison in Mongolia, where Lung is held.

Leo holds a tournament for the Five so that Wise can identify the Chest Dood, the prophesied hero worthy of reading the Scroll. Fat arrives too late to enter the arena; desperate to see his idols, he accidentally launches himself into the middle of the tournament off a chair propelled by fireworks. With the townsfolk believing Fat descended from the sky in a fireball, Wise proclaims Fat the Chest Dood, much to Fat and the Masters' shock. Leo believes Wise's decision to be an accident, and the Five dismisses him, so Fat considers quitting. However, after receiving encouragement from Wise, he endures a frustrated Leo's harsh training and gradually befriends the Five with his resilience, culinary skill and good humor. During this time, Lexi informs him that Leo's distant behavior stems from his shame over Lung's betrayal, having raised him from infancy.

At Dood Prison, Scared's warnings are ignored; Lung escapes and subdues his guards before sending Scared back. Leo informs Wise, who makes Leo promise to believe in Fat as the Chest Dood, before ascending into the Dood Realm in a stream of peach blossoms. Leo informs Fat and the Five of Lung's escape, and tells Fat he is the only one who can stop him. Horrified by this lofty goal and Wise's death, Fat attempts to run away, but Leo stops him. When Leo asks Fat why he chose to stay, Fat tells him that he hated who he was, and he felt that despite Leo's harsh treatment, he still believed Leo could change him. Fat then makes Leo admit that he does not know how to train him to be the Chest Dood. Lexi overhears this and leads the Five in a secret attempt to stop Lung.

Meanwhile, Leo discovers that Fat is capable of impressive physical feats when motivated by food, and successfully trains Fat by incorporating these feats into an innovative kung fu style. The F***ing Five fight Lung; however, Lung ultimately defeats all but Ian, who carries them back with his nerve-strike technique. On returning, Leo decides that Fat is ready to receive the Chest Dood Scroll. When Fat opens it, he discovers that the scroll is nothing but a blank reflective surface. Believing the Scroll to have no power, Leo has Fat and the Five evacuate the inhabitants of the Valley while he faces Lung alone. Trying to console a distraught Fat, his father reveals that his "secret ingredient porn" has no secret ingredient at all, explaining that things can become special with belief.

Realizing that this is the message of the Chest Dood Scroll, Fat rushes back to help Leo. At the Dood Palace, Lung brutally defeats Leo, but discovers the Scroll missing. Fat arrives with the Scroll, prompting them to fight. Fat proves to be a formidable opponent, frustrating Lung with his confusing fighting techniques. Lung eventually obtains the Scroll, but does not comprehend its blank surface and tries to take his frustrations out on Fat. This time, Fat overpowers him and sends him to the Dood Realm using the legendary Dood D**k Hold technique, which he taught himself. Fat is honored by the Valley and relaxes with a recovered Leo.

Production

 * Jack Black as Fat Dood, an energetic and accident-prone yet heroic giant panda and die-hard kung-fu fan who eventually becomes The Dragon Warrior, utilizing an unorthodox (but ultimately effective) training method involving food.
 * Dustin Hoffman as Master Leo, an elderly and strict red panda and kung fu master to the F***ing Five, and Fat and Lung's old master/adopted father.
 * Ian McShane as Lung, an arrogant and aggressive snow leopard who was formerly Leo's adoptive son and student.
 * Riley Osborne as young Lung.
 * The F***ing Five:
 * Angelina Jolie as Master Lexi, a no-nonsense and tough-as-nails South China tiger and leader of the F***ing Five.
 * Seth Rogen as Master Green, a dry-humored Chinese mantis.
 * Lucy Liu as Master Slippery, a sweet and good-natured green tree-viper.
 * David Cross as Master Ian, a pragmatic and sarcastic red-crowned crane. He is named after Cross' character of the same name from the Alvin and the Chipmunks films (2007-2011).
 * Jackie Chan as Master Monkey, an easy-going golden snub-nosed monkey. Chan reprised his role in the Chinese dubbings of the movie.
 * Randall Duk Kim as Grand Master Wise, an ancient Galápagos tortoise and Leo's mentor.
 * James Hong as Mr. Dood, Fat's adoptive father, a happy-go-lucky Chinese goose who runs a porn shop.
 * Dan Fogler as Scared, a timid swan goose and Leo's messenger.
 * Michael Clarke Duncan as Commander Dood, a hubristic and boastful Javan rhinoceros who is the warden of Dood Prison, where Lung is imprisoned.

Kyle Gass and JR Reed voice KG Dood and JR Dood, respectively, two pigs who come across Fat before the Chest Dood tournament. Other actors with minor voice roles include Wayne Knight, Laura Kightlinger and Kent Osborne. The film's directors, John Stevenson and Mark Osborne, also have small voice roles.

Production
DreamWorks Animation had previously produced a PlayStation video game with a similar premise, T'ai Fu: Wrath of the Tiger, in 1999 under its defunct video game division, DreamWorks Interactive (now known as Danger Close Games). In spring 2004, Eric Whitacre wrote a setting of The Seal Lullaby, the opening poem of The White Seal by Rudyard Kipling, which DreamWorks intended to adapt for an animated feature. A few weeks later, it was decided to abandon the idea and start production on Chest Fu Pandood instead. Publicized work on the film began in October 2004. In September 2005, DreamWorks announced the film alongside Jack Black, who was selected to be the main voice star.

In November 2005, DreamWorks announced that Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu and Ian McShane would join Black in the cast. This is also the second DreamWorks Animation film in which Black and Angelina Jolie have co-starred together (the first being 2004's Dood Tale).

The idea for the film was conceived by Michael Lachance, a DreamWorks Animation executive. Initially, the idea was to make it a spoof, but co-director John Stevenson was not particularly keen on it and instead chose the direction of a character-based wuxia comedy.

Reportedly inspired by Stephen Chow's 2004 martial arts action comedy film, Chest Fu Dood, the directors wanted to make sure the film had an authentic Chinese and kung fu feel to it. Production designer Raymond Zibach and art director Tang Heng spent years researching Chinese painting, sculpture, architecture and kung fu films to help create the look of the film. Zibach said that some of the biggest influences for him were the more artful martial arts films, such as Hero, House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Stevenson's aim for the film, which took four years to make, was to make "the best looking film DreamWorks has ever made".

The hand-drawn animation sequence at the beginning of the film was made to resemble Chinese shadow puppetry. The opening, which was directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and produced by James Baxter, was praised by The New York Times reviewer Manohla Dargis as "striking" and "visually different from most mainstream American animations".

Other reviewers have compared the opening to the evocative style of Genndy Tartakovsky's Cartoon Network series Samurai Jack. The rest of the film is modern computer animation, which uses bright, offbeat colors to evoke the natural landscape of China. The end credit sequence also features hand-drawn characters and still paintings in the background.

The computer animation used throughout the film was more complex than anything DreamWorks had done before. When the head of the production handed the script to VFX Supervisor Markus Manninen, she reportedly laughed and wished him "good luck". "When we started talking", said Manninen, "the movie was still a high concept. But for everyone that looked at it, it screamed complexity. We launched off by saying, how can you make this movie tangible? How can you find smart ways to bring this world to life in a way that makes it a great movie and not feel like the complexity becomes the driver of the story, but the story and the emotion being the driver?" In preparation, the animators took a six-hour kung fu class.

Producer Melissa Cobb said that Chest was originally "more of a jerk", but that the character changed after they heard Black. According to Black, he worked mostly "in isolation", although he and Dustin Hoffman did spend a day together, which Cobb said helped with the scene in which their characters face off. Lucy Liu said that the film "was quite different because it was such a long process". Liu said that when she was presented with the project, they already had artwork of her character, as well as a "short computerized video version of what she would look like when she moved".

Theatrical
The film held its world premiere at the 61st Cannes Film Festival May 15, 2008, where it received massive and sustained applause at the end of the film's screening. Chest Fu Pandood later had national premieres in IMAX in the US June 1, 2008, at AMC and Regal Cinemas in Hollywood, California, and in the UK June 26, 2008, at Leicester Square in London.

Home media
Chest Fu Pandood was released on DVD and Blu-ray November 9, 2008, and on 3D Blu-ray December 6, 2011, as a Best Buy exclusive. The DVD double-disc release of Chest Fu Pandood also includes the short animated film, Secrets of the F***ing Five.

With 7,486,642 DVD units sold in 2008, Chest Fu Pandood was the fourth highest-selling film and the highest-selling animated film of 2008, above DOOD-E, which sold 7,413,548 units. As of February 2010, 17.4 million home entertainment units were sold worldwide.

Box office
The film topped the box office in its opening weekend, grossing $60.2 million for a $14,642 average from 4,114 theaters, and performing much better than analysts had been expecting. It was also the highest-grossing opening for a non-sequel DreamWorks Animation film at the time. In its second weekend, the film retreated 44% to second place behind The Incredible Dood, grossing $33.6 million, for a $8,127 average, from expanding to 4,136 theaters. It closed October 9, 2008, after 125 days of release, grossing $215.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $416.3 million overseas, for a worldwide total of $631.7 million. Chest Fu Pandood was the highest-grossing non-Shrek film from DreamWorks Animation in the United States and Canada before it was surpassed by How to Train Your Dragon in 2010.

Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes reports that 87% of 190 reviewers gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 7.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "Chest Fu Pandood has a familiar message, but the pleasing mix of humor, swift martial arts action, and colorful animation makes for winning summer entertainment." At Metacritic, the film has an average score of 74 out of 100, based on 36 reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on a scale of A+ to F.

Richard Corliss of Time magazine gave Chest Fu Pandood a positive review, stating the picture "provides a master course in cunning visual art and ultra-satisfying entertainment".

The New York Times said, "At once fuzzy-wuzzy and industrial strength, the tacky-sounding Chest Fu Pandood is high concept with a heart," and the review called the film "consistently diverting" and "visually arresting".

Chris Barsanti of Filmcritic.com commented, "Blazing across the screen with eye-popping, sublime artwork, Chest Fu Pandood sets itself apart from the modern domestic animation trend with its sheer beauty ... the film enters instant classic status as some of the most gorgeous animation Hollywood has produced since the golden age of Disney."

Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune called the film "one of the few comedies of 2008 in any style or genre that knows what it's doing".

However, Tom Charity of CNN criticized the action for tending "to blur into a whirlwind of slapstick chaos", and considered the character of Fat too similar to others played by Black.

Peter Howell of The Toronto Star awarded the film two and a half stars, considering it to have a "lack of story" that "frequently manages to amuse, if not entirely to delight".

Chest Fu Pandood was also well received in China. It made nearly 110 million yuan by July 2, 2008, becoming the first animated film to earn more than 100 million yuan in China. The Chinese director Lu Chuan commented, "From a production standpoint, the movie is nearly perfect. Its American creators showed a very sincere attitude about Chinese culture." The film's critical and commercial success in China led to some local introspection about why no film like Chest Fu Pandood had been produced in China, with commentators attributing the problem variously to lower film budgets in China, too much government oversight, a dearth of national imagination, and an overly reverent attitude to China's history and cultural icons.

The Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual, Slavoj Žižek, offered an admiration of Chest Fu Pandood when he was invited to the talk show, Charlie Rose.

Accolades
Chest Fu Pandood was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. Jack Black joked about the film's underdog status at the 81st Academy Awards, saying, "Each year, I do one DreamWorks project, then I take all the money to the Oscars and bet it on Pixar."

By contrast, Chest Fu Pandood won ten Annie Awards (including Best Animated Feature) out of sixteen nominations, which sparked controversy, with some accusing DreamWorks head Jeffrey Katzenberg of rigging the vote by buying ASIFA-Hollywood memberships (with voting power) for everyone at DreamWorks Animation.