Everybody should be kung fu fighting

A year ago, I attended a personal leadership seminar that changed the way I look at life. In one of the modules, we were asked to close our eyes for some time, meditate on some things, and then open our eyes to candlelight to receive a message from God, the universe, or your higher self—depending on your belief system. The message I received was, "You are enough" and it lifted a huge weight from my heart. I still battle self-doubt—I often argue that I'm not ready for many things—but whenever it gets the better of me, I simply tell myself, "I am enough."

Funny that I should find the same message in a movie about a cowardly, flabby, lazy panda who dreams of kung fu fighting. "There is no secret ingredient," Po the Panda (Jack Black) declares in his moment of epiphany. With this wisdom, he unlocks the power of kung fu and manages to fulfill his destiny.

Lining up for Kung Fu Panda, I was all prepped for a rollicking animated film-watching adventure. Jack Black's antics is always fun to watch, even at his most annoying best; Angelina Jolie never disappoints in her project choices; and, well, it didn't hurt that Black kicked off the Cannes Film Festival with an outrageous stunt that involved arriving by boat with 40 giant pandas. What I wasn't prepared for was a movie with a message that would make a deep connection in my heart.

This is not to say, of course, that Kung Fu Panda is just "a movie with a message." It's hilarious from start to finish, with the kind of wit that keeps you hooked despite the slapstick. Not only that—the art has just got to be the best I've seen in years.

Kung Fu Panda opens with one of Po's kung fu fighting dreams. He is a character in "legends full of legendary warriors whose exploits are the stuff of legends" so known for his kung fu prowess that even the legendary Furious Five—Tigress (Jolie), Crane (David Cross), Viper (Lucy Liu), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen)—want to "hang out" with him. The dream takes on a bigger significance when, on the same day, he finds out that the thousand-year-old turtle Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) was going to anoint the Dragon Warrior that day.

It is the Dragon Warrior that bears the destiny of bringing peace to the, er, Valley of Peace. It is also his job to battle the evil master Tin Lung (Ian McShane), who will be breaking out of prison after years of captivity after wreaking havoc on the valley many years ago. Moreover, the Dragon Warrior is the only person permitted to read the Dragon Scroll, which supposedly bears the secret to unlimited kung fu power—the scroll that Tin Lung is after.

Through a series of, er, unfortunate events, Po finds himself being anointed as the Dragon Warrior—much to the disappointment of kung fu master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), who carries the guilt of having trained Tin Lung blindly, despite the darkness in his heart that was apparent to Oogway.

How Po finds the kung fu fighter in him is indeed the stuff of kung fu legend—the type that kept many children like me up on afternoons, when the old Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee films were being shown on Channel 13—or was it Channel 9? In fact, Kung Fu Panda tips off its hat to the kung fu classics. Elements of classic kung fu films are easily identifiable—the sloppy, clumsy student with zero kung fu knowledge; the rigorous kung fu training said student undergoes; the training with the dumplings! Earlier kung fu films also made their mark on Kung Fu Panda—like, say, Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle. I've half a mind to go hunting for Jackie Chan's earlier films.

Most importantly, though, the Shaolin spirit is there—in the message that power or discipline can't be taught; you've got to find it within. Or, as Po's father says as a catalyst to Po's moment of epiphany, "The secret to the secret ingredient soup is that there is no secret ingredient."

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