Kung Fu Panda

I could watch this movie again and again. I haven't had so much nonstop fun watching a movie in a long while. Jack Black has a tendency to get a little extreme in some of his roles, but in this case, he really brought Po, the fanboy panda, to life.

The set design in Kung Fu Panda is strikingly beautiful. The monastery, high in the hills (a la the karsts of the Li River) is surrounded by peach trees, which can magically blossom and bear fruit at the same time. The moments that the characters share near these trees are not only poetically beautiful (Master Oogway vanishing into the petals), but they are also inspiring. "...no matter what you do, that seed will grow to be a peach tree. You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach."

Actually, lessons such as this provided the backbone of my enjoyment of this movie. Even though "the past is history, the future is a mystery, but today is a gift; that is why it is called the present," is hardly innovative, I am considering putting a big banner across my wall that reads "The Scroll Is Blank."

Kung Fu Panda gets a solid four stars, maybe four and a half. It's a lot of fun, and I'm actually looking forward to the sequel, due out this summer.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

My comic geek buddy told me this was one disappointing movie. Not having read the comic, I took his word for it, but on recommendation from my brother, I decided, what the hey, I'll give it a shot. What I discovered was a much richer experience than I could have anticipated.

I should address, first and foremost, the 8-bit video game style that pervades the entire film. I mentioned in my response to Coraline that I wasn't too keen how it devolved into a video game and would rather play the game than watch a movie try to be a video game. The difference with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is that the style fits the genre. It is a comedy geared toward the comic book and video game fan base. That allowed me to forego the question of how the characters got their superhuman combat moves and focus instead on what the story had to tell me.

I expected this to be a fairly brainless tale of a band geek and some fights, and for the most part, I didn't really relate to Scott until the tail end of Act 2 struck a chord. The plot of the story, that Scott has to face the seven evil exes of the girl of his dreams in order to win her heart, is beautifully told. Yes, I said beautifully. This isn't just a story about Scott having to fight off a bunch of goons so a girl will like him. This is an account of how a young man must conquer a young woman's past hurt and her future doubts. In so doing, he learns to overcome himself and his own. In understanding Ramona's scars, how she sees him as another potential evil ex, Scott discovers how to take responsibility for himself. He confesses to his own jilted ex, Knives, that he cheated on her and is thus able to work with her to defeat the final ex.

***SPOILER ALERT***
Still, I consider the most poignant moment to be when Scott faces himself, literally: NEGA SCOTT. The great surprise, which doesn't work for a lot of people expecting a glorious final clash, is that he and his negative just "shoot the shit." They get along. They are at peace. This really resonated with me as I work on making peace with my own NEGA KYLE, and it demonstrated a profound sense of maturity, cleverly disguised in a film marketed toward more (with all due respect) immature audiences.

I give Scott Pilgrim vs. The World four stars, because it was difficult to really connect until the end, but it was a great ride and surprisingly meaningful. I can only hope someone in the future will have the guts to handle my own list of evil exes. I'm honing my skills to reciprocate.