Secrets of the Furious Five
- Title: Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five
- IMDB: link
Secrets of the Furious Five is offered as a bonus disc with select two-pack versions of Kung Fu Panda (read that review). The story involves Po (Jack Black), after the events of the film, becoming a larger part of the community and sharing his knowledge of Kung Fu with a group of young students by instructing them that Kung Fu isn’t only about fighting – it also teaches important virtues.
At only 23-minutes it’s sadly short (especially since it’s the main feature of the disc), but in terms of story it works well enough. Through more traditional 2-D animation flashbacks Po tells the unruly students tales of each of the Furious Five and how they learned valuable lessons about patience, courage, discipline, compassion, and confidence.
As an extra-bonus disc it’s a nice addition. I wouldn’t buy it separately, but getting it thrown in for the same price, or even a buck or two more, you get what you’d expect. Although the animation style used in the short is fine, I’m a little disappointed it doesn’t more closely resemble the film (except for Po’s scenes). I can see why DreamWorks decided to package this with the original as it doesn’t stand-out on its own, but if you are a fan of the film, like me, I’d suggest spending a couple more bucks if only to learn how to draw the characters (pretty cool) and give your kids a little insight into the styles of Kung Fu used in the film, and the animals which inspired them.
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The makers of Kung Fu Panda could have gone about their job a lot of different ways. They could have made a send-up of the Kung Fu genre in line with what Shrek has done to fairy tales, or they could have given us a totally neutered beast with cartoon violence a la Wyle E. Coyote. Thankfully they chose neither, and elected instead to make the most bad-ass Kung Fu movie allowed the Computer Animation genre today.