Kung Fu Yoga (2017)

Streaming Service: Amazon Prime
Movie Name/Year: Kung Fu Yoga (2017)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Length: 107 minutes
Rating: Unrated
Production/Distribution: ABS-CBN Film Productions, Baidu Nuomi Pictures, Beijing Herui FIlm Culture, Beijing Idea Media, Beijing Taihe Zeruo Culture Investment, China Film, China Film Co., Ltd., China Film Group Corporation (CFGC), Clover Films, Film & TV House, GEM Entertainment, Golden Network Asia, Golden Screen Cinemas, Golden Village Pictures, Hero Productions, Huace Pictures, Huaxia Film Distribution, Icon Film Distribution, Kadokawa, Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment, Kashgar J.Q. Media & Culture, Khorgos Taihe Digital Entertainment Cultural Development, Koch Media, Long Shong Entertainment Multimedia Company, Nextainment Pictures, Phars Film, Prosperity Pictures, Rui Off, Shanghai Taihe Pictures, Shanghai Taopiaopiao Film Culture, Shinework Pictures, Sparkle Roll Media, Taihe Entertainment, Tanweer Films, TOABH Talent Management, Top Entertainment, Well Go USA Entertainment, Xi'an Qujiang Film & TV Investment, Youth Film Studio
Director: Stanley Tong
Writer: Stanley Tong
Actors: Jackie Chan, Yixing Zhang, Miya Muqi, Disha Patani, Aarif Rahman, Amyra Dastur, Sonu Sood, Paul Philip Clark, Yuxian Shang, Jiang Wen, Eric Tsang, Guoli Zhang
 
Blurb from IMDb: Two professors team up to locate a lost treasure and embark on an adventure that takes them from a Tibetan ice cave to Dubai, and to a mountain temple in India.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
I’m not going to judge Kung Fu Yoga as a mainstream flick. I don’t think that’s what they were aiming for. Instead, it seems to me that it falls into the sub-genre of caricature parody.
 
If you look at Kung Fu Yoga as a real kung fu, mainstream, movie… you’re not going to enjoy it. The script was not great, everything was super campy, and there were a few CGI scenes that felt straight out of an early 2000s video game cut-scene. Once you accept that it’s a parody, however, it’s not all that bad.
 
You pretty much know what to expect when Jackie Chan is in the credits. Especially when it’s not meant to be a serious film. The fight choreography was hilarious, even when it didn’t 100% make sense. That’s his bread and butter. No one does silly comedic impressive fighting quite like Chan.
 
As a parody, it still had flaws, though.
 

I mentioned already that the script was bad. That almost feels like an understatement. However, I think only part of that quality can be attributed to the script itself. A lot of the flaw was with the delivery.
 
I have to assume the acting was intentionally bad. I mean, I’ve seen a few of the actors in other projects and they don’t strike me as bad in general. That possibility lends to my belief that it’s a caricature.
 
There were also some other genre anomalies.
 
Kung Fu Yoga seemed to blend bits of Chinese film with Bollywood aspects, there was even a bit a Westernization thrown in. I think there’s something to be said for the diversity in that. It did lead to some confusing switch ups, and a wholly unsatisfying ending, though.
 
The bottom line was that it did have qualities that I would describe as ‘so bad it’s good’. It definitely wouldn’t be for everyone, but I’m glad I watched it for the fight scenes alone.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 48%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 35%
Metascore – 50%
Metacritic User Score – 4.7
IMDB Score – 5.1/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 3/5
 
Trust-the-Dice’s Parental Advisory Rating: PG-13
 
Movie Trailer:

Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016) - Through the Eyes of Cat

Number Rolled: N/A

Movie Name/Year: Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)

Tagline: Grab destiny by the rice dumplings.

Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure, Comedy

Length: 95 minutes

Rating: PG

Production Companies: China Film Co., DreamWorks Animation, Oriental DreamWorks

Producers: Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger, Melissa Cobb, Guillermo del Toro, Jeff Hermann, Peikang La, Rui Gang Li, Mike Mitchell

Directors: Alessandro Carloni, Jennifer Yuh Nelson           

Writers: Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger

Actors: Jack Black, Bryan Cranston, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, J.K. Simmons, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, Kate Hudson, James Hong, David Cross, Randall Duk Kim, Al Roker, Jean-Claude Van Damme

Stunts: N/A

Blurb from Netflix: His Mission? Defend China from a marauding spirit. His weapon? Kung fu. His crew? Pandas. Clumsy, goofy pandas.

Cat’s Point of View:

I love the Kung Fu Panda (2008) series. I had originally watched this 3^rd installment of the franchise closer to when it was released, but was quite happy to watch it again.

Aside from being funny and just fun in general, these movies have a phenomenal message behind them. They’re all reinforcing that we shouldn’t judge others by their exteriors, sometimes our weaknesses can be turned into strengths, and that both self-discovery and community are important. That’s just scratching the surface. There’s good stuff for kids that might be in foster homes, adopted, or in blended families as well.

I love Po’s wide-eyed wonder at the world around him and how he geeks-out over things. My own inner-geek identifies with him so much! Jack Black (The Muppets, The D Train, The Polka King) was the absolute perfect choice to voice the Dragon Warrior in this series.

Dreamworks’ CEO confirmed that there are going to be at least 3 more movies in the series. I am excited to find out what is in store for Po the panda in the future!  In the meantime, I wouldn’t mind watching this again and would give it my whole-hearted recommendation.

Languages

Speech Available: English, English (Audio Description), Spanish

Subtitles Available: English [CC], Spanish

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 86%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 78%

Metascore – 66%

Metacritic User Score – 7.4/10

IMDB Score – 7.1/10

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 5/5

P.S. There are several 'replays' of scenes from throughout the movie during the credits. 

Movie Trailer:

The Karate Kid (2010)

Number Rolled: 89

Movie Name/Year: The Karate Kid (2010)

Genre: Family Drama

Length: 140 minutes

Rating: PG

Director: Harald Zwart

Writer: Christopher Murphy, Robert Mark Kamen

Actors: Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan, Taraji P. Henson, Wenwen Han, Rongguang Yu, Zhensu Wu, Zhiheng Wang, Zhenwei Wang, Shijia Lu, Youyi (there’s some discrepancies between my sources on the spelling of this name, it might be Yi) Zhao

This, actually, wasn’t the first time I had seen this movie. As a bona-fide child of the 80’s, I was in love with the old Karate Kid movies. First Daniel Larusso moved and found a buddy and karate sensei in Mr. Miyagi, then they took the trip to Okinawa, followed by Daniel buying the Bonsai shop for him and finally, Mr. Miyagi found a new student in Julie Pierce – I was there for it all. Needless to say, I went to see this one in the theater when it came out.

I was nervous as all hell though. I both dreaded the remake and wished I would see the old “wax on, wax off” scene and the final uber kick from when Daniel hurt his knee. Why did I dread it? Because if they had been there, it would have been the same movie and, there-fore, there would be no point for it.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the plot was the same thing, just with a different script and different actors. With a younger main character, you also find it hitting a younger demographic. If I were thirteen though? I’d be pretending to be a kung-fu master all over my school halls because of this movie. However, there was plenty in there for those of us coming in from the old movies, enough to keep us entertained. The signature scenes were there, but they had different content which made them seem a bit fresher without losing the message for those new to the story.

I’m a huge fan of Jackie Chan. I love him in just about everything he does, even if I’m not so fond of the movie. This movie was no exception. He fit into that part so easily I almost wondered if he just goes around in his off time helping out bullied little kids and teaching them kung-fu.

As for Jaden Smith, this was the first movie I saw him in and, I have to say it, I can see his father in him. I hope he doesn’t just get labeled as some kid riding on his father’s coat-tail though, because he’s got some serious talent.

There were some minor issues I had with the movie, nothing really worth mentioning here – except one. It seems so minor and stupid, but I can’t seem to get over it. For a movie called “The Karate Kid” there was a distinct and total lack of karate. It was Kung-fu. There’s a difference. I shall here-after refer to this movie as “The Kung-fu Kid.”

Overall Opinion – 4/5