Kung Fu Panda Holiday (2010)

TV Show Info

I’m a bad panda

Po (voiced by Jack Black) has been assigned the honor of hosting the annual Winter Feast with all the masters in attendance by Master Shifu (voiced by Dustin Hoffman).  Po realizes that the honor will mean breaking the honored tradition of the Winter Feast with his father Mr. Ping (voiced by James Hong).  Po must complete the dinner without the help of the master cook Wo Hop (voiced by Jack McBrayer) and decide if the honor is worth the loss of the time with his father.

This is what Christmas is all about…I guess

Directed by Tim Johnson, Kung Fu Panda Holiday first aired on NBC on November 24, 2010.  It spun off the popular Kung Fu Panda series and received modest reviews.

I haven’t really gotten into the whole Kung Fu Panda series so I saw this as an “outsider”.  As someone who hasn’t seen the other films, the show doesn’t do the best job setting up the relationships in the movie for novice viewers.  I have to say I’d recommend this for fans of the series since more basic background on the characters would probably make it more enjoyable.  Fortunately, the makers of the special were able to get the voices from the films…something that always does help make even the average show a bit better by adding a “real big screen feel” to it.

Sorry I crapped out on you!

Despite the limited knowledge of the Kung Fu Panda series, the show does have a nice message, but also a tough one.  There is that whole responsibility aspect which is a challenge.  Po accepted Shifu’s request then kind of went back on his promise to honor the ceremony.  Should the ceremony change?  Possibly, but was it up to Po to “ruin” the ceremony by deciding he made a mistake by taking the job?

I can’t say I’m that inspired to seek out the other Kung Fu Panda movies after watching this, but it was tolerable.  I thought the story was rather interesting, but I couldn’t really get into the characters.

Related Links:

Kung Fu Panda (2008)

Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)