DreamWorks’ animated film Kung Fu Panda tells the story of Po (Jack Black), a panda who daydreams of becoming a kung fu master like his heroes The Furious Five. He loves his father—a goose named Mr. Ping (James Hong)—but he doesn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps and run the family noodle shop.

It’s a big day in the Valley of Peace. Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) is going to choose the Dragon Warrior, and Po is excited to see which of the Furious Five—Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Crane (David Cross)—will receive the dragon scroll. Due to his girth, it takes Po a long time to make it up the many stairs to the Jade Palace, and by the time he does the doors have been locked. After many failed attempts to get in, he resorts to using fireworks to launch himself over the wall…and lands right in the middle of the ceremony. He lands right in front of Tigress as Master Oogway is about to name her the Dragon Warrior, and so Po is named Dragon Warrior instead.

This doesn’t sit will with the Furious Five or their Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), who now have to train Po. Meanwhile, Master Oogway has a vision that the evil Tai Long (Ian McShane) is going to escape from prison and head to the Valley of Peace to try to claim the dragon scroll for himself. Can Po learn to be a kung fu master worth of his title? And can he and the Furious Five stop Tai Long from destroying the city?

I hadn’t seen the original Kung Fu Panda film in probably at least four years, so I was excited to revisit it when I was sent this DVD for review. I had forgotten just how wonderful and delightful this movie is. The animation is fantastic and still looks amazing 7 years later. The mountain top setting is quite picturesque, and the action sequences are really well done—you really believe these fluffy animal characters are actually the kung fu masters they claim to be. Along with the action, the filmmakers mix in a lot of humor and heart. At the core, there is this really heartwarming story of Po finding his destiny and becoming the person he always wanted to be, but never thought he could.

Po is such a great character—his eternal optimism is infectious. No matter what is thrown as Po, he always takes a positive approach and believes anything is possible. Jack Black does an excellent job bringing life to this character—Po’s antics always had me laughing, but Black also conveys this deeper side to the performance that makes you really care for Po and his well-being. One of my favorite relationships in the film is the one between Po and his father. Mr. Ping, who is probably my favorite character of them all. James Hong is absolutely hilarious as sometimes smothering, but always out of love Mr. Ping, and it’s easy to see where Po gets his constantly-upbeat attitude. Dustin Hoffman also proves he has great comedic timing with his performance as Master Shifu, who is constantly trying to balance his annoyance with Po with his duties as a kung fu master and teacher. There are some really fun scenes when Shifu can’t help but let this annoyance come out. The rest of the main cast are also great—each of the Furious Five has a definitive, fun personality, and Ian McShane always makes a great bad guy.

Over the years there have been many different home video releases of the Kung Fu Panda. To celebrate the upcoming release of the third film, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment has once again re-released the original Kung Fu Panda film on both DVD & Blu-ray in a new “Ultimate Edition of Awesomeness” edition. The main DVD contains the same bonus features that were found on previous releases. However, for those who don’t already own a copy of this film, there is some great bonus material here, including a director commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes with the cast and filmmakers and more. This release also includes an UltraViolet digital copy of the film plus a special “Kung Fu Panda Ultimate Secrets Collection” bonus disc which contains three 23-minute shorts (one of which is brand new), a sneak peek at Kung Fu Panda 3, two mash-up montages and a new music video.

I normally only watch things in HD these days, but the technical presentation of this DVD is quite good. The picture looks crisp and clear, and the audio track is phenomenal, surrounding the viewer with sound effects and bringing this animated world to life.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:31:59)

DVD:
• 480p / Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
• Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, English Surround Dolby Digital 2.0, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French

Digital Copy (Redemption Deadline 1/5/2019):

• UltraViolet Digital HD Copy redeemable via Flixster or Vudu
  (Despite the insert stating “Digital HD”, when I redeemed this code it only gave me the SD version. I have contacted both FOX and Vudu to try to find out what’s going on.)

Extras:

Main Disc:
(All of the bonus features on the main disc have been ported over from previous releases of the Kung Fu Panda DVD)
• Inside Kung Fu Panda
  • Audio Commentary by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne (1:31:59)
    The directors of the film provide an informative and entertaining running commentary throughout the film. They talk about the different animation styles used in the film, the evolution of the characters and story, and provide a lot of other interesting production tidbits. Commentary subtitles are offered in English, Spanish and French.
  • Meet The Cast (13:15)
    Head into the recording studio to meet the cast behind the voices—Jack Black (“Po”), Dustin Hoffman (“Shifu”), Angelina Jolie (“Tigress”), Jackie Chan (“Monkey”), Seth Rogen (“Mantis”), Lucy Liu (“Viper”), David Cross (“Crane”), Ian McShane (“Tai Lung”), Michael Clarke Duncan (“Commander Vachir”), Randall Duk Kim (“Oogway”) and James Hong (“Mr Ping”). Also includes interviews with directors Mark Osborne and John Stevenson.
  • Pushing the Boundaries (7:05)
    The filmmakers talk about the technical challenges of bringing the action and characters to life. Includes interviews with chief technology officer Ed Leonard, directors Mark Osborne and John Stevenson, artistic supervisors Nathan Loofbourrow & Wes Burian, supervising animator/kung fu choreographer Rodolphe Guenoden, production designer Raymond Zibach, visual effects supervisor Markus Manninen, effects lead Li-Ming Lawrence Lee, and DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg.
• Sound Design (3:52)
  Directors Mark Osborne and John Stevenson and supervising sound editors/sound designers Ethan Van Der Ryn & Erik Aadahl talk about the importance of sound effects and give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at how some of the sounds were created in their studio.
• Land of the Panda
  • Mr. Ping’s Noodle House (4:40)
    Chefs Alton Brown and Danny Yip demonstrate how to create fresh noodles.
  • How to Use Chopsticks! (2:55)
    A demonstration on the proper way to hold and use chopsticks.
• The World of DreamWorks Animation
  A collection of trailers and music videos from various DreamWorks features. Select from:
  • Shrek – “I’m a Believer” Music Video (1:17)
  • Madagascar – “I Like to Move It” Music Video (1:04)
  • How To Train Your Dragon – “Fly High” Music Video (1:52) & Dragons Continues promo (1:04)
  • Kung Fu Panda – “Kung Fu Fighting” Music Video (2:08)
  • The Croods – “Shine Your Way” Music Video (3:39) & Trailer (1:00)
  • Turbo – “The Snail is Fast” Music Video (1:02) & Trailer (2:27)
  • Mr. Peabody & Sherman – Trailer (:31)

Kung Fu Panda Ultimate Secrets Collection Bonus Disc:

This bonus disc is new to this “Ultimate Edition of Awesomeness” release.
Subtitles are offered in English SDH, Spanish and French
• The Secrets Adventures
  This trio of animated shorts feature the voice talents of the original film cast. The animation starts off in a 3D style and then changes to a more washed-out 2D look for the flashbacks, just like in the films.
  • Secrets of the Scroll (23:14)
    Po’s father accidentally gives away Po’s Furious Five action figures. This leads to a recounting of the story of how the Furious Five first came together. Master Shifu asks his apprentice Tigress to summon the other four warriors-to-be—master cleaner Crane, master comedian Monkey, master dancer Viper and doctor Mantis—to the Jade Palace to help defend the valley from the unstoppable Boar, who’s been defeating the Masters one by one.
  • Secrets of the Masters (22:59)
    Po, Tigress and Mantis break into a museum to get an early look at the new Master’s Council exhibit. This leads to Po recounting the tale of the notorious Wu sisters, who brought Masters Ox, Croc and Rhino together for the first time. We see how this unlikely trio went from using their kung fu skills in the fighting ring to combining their talents for a noble purpose. (This animated tale had previously been included on the 2011 Kung Fu Panda 2 DVD & Blu-ray releases.)
  • Secrets of the Furious Five (24:33)
    Shifu asks Po teach a kung fu class for a group of rabbit children. The children want to learn how to fight like the Furious Five, but Po wants to teach them about other virtues, so he recounts stories of how each of the Furious Five’s members overcame his or her faults to become a kung fu master. In his stories, Mantis learns patience, Viper learns courage, Crane learns confidence, Tigress learns discipline and Monkey learns compassion. (This animated tale had previously been included on the 2009 2-disc deluxe Kung Fu Panda DVD release as well as on a stand-alone DVD.)
• Sneak Peek — Kung Fu Panda 3 (2:57)
  Jack Black provides an intro to this sneak peek at a scene from the upcoming Kung Fu Panda 3.
• Mash-Ups
  • Mash-Up of Awesomeness: Slo-Mo (3:05)
    A fun montage of slow motion sequences from the the first two films.
  • Mash-Up of Blunders (2:53)
    A fun montage of Po’s most embarrassing moments from the the first two films.
• Martial Arts Awesomeness Music Video (2:39)
  A new “Kung Fu Fighting” music video featuring fight sequences from the first two films.

Final Thoughts:

Kung Fu Panda is an excellent animated film that still holds up years later—it has delightful characters, a well thought out story, and a great mix of action, humor and drama. The film itself is very rewatchable and this DVD comes highly rated just based on the film alone.

This new “Ultimate Edition of Awesomeness” re-release includes many of the same bonus features from the previous DVD releases, as well as an UltraViolet digital copy and an all-new “Ultimate Secrets Collection” bonus disc. (The same DVD disc is included in all of the DVD & Blu-ray re-releases of the first two Kung Fu Panda films.)

Fans of the franchise will definitely appreciate all of the new extras on the bonus disc, so a double-dip of at least one of the two films may very well be worth it. However, I would recommend picking up the Blu-ray version over the DVD. The Blu-ray combo pack includes the DVD, even more HD-exclusive bonus features on the main disc as well as upgraded picture quality.

At the time of this review the Blu-ray can be picked up for just $9 at Target with a Cartwheel offer, plus the Blu-ray comes with $7.50 movie cash towards a Kung Fu Panda 3 movie ticket, which makes it a no-brainer purchase at that price!