Kung fu

Kung Fu Panda

Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American animated comedy blockbuster. It was directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne and produced by Melissa Cobb. The film was produced by DreamWorks Animation's studio in Glendale, California and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film stars the voices of Jack Black as the panda, Po, along with Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Lucy Liu, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Randall Duk Kim and Jackie Chan. Set in ancient China, the plot revolves around a bumbling panda who aspires to be a kung fu master. After a much feared warrior is predicted to escape from prison, Po is foretold to be the Dragon Warrior, much to the chagrin of the resident kung fu warriors. DreamWorks is working on a sequel to Kung Fu Panda, which is currently in pre-production.

Although the concept of a "kung fu panda" has been around since at least 1993, the idea for the film was conceived by Michael Lachance, a DreamWorks Animation executive. Work on the film did not begin until 2004. The film was originally intended to be a parody, but director Stevenson decided to instead shoot an action comedy martial arts film in the spirit of Hong Kong action cinema that incorporates the hero's journey narrative archetype for the lead character. The computer animation in the film was more complex than anything DreamWorks had done before. As with most DreamWorks animated films, Hans Zimmer (collaborating with John Powell this time around) scored Kung Fu Panda. He visited China to absorb the culture and get to know the China National Symphony Orchestra as part of his preparation.

Kung Fu Panda premiered in the United States on June 1 2008, and has since received very favorable reviews from critics. The film currently garners an 89% "Certified Fresh" approval rating from review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Kung Fu Panda opened in 4,114 theaters, grossing $20.3 million on its opening day and $60.2 million on its opening weekend, resulting in the number one position at the box office. The film has resulted in DreamWorks' biggest opening for a non-sequel film, highest grossing animated movie of the year, and the third-largest weekend overall for a DreamWorks animated film, behind Shrek the Third and Shrek 2.

In China (populated entirely by anthropomorphic animals), the Valley of Peace is protected by the Furious Five - Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Viper, and Crane - a quintet of warriors trained in kung fu by tortoise Master Oogway and his protégé, the red panda Master Shifu. One day, Master Oogway has a premonition that Shifu's former pupil and foster-son, the snow leopard Tai Lung, who was imprisoned after turning to evil, will escape from prison and attack the Valley. Oogway instructs Shifu and the others to hold a tournament in order to choose the legendary Dragon Warrior, worthy to receive the power of the Dragon Scroll, which is said to give limitless power to whoever reads it.

Po, a young Giant panda and kung fu fanatic who works in his goose father's noodle restaurant, is anxious to see the tournament, but is instead forced to take a noodle cart up the mountain to the Jade Temple. When he arrives, the gates are closed and the tournament has already started. Desperate to see the tournament, Po straps himself to a set of fireworks, by which he propels himself into the middle of the arena just as Oogway is about to point out the new Dragon Warrior, so that Oogway indicates Po as such. Unwilling to believe that a clumsy, fat panda can become the Dragon Warrior, Shifu attempts to berate and humiliate Po into quitting, subjecting him to a grueling series of matches with the Five, all of whom despise Po as an upstart. Po is dejected after his first day of training; but advised by Master Oogway, he refuses to quit. Soon, he endears himself to the Five with his impressive tenacity, culinary skill and good humor, though he is still unable to grasp the basics of kung fu.

Meanwhile, Tai Lung escapes from prison and returns to the Valley. Oogway, meanwhile, perishes and ascends to heaven in a swirl of flower petals, having exacted a promise from Shifu that the latter will train Po. Upon hearing that Tai Lung is coming, Po panics and tries to flee the Temple. Shifu refuses to let him go, insisting that Oogway's advice must be obeyed, but Po has lost all confidence and Shifu is at a loss for an answer. Seeing this argument, Tigress leads the Furious Five to stop Tai Lung themselves. The next morning, Shifu discovers that Po displays impressive agility when he is motivated by food. Therefore he takes Po for solitary training in the mountains and, by promising food as a reward, trains Po into a skilled warrior.

The Five confront Tai Lung over a long rope bridge, but he sends them back to the Valley defeated. Feeling that Po is ready to fight, Shifu gives him the Dragon Scroll, which he opens to reveal nothing but a blank, reflective surface. Shifu, despairing, orders Po and the Five to evacuate the valley while he prepares to delay Tai Lung for as long as he can. During the evacuation, Po finds his father who, in an attempt to console him, reveals that the long-withheld secret ingredient of his famous "secret ingredient soup" is nothing except the belief in the soup's specialty. Po realizes this idea is the point of the Dragon Scroll and returns to face Tai Lung.

At the temple, Tai Lung confronts Master Shifu and demands the Scroll. When Shifu refuses, Tai Lung attacks Shifu and nearly kills him before Po arrives. Tai Lung can hardly believe that the "Dragon Warrior" is a "big, fat panda"; but as he battles Po to take the Scroll, Po unexpectedly proves himself an equal. Tai Lung gains the upper hand and opens the Scroll, but cannot comprehend its symbolic value. Po explains that "there is no secret ingredient" other than the warrior's belief in himself; but Tai Lung fails to understand and attacks again. With the combination of his new understanding and his own natural resilience, Po counter-attacks with devastating effectiveness and finally defeats Tai Lung and destroys him by means of a technique called the "Wuxi Finger Hold", which Shifu had earlier revealed by threatening to use it on Po.

The deeply impressed Furious Five accept Po as a kung fu master and their superior. Po returns to Shifu and finds that he is exhausted but alive, and finally at peace now that Tai Lung has been defeated and peace restored. In a post-credits sequence, Po and Shifu are seen eating dumplings under Oogway's favorite peach tree, where a peach seed Shifu had planted earlier has begun to sprout into a seedling.

Publicized work on the film began before October 2004. In September 2005, DreamWorks Animation announced the film alongside Jack Black, who was selected to be the main voice star. Initially, the idea for the film was to make it a parody and spoof, but co-director John Stevenson was not particularly keen on the idea so instead chose the direction of simplistic comedy. Reportedly inspired by Stephen Chow's 2004 martial arts action comedy, Kung Fu Hustle, the co-directors wanted to make sure the film also had an authentic Chinese and kung fu feel to it. Production designer Raymond Zibach and art director Tang Heng spent years researching Chinese painting, sculpture, architecture and kung fu movies to help create the look of the film. Zibach said some of the biggest influence of him are the more artful martial arts films such as Hero, and House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The aim for the film, which took four years to make, was to have a good blend of the two, as well as to give it an "epic" feel, unlike other DreamWorks animated features which resorted to "pop songs and celebrity references." In November 2005, Dreamworks Animation announced that Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu and Ian McShane would join Jack Black in the cast.

As with most DreamWorks animated films, composer Hans Zimmer scored the film. Zimmer visited China in order to absorb the culture and got to know the Chinese National Symphony as part of his preparation; in addition, Timbaland also contributed to the soundtrack. The soundtrack also includes a partially rewritten version of the classic song, "Kung Fu Fighting", performed by Cee-Lo Green and Jack Black for the end credits. Furthermore in some versions, the ending Credit was sang by Rain (entertainer). Although Zimmer was originally announced as the main composer of the film, during a test screening, CEO of DreamWorks Animation SKG Jeffrey Katzenberg announced that composer John Powell would also be contributing to the score. This marked the first collaboration in eight years for the two, having previously worked together on Dreamworks' The Road to El Dorado and the action thriller Chill Factor. A soundtrack album was released by Interscope Records on June 3, 2008.

The hand-drawn animation sequence at the beginning of the film was made to resemble Chinese shadow puppetry. The opening, which was directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and produced by James Baxter, was praised by The New York Times reviewer Manohla Dargis as "striking" and "visually different from most mainstream American animations". Other reviewers have compared the opening to the evocative style of Genndy Tartakovsky's Samurai Jack. The rest of the film is modern computer animation, which uses bright, offbeat colors to evoke the natural landscape of China. The end credit sequence also features hand-drawn characters and still paintings in the background.

The computer animation used throughout the film was more complex than anything Dreamworks had done before. When the head of production handed the script to VFX Supervisor Markus Manninen, she reportedly laughed and wished him "good luck". "When we started talking," said Manninen, "the movie was still a high concept. But for everyone that looked at it, it screamed complexity. We launched off saying, how can you make this movie tangible? How can you find smart ways to bring this world to life in a way that makes it a great movie and not feel like the complexity becomes the driver of the story, but the story and the emotion being the driver?" In preparation, the animators took a six hour kung fu class.

The film held its worldwide premiere at the 61st Cannes Film Festival, where it received massive and sustained applause at the end of the film's screening. Kung Fu Panda later had national premieres in the United States on June 1, 2008 at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, and on June 26, 2008 at Leicester Square in London, for the United Kingdom.

Since its release, Kung Fu Panda has received very positive and favorable reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 88% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 156 reviews. The film has an approval rating of 74% from a select group of critics and an approval rating of 92% from users of the site. Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 73 out of 100, based on 33 reviews.

Richard Corliss of Time Magazine gave the film a positive review, stating the picture "provides a master coursed in cunning visual art and ultra-satisfying entertainment". The New York Times said, "At once fuzzy-wuzzy and industrial strength, the tacky-sounding Kung Fu Panda is high concept with a heart," and the review called the film "consistently diverting" and "visually arresting". Chris Barsanti of Filmcritics.com commented, "Blazing across the screen with eye-popping, sublime artwork, Kung Fu Panda sets itself apart from the modern domestic animation trend with its sheer beauty the film enters instant classic status as some of the most gorgeous animation Hollywood has produced since the golden age of Disney." The Chicago Tribune called the film "one of the few comedies of 2008 in any style or genre that knows what it’s doing".

The film was released in 4,114 theaters, grossing $20.3 million on its opening day and $60.2 million over the weekend, resulting in the number one position at the box office. It is also DreamWorks Animation's biggest opening for a non-sequel film, and the third-largest opening weekend overall for a DreamWorks animated film (behind Shrek the Third and Shrek 2). The film made more than $600 million worldwide, making it the highest grossing animated movie of 2008 (even outperforming the highly acclaimed WALL-E) and also the third highest grossing movie of the year. The film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on November 9, 2008.

Kung Fu Panda was also well-received in China. It made nearly 110 million Chinese Yuan by July 2, 2008, becoming the first animated film to make more than 100 million Yuan in Chinese box offices. The Chinese director Lu Chuan commented, "From a production standpoint, the movie is nearly perfect. Its American creators showed a very sincere attitude about Chinese culture." With the film's success at the Chinese box office, some people within China have questioned the quality of China's domestic animations. The fact that such a successful film based on Chinese culture was created by the American movie industry has led to some Chinese introspection.

The release of the film in the land where it was set was not without controversy. Zhao Bandi, a Chinese artist and fashion designer who specializes in panda-related designs, launched an online petition suggesting that the film should be boycotted. In his petition, Bandi stated that Hollywood was seeking to profit from Chinese culture. The film was aired soon after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, and the petition said that the film was in poor taste to be released so soon after the disaster, given that pandas live within the area affected by the quake. Bandi also protested against the fact that the film was produced by DreamWorks, which is owned by Steven Spielberg. Spielberg withdrew from his role as an adviser to the 2008 Summer Olympics over concerns about China’s role in Sudan (although Spielberg is not one of the producers of Kung Fu Panda). Zhao Bandi admitted that he had not actually seen the film prior to the petition. However, while postings on his website both praised and criticized the film, most people said that there was no reason to boycott it. Zhao's complaints prompted an online backlash asserting that an entertaining film paying tribute to Chinese heritage should be welcome at this difficult time, and some even questioned whether this was just a publicity stunt by the artist.

Kung Fu Panda was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on November 9, 2008. The special features include an animated short film starring Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu and David Cross, a Kung Fu Fighting music video by Cee-Lo Green and Jack Black, a tutorial on how to use chopsticks, sound, The Tech of Kung Fu Panda, The Cast of Kung Fu Panda, deleted and alternate scenes, cast interviews and biographies with Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu and David Cross, The Premiere of Kung Fu Panda, interactive games and more. The movie can be purchased as a stand-alone DVD or as part of a two-disc pack that includes the companion story Secrets of the Furious Five.

Kung Fu Panda was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film , however it lost both to WALL-E.

A video game adaptation of the film was developed and published by Activision on June 3, 2008. The game follows the same basic plot as the film, but with Tai Lung portrayed as the leader of various gangs that surround the Valley of Peace, which Po, who possesses some basic martial art skills which can be upgraded as the game progresses, must defeat. The game was released on PC, as well as multiple consoles. The game received mostly positive reviews; it scored a Metacritic rating of 76% from critics and a 7.5/10 from IGN. In 2009, it won the International Animated Film Society's Annie Award for Best Animated Video Game, "in recognition of creative excellence in the art of animation".

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Kung Fu Hustle

Kung Fu Hustle (Chinese: 功夫; pinyin: Gōngfu) is a 2004 Hong Kong martial arts comedy film co-written, co-produced, directed by and starring Stephen Chow. The film is a humorous parody and a homage to the wuxia genre, and contains most of the characteristics of a typical wuxia movie with exaggerations, serious situations and comic plots. Set in 1930s Shanghai, it is a tale of redemption for the central character, portrayed by Chow, a petty criminal who is trying to join the city's most powerful gang.

The use of visual effects has been widely acclaimed and the cartoon style of the movie accompanied by traditional Chinese music is its most striking feature. Although the film features the return of a number of retired 1970s actors of Hong Kong action cinema, it is in stark contrast to recent martial arts films that have made an impact in the West, such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero.

The film was released on 23 December 2004 after two years of production and received positive reviews from critics. It went on to become the highest grossing film in the history of Hong Kong, and the highest grossing foreign language film in the United States in 2005.

Kung Fu Hustle is a co-production of the Beijing Film Studio and Hong Kong's Star Overseas. After the success of his 2001 film, Shaolin Soccer, Chow was approached in 2002 by Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia, offering to collaborate with him on a project. Chow accepted the offer, and the project eventually became Kung Fu Hustle. Major inspirations of the film came from the martial arts films Chow watched as a child and his childhood ambition to become a martial artist.

Chow's first priority was to design the main location of the film, the Pig Sty Alley. He grew up in an environment similar to the Alley and the plot included many aspects of his daily life. A 1973 Shaw Brothers Studio film, The House of 72 Tenants was another inspiration for the Pig Sty Alley. Designing of the Alley began in January 2003 and took four months to complete. Many of the props and furniture in the apartments were antiques from all over China.

Kung Fu Hustle was produced with a budget of US$20 million. Filming took place in Shanghai from June 2003 to November 2003. Two-thirds of the time were spent shooting the fighting sequences. The fighting scenes of Kung Fu Hustle were initially choreographed by Sammo Hung. Production suffered a setback when Hung quit after two months due to illness, tough outdoor conditions, interest in another project and arguments with the production crew. Chow immediately contacted Yuen Woo-ping, an action choreographer with experience ranging from Hong Kong action cinema of the 1960s to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Matrix in the early 21st century to replace Hung. Yuen swiftly accepted the offer. In doing so, certain scenes in production under Hung were cancelled. Yuen managed to take seemingly outdated wuxia fighting styles like the Deadly Melody and Buddhist Palm and recreate them on the screen with his own imagination.

Special effects were mainly created with a combination of computer-generated imagery and wire work. Legendary martial arts mentioned in wuxia novels were depicted and exaggerated through CGI, but actual people, rather than digital effects were used to film the final fight between Chow's character and the hundreds of axe-wielding gangsters. A Hong Kong computer graphics company, Centro Digital Pictures Limited was solely responsible for the CGI of Kung Fu Hustle. The company had experience in highly acclaimed films like Shaolin Soccer and Kill Bill. Their team had performed extensive tests on various scenes that could be depicted by CGI before filming started. A group of six people followed the production crew throughout the shooting. Treatment of the preliminary shots began straight afterwards. The CGI crew removed wire effects and applied special effects under high resolution. After a final calibration of colour, data of the processed scenes were sent to the United States for the production of the final version of the film.

Kung Fu Hustle pays tribute to many famous veterans of Hong Kong action cinema of the 1970s. Yuen Wah, a member of the Seven Little Fortunes, plays the Landlord of the Pig Sty Alley. He has appeared in hundreds of Hong Kong films from the 1970s and was a stunt double of Bruce Lee. Yuen Wah considered the film to be the peak of his career. He remarked that despite the comedic nature of the film, the shooting process was a serious matter. With a tight schedule, there was no time for laughs. In spite of the film's success, Yuen Wah worried that nowadays fewer people practice martial arts.

The part of the Landlady was offered to Yuen Qiu, another student of Yu Jim Yuen, sifu of the Seven Little Fortunes. Yuen Qiu was a girl in The Man with the Golden Gun at the age of 18. Having retired from the film industry after her marriage in the 1980s, Kung Fu Hustle was her comeback. She admitted that she never expected to star in the film. When her colleague was on stage during a tryout for Kung Fu Hustle, she stood near her and smoked a cigarette with a sarcastic expression on her face. That pose earned her the part. To fulfill Stephen Chow's image of a "fat lady", Yuen Qiu deliberately gained weight before production by eating midnight snacks on a daily basis.

Leung Siu Lung, who plays the Beast, is Stephen Chow's childhood martial arts hero. Leung Siu Lung was a famous action film director and actor in the 1970s and 1980s, known as the "Third Dragon" after Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. Having lost the Taiwanese film market in the late 1980s following a visit to China, he switched to doing business. Kung Fu Hustle was his return to the film industry after a 15-year hiatus. He regards Chow as a flexible director with high standards, and was particularly impressed by the first scene involving the Beast, which had to be reshot 28 times.

Besides famous martial artists, Kung Fu Hustle features legends of Chinese cinema. Two famous Chinese directors appear in the film: Zhang Yibai, who plays Inspector Chan at the beginning of the film and Feng Xiaogang, who plays the boss of the Crocodile Gang.

Huang Shengyi made her debut to the film industry and played Fong, a mute ice-cream vendor. Having been asked whether she wanted to have any dialogue in the film, she decided not to speak so as to stand out only with her body gestures. She stated that it was an honour to work with experienced actors and directors and a great learning opportunity for future roles.

The majority of the film's original score was composed by Raymond Wong and performed by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. The score imitates traditional Chinese music in 1940s swordplay films. One of Wong's works, Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained provides a stark contrast between the villainous Axe Gang and the peaceful neighbourhood of the Pig Sty Alley, depicted by a Chinese folk song, Fisherman’s Song of the East China Sea. Along with Wong's compositions and various traditional Chinese songs, classical compositions are featured in the score, including excerpts from Zigeunerweisen by Pablo de Sarasate and Sabre Dance by Aram Khachaturian. A song is sung in the background by Huang Shengyi at the end of the film. The song, "Zhi Yao Wei Ni Huo Yi Tian" (只要為你活一天) was written by Liu Jie Cheng in the 1970s. It tells of a girl's memories of a loved one, and her desire to live for him again. Kung Fu Hustle was nominated for the Best Original Film Score in the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards.

Asian and American versions of the soundtrack have been released. The Asian version of the soundtrack was released on 17 December 2004 by Sony Music Entertainment and has 33 tracks. The American version of the soundtrack was released on 29 March 2005 by Varèse Sarabande and has 19 tracks.

The 1930s Shanghai is in turmoil. Various gangs vie for power, the most feared of which is the Axe Gang, aptly named after their preferred weapons. The leader of the Axe Gang is the infamous Brother Sum. With the police powerless to stem the crime wave, people can only live in peace in poor areas which do not appeal to gangsters. An example is Pig Sty Alley, a tenement home to people of various trades, run by a lecherous landlord and his domineering wife. One day, two troublemakers, Sing and Bone, come to the alley impersonating members of the Axe Gang in order to command respect. This fails, and Sing accidentally attracts the real gang to the scene, but the gangsters are repelled thanks to the martial arts mastery of three tenants (the Coolie, Tailor and Donut the baker).

Sing and Bone muse their failure, and Sing describes his childhood. He spent his life savings to buy a Buddhist Palm manual from a beggar with the intention of "preserving world peace". He practised his skills, but was beaten and urinated on when he tried to save a mute girl from bullies trying to steal her lollipop. Sing realises that the good guys never win and decides to become a bad person. The duo then steals ice cream from a mute female vendor and escape laughing maniacally on a tram.

Angered by his gang's defeat, Brother Sum hires the Harpists, a skilled pair of assassins who fight using a magical guqin. They strike the Pig Sty Alley at night as the Coolie, Tailor and Donut are getting ready to depart, having been evicted for antagonising the gang. The three are quickly overwhelmed, prompting the Landlord and his wife, also martial artists, to intervene (due to the Landlady being annoyed by the Harpists' music). Although the killers and the Axe Gang are driven off, the three evicts cannot survive either. The Coolie gets decapitated, the Tailor dies from severe stab wounds, and Donut dies from a sustained injury.

The following day, Sing mugs the mute ice cream vendor, who is revealed to be the girl Sing attempted to save in his childhood. Upset, he berates Bone, and while despairing in the gutter he is picked up by the Axe Gang and joins their ranks. Brother Sum, having earlier witnessed Sing's ability to quickly pick locks, instructs him to sneak into a mental asylum to free the Beast, the Ultimate King of Killers (終極殺人王) to kill the Landlord and Landlady.

Brother Sum is initially skeptical of the Beast because of his flippant attitude and sloppy appearance, but is ultimately convinced when he stops a bullet between his fingertips. The Beast approaches the Landlord and Landlady in Sum's casino. Landlady explains that the good cannot coexist with the bad, moving Sing and changing him for the better. The Beast, Landlord and Landlady then engage in a fierce battle. Using a giant funeral bell as a megaphone to amplify the Landlady's Lion's Roar, the couple nearly defeats the more powerful Beast, but they are outsmarted by his desperation move, resulting in the three getting stuck in mutual joint locks. Brother Sum instructs Sing to smash the Landlady's head with a table leg, but Sing hits Brother Sum, then the Beast, who angrily pulverises him. Fortunately, he is carried off by the Landlord and his wife while the Beast's back is turned. The angry Beast casually kills Brother Sum when rebuked by punching his head so hard that turns 540.

Back in the Alley, Sing, wrapped head-to-toe in bandages and treated with Chinese medicine, undergoes metamorphosis. He quickly recovers, and his potential as a Kung Fu genius is realised. He engages the Axe Gang and the Beast, dispatching the gangsters with ease. However, he is sent flying high into the air by the Beast's toad technique. Up in the sky, Sing realizes how to use the Buddhist Palm, diving downwards with his body ablaze, holding out his palm. He creates a hand-shaped crater in the ground, defeating the Beast. He easily stops the Beast's desperation move and the Beast concedes defeat.

Some time later, Sing and Bone open a candy store that specialises in lollipops. When the mute ice cream vendor walks by, Sing goes out to meet her. The two see each other as their childhood selves, and run happily into the shop. Outside, the same beggar who sold Sing the Buddhist Palm manual offers a selection of martial arts manuals to a boy eating a lollipop.

Kung Fu Hustle makes references to a wide range of films, animated cartoons and other sources, drawing on ideas from Wuxia novels. The housing arrangement of the Pig Sty Alley is similar to that of a 1973 Hong Kong film, The House of 72 Tenants (七十二家房客). When Sing arrives at Pig Sty Alley, he shows fancy footwork with a football, then says, "You're still playing football?". This refers to his previous movie, "Shaolin Soccer". During the altercation between Sing and the hairdresser, the hairdresser states, "Even if you kill me, there will be thousands more of me!". This is a parody of a saying by Lu Hao-tung, a Chinese revolutionary in the late Qing Dynasty. The scene where Sing is chased by the Landlady as he flees from the Alley is a homage to Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, characters in Looney Tunes cartoons, down to the pursuer's (the Landlady's) ill fate. As Sing arrives at the door to the Beast's cell in the mental asylum, he hallucinates a large wave of blood rushing from the cell door, similar to a scene in The Shining.

A major element of the plot is based on the 1982 martial arts film Ru Lai Shen Zhang (如來神掌). Sing studied the same Buddhist Palm Kung Fu style from a young age and realised it at the end of the film. In reality, it does not leave palm-shaped craters and holes on impact. Instead, the user delivers powerful punches using his palm. The Chinese name of the Beast, the Evil God of the Fiery Cloud (火雲邪神) and the fight with the Landlady and her husband are also references to the film, where a mortally wounded master strikes the patterns of his art's final techniques into a bell so that his apprentice can learn from it. There are direct references to some characters from Jin Yong's wuxia novels. For example, the landlord and landlady referred to themselves as Yang Guo (楊過) and Xiao Long Nü (小龍女) from Jinyong's The Return of the Condor Heroes when they met the Beast.

References to gangster films are also present. The boss of the Axe Gang, Brother Sum (琛哥) is named after Sam Han (韓琛), the triad boss in Infernal Affairs. The Harpists imitate The Blues Brothers, wearing similar hats and sunglasses at all times. When they are flattered by the Axe Gang advisor, one of them answers "Strictly speaking we're just musicians", similar to a line by Elwood Blues. When Donut dies, he says "in great power lies great responsibility", a clear reference to Spider-Man, said by Uncle Ben before his death. Afterwards, with his dying breath, he gets up, grabs the Landlord by the shirt and utters in English, "What are you prepared to do?", a nod to Sean Connery's character Jim Malone in Brian De Palma's 1987 film The Untouchables. The final fight between Sing and the hundreds of gangsters imitates the fight between Neo and hundreds of Agent Smiths in The Matrix Reloaded.

The last scene, in which the beggar tries to sell martial arts manuals, refers directly to the greatest skills in Jin Yong's Condor Trilogy (Nine Yang Manual and Divine Finger Skill) and Smiling, Proud, Wanderer (Thousand Palm Skill and Nine Swords of Dugu).

Kung Fu Hustle had its world premiere at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival. It was then released in China, Hong Kong and other countries in Asia with significant overseas Chinese populations in December 2004. The film was first shown in the United States at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2005, and then opened in a general release on 22 April 2005 after being shown in Los Angeles and New York for two weeks. The film was released to most of Europe in June 2005. Kung Fu Hustle is rated IIB (not suitable for children and young persons) in Hong Kong, R in the United States for sequences of strong stylised action and violence and is rated to be viewed by people with a minimum age ranging from 13 to 18 in other countries.

The North American DVD release was on 8 August 2005. A Blu-Ray version of the DVD was released on 12 December 2006 by Sony Pictures.

The Portuguese title of the movie is Kungfusão, which sounds like kung fu and Confusão (confusion). In the same way, the Italian and Spanish titles were Kung-fusion and Kung-fusión, puns of "confusion". In France, the film is known as Crazy Kung Fu, and the Hungarian title is A Pofonok Földje, meaning The Land of Punches.

The film was well-received by critics, earning the high score of 90% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes based on a total of 166 reviews. Film critic Roger Ebert described the film "like Jackie Chan and Buster Keaton meet Quentin Tarantino and Bugs Bunny" at the Sundance Film Festival. The comment was printed on the promotion posters for Kung Fu Hustle in the United States. Other critics described it as a comedic version of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Positive reviews generally give credit to the elements of mo lei tau comedy present in the film. A number of reviewers viewed it as a computer-enhanced Looney Tunes punch-up. Much of the criticism for the film is directed at its lack of character development and a coherent plot. Las Vegas Weekly, for instance criticised the film for the lack of a central protagonist and character depth. Criticisms are also directed at the film's cartoonish and childish humour. Richard Roeper gave it a negative review, saying he had “never been a fan of that over the top slapstick stuff”.

Kung Fu Hustle opened in Hong Kong on 23 December 2004, and earned HK$4,990,000 on its opening day. It stayed at the top of the box office for the rest of 2004 and for much of early 2005, eventually grossing HK$60 million. Its box office tally made it the highest grossing film in Hong Kong history, surpassing the previous record holder, Chow's Shaolin Soccer.

The film began a limited two-week theatrical run in New York City and Los Angeles on 8 April 2005 before being widely released across North America on 22 April. In its first week of limited release in seven cinemas, it grossed US$269,225 (US$38,461 per screen). When it was expanded to a wide release in 2,503 cinemas, the largest number of cinemas ever for a foreign language film, it made a modest US$6,749,572 (US$2,696 per screen), eventually grossing a total of US$17,108,591 in 129 days. In total, Kung Fu Hustle had a worldwide gross of US$101,104,669. While not a blockbuster, Kung Fu Hustle managed to be the highest-grossing foreign language film in North America in 2005, and it went on to find a cult following on DVD.

Furthermore, the movie was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as a BAFTA award for Best Film not in the English language.

In 2005, Chow asserted that there will be a sequel to Kung Fu Hustle, though stated that he had not settled on a female lead. "There will be a lot of new characters in the movie. We'll need a lot of new actors. It's possible that we'll look for people abroad besides casting locals." Production of Kung Fu Hustle 2 was delayed while Chow filmed CJ7 (formerly known as A Hope), a sci-fi adventure. As a result, Kung Fu Hustle 2 is slated for a 2010 release.

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Monkey Kung Fu

Monkey Kung Fu (猴拳) is a Chinese martial art where the movements imitate monkeys or apes in fighting. One of the more acrobatic kung fu styles, movements often include falling, lunging, grabbing, jumping, and tumbling. The staff features prominently in its weapons training, with practitioners using it for attack, defense, and climbing it like a pole to gain height in combat. The flamboyant movements and sometimes comic actions of the monkey style has made it a popular subject in Hong Kong martial arts movies.

Hou Quan (猴拳), literally Monkey Fist, can be traced back to the Han dynasty and is recorded in the Mi Hou Wu dance performed at the Emperor's court. Contrary to popular beliefs, there are actually a number of independently developed systems of monkey kung fu. Examples includes Xingzhemen (行者門) named after the protagonist Sun Wukong of the popular Ming dynasty novel Journey to the West, Nanhouquan (南猴拳) or Southern Monkey Fist originating from the Southern Shaolin Temple as well as the more well known Tai Sheng Pek Kwar Moon (大聖劈掛門) style of Hong Kong. The houquan style from the Emei region, taught by the famous "Monkey King" Xiao Yingpeng and others, was also used as the basis for the modern wushu variant of monkey style (and monkey staff) that is often seen in demonstrations and competitions today. Each independent style has its own unique approach to the expression of how to incorporate a monkey's movements into fighting.

Hou Quan may have contributed to other styles as well. For example, Wang Lang, the 17th century founder of Northern Praying Mantis Boxing (tanglang quan), was said to have borrowed the footwork of the Monkey style to complement the extremely fast handwork of Praying Mantis Kung Fu.

Tai Sheng Men, or "Great Saint" Kung Fu, was developed near the end of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) by a fighter named Kau Sze from a small village in Northern China. Legend states that while serving a sentence in prison, he observed a group of monkeys from his cell. As he studied their movements and mannerisms, he found that they combined well with his own Tei Tong style. While exact circumstances of Kau Sze's inspiration remain legend, upon his release he developed his new style of fighting and dubbed it 'Tai Sheng Men' (Great Saint Style) in honor of the Monkey King Sun Wukong in the Buddhist tale Journey to the West.

Tai Shing Pek Kwar Kung Fu (大聖劈掛門) was developed by Kau Sze's student Kan Tak Hoi, who started learning Pek Kwar kung fu from his father Kan Wing Kwai from as early as 8 years of age. Kan Wing Kwai was a master of Pek Kwar kung fu and after his death, Kau Sze decided to train Kan Tak Hoi in Tai Sheng Kung Fu. After mastering Tai Sheng Kung Fu and combining it with Pek Kwar Kung Fu, out of respect for Kau Sze's friendship, in naming the new technique Kan Tak Hoi placed Tai Sheng at the beginning followed by Pek Kwar hence the name Tai Sheng Pek Kwar Kung Fu.

Traditional hou quan as taught in Mainland China includes running on all fours (i.e. the hands and feet), various difficult acrobatic movements such as flipping sideways in the air, front flips, back flips, back handsprings, hand stands, walking on the hands, forward lunges/dives, backward lunges, spinning on the butt, spinning on the back and many kicks and strikes. Most of the attacks are aimed at the knees, groin area, throat or eyes of the opponent and hand strikes are normally either open handed slaps or clawing with a semi-closed fist called the monkey claw. A wide array of facial monkey expressions are also practiced, inclusive of happiness, anger, fear, fright, confusion and bewilderment etc. Except for very brief periods, most movements inclusive of running are executed from either a squatting or semi-squatting position and are normally accompanied by very swift and 'jerky' head movements as the practitioner nervously looks around. The monkey staff, or hou gun (猴棍), is one of this style's specialty weapons. Monkey boxing is an imitative technique and so execution of the movements and facial expressions must be so convincing that it looks exactly like a monkey and not simply like a human imitating a monkey hence the very high degree of difficulty associated with this technique.

Monkey boxers usually wear very bright yellow colored uniforms most often with red trimmings or appliqués. The favorite weapon for Monkey Boxing is the staff or stick and standing beside it, the upper end of the staff is normally 'eye-height' for the practitioner. There are also other weapons favored by Monkey Boxers e.g. the broadsword, straight-sword and the spear as well as the iron ring. Monkey forms are not normally performed fast paced from start to finish as in other techniques, instead the practitioner will execute a very swift series of movements then stop to 'play' (which means to fidget or scratch and it usually involves nervously looking around, picking imaginary fruits or insects from off the legs, arms, ears or head and even the groin area then very quickly eating them or scooping water from an imaginary pond or stream then drinking it). In the lost monkey technique, there is a lot of running, nervously looking around, rolling, kicking and punching to the groin area of the opponent. Please note that the running is done in a semi-squatting position and also that a clenched fist is not used in monkey boxing, instead the fingers are loosely held like a semi-closed fist sometimes referred to as the monkey claw. With the exception of the Tall Monkey technique, all monkey forms tend to be executed from the squatting and stooping positions. When well executed, monkey forms are very comical and generally very entertaining and so tend to attract the most attention at martial arts tournaments.

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