If you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, the same should go for movies. Though "Chop Kick Panda" does share similarities with "Kung-Fu Panda", it's different enough that it doesn't deserve such ridicule.
The bare-bones synopsis would be "Dad with menial job (janitor) goes to son's Career Day and lies about what he actually does (warrior). Son and friends ask to visit his place of work, so Dad has to keep up the charade. Meanwhile, Bad Guy wants an item with power that his twin brother has hidden, and sends his henchman to retrieve it. Dad wins the day by using said item to give him courage. The End."
Look past the martial artist animals - that's been done for years. And lots of stories use the trope of a useless item giving someone courage ("Dumbo", anyone?). Watch this movie for the dialogue. You can tell the creators are self-aware. They know they were asked to design a "Kung-Fu Panda" look-alike, so they got just close enough to slide this masterpiece past their bosses. The rest of it feels witty and creative. (Some of the jokes are even "Animaniacs" and older "Family Guy" level!)
The drawing style the characters is simplistic, but they are hilariously expressive in their subtlety. And the voice acting is actually quite good! (If Bali's one-liners don't make you at least crack a smile, you may have no soul.)
All I ask is that people watch this movie for what it actually is and not for what they think it was supposed to be. If you go in expecting a KFP rip-off, that's all you're going to see. And, frankly, you're going to miss out on a surprisingly good movie!
The bare-bones synopsis would be "Dad with menial job (janitor) goes to son's Career Day and lies about what he actually does (warrior). Son and friends ask to visit his place of work, so Dad has to keep up the charade. Meanwhile, Bad Guy wants an item with power that his twin brother has hidden, and sends his henchman to retrieve it. Dad wins the day by using said item to give him courage. The End."
Look past the martial artist animals - that's been done for years. And lots of stories use the trope of a useless item giving someone courage ("Dumbo", anyone?). Watch this movie for the dialogue. You can tell the creators are self-aware. They know they were asked to design a "Kung-Fu Panda" look-alike, so they got just close enough to slide this masterpiece past their bosses. The rest of it feels witty and creative. (Some of the jokes are even "Animaniacs" and older "Family Guy" level!)
The drawing style the characters is simplistic, but they are hilariously expressive in their subtlety. And the voice acting is actually quite good! (If Bali's one-liners don't make you at least crack a smile, you may have no soul.)
All I ask is that people watch this movie for what it actually is and not for what they think it was supposed to be. If you go in expecting a KFP rip-off, that's all you're going to see. And, frankly, you're going to miss out on a surprisingly good movie!