Kung-Fu Panda-- the artbook!

[furtech]

I was pleasantly surprised by Kung Fu Panda: contrary to the ads, the film had a good story and was not just fat jokes and Black-goofing. The designs were good and the backgrounds gorgeous (worth seeing this in a theater just to get the full effect of the backgrounds). Story-wise, KFP reminded me a lot of Mulan (in terms of pacing and theme); the action is great, but owes a lot to " Kung Fu Hustle " (a LOT, actually...most of KFP's action looks lifted directly from KFH).

I was slightly disappointed that there were so few bad guys: the video game based on this film has ninja wolves, big cats, crocodiles, etc. In the film they only appear in the dream sequence and end credits (which are worth watching just for all the art they put behind the credits.

I bought the art book in hopes that early character concepts would be included and I wasn't disappointed! If ever there was a must-have book this year, The Art of Kung Fu Panda is that book! Oh, my ghod! Fantastic stuff!

As I suspected, there were a large number of characters/character designs in early drafts: sheep and goat villagers; a bunch of thugs , including gazelles, *wolves* and big cats ( ninja snow leopards!! ) in Tai Lung's gang (an evil army that was dropped); and of course, tons of pandas! (<--just for you, Jen!)

Although Tai-Lung's design was appropriate for the film, I'm agog over some of his early concept designs:



At the other end of the spectrum-- as if Tai-Lung's baby pics weren't cute enough:



And there's a lovely early design for Master Tigress

Amazon has the book on sale (with free shipping!), so go grab a copy!