Power of the Panda

Anyone who has children around the age of two will understand me when I say they are obsessive. About what cup they use, what movies they watch, what blanket they must have in order to fall asleep, where they fall asleep, etc. They're developing habits that will drive parents insane for the duration of their toddler-hood.

Luckily my loving and ever-patient wife was able to get our two-year old molded to some of the best movies. Sure, she likes Elmo (I want to kill that thing), and some of the more annoying creations for her age group (like Barney. I understand that he's been designed to be cuddly, and loveable, but he's just creepy to me), but Justine has been able to get her addicted to a wider variety of movies so we don't just watch Elmo go to "Grouchland" over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over...

You get the point. If not, wait till you're child is addicted to something that you hate, and must have it at all costs.

Well, like I said, Toriana (my oldest daughter) has several favorites of which I approve. Movies such as the legend of Johnny 5 (Also known as Short Circuit), the epic tale of a race forced from their homeland into a old rundown apartment building (Batteries not included), a true story about friends who risk it all to save their friend from Japanese slavery (Toy Story 2), or the increasingly epic story of a Panda warrior (Kung Fu Panda). Mixed in there are movies about runaway crazy dogs (Bolt), talking, googly eyed trains (Thomas the Train), and a coming of chef story (Ratatouille).

With a mixture of movies like that I'm honestly never forced to watch the same movie too many times.

Unless I like it too.

I absolutely love Kung Fu Panda. It's such a fun story, with lines that are so quotable it's as if you're mind is constrained at any given opportunity. Words like bodacious sprinkled throughout the movie are tasty little sweet morsels of ingenuity and humor. It's a movie that I have watched close to fifteen times in the past week and a half (that's probably not half as many times as my wife has seen it, but I'm at school, ROTC, and work everyday) and I'm still not tired of it.

I laugh at the funny parts, smile when I hear it from the other room, and quote it back and forth with my wife and/or friends who have come over enough to memorize parts of it as well (I particularly like when the Ox bandit in the beginning tells him to "chew on my fist!"- As a side note, it is the funniest thing in the world to hear my daughter say it along with him).

It's a solid movie. I think it's one of my favorite movies to be honest. It follows Joseph Campbell's Heroic Journey. It uses humor and inspiration in equal portions for a fantastic mix. Kind of like a great cake. You know, one of those marble cakes with the yellow and chocolate mixed together in a swirl? Man, that sounds good.

But, either way it's a great movie, and if you haven't seen it before. Go watch it.

Go.

Come on. Get a move on it. You'll enjoy it, and if you have kids they'll probably enjoy it too.