Kung Fu Panda

Yes, I saw it. I'm a very easy reviewer when it comes to anything with kung fu in it. I liked it. If you have a child or two to take with you as an excuse, definitely go see it! It's fun--even if the sweet parts are really too sweet for anyone over age eight.

Philosophically it has something to offer. First of all I should get out of the way that modern-romantic obsession with "you must believe." What a lot of nonsense. Think: Yoda talking to Luke Skywalker about how to get his little rocket ship out of the swamp.

Noooo, kung fu is about hard work my friends, belief has nothing to do with it.

But philosophically the film explores fate, both personal and collective. It gives great attention to the power of accidents. The joke line in the film is, "There are no accidents." But actually it is about how important it is to accept accidents and work with them. Accidents can reveal a lot about how rigidly we try to control our fate.

Perhaps the most important aspect of martial arts is the ability to improvise, and improvisation cannot happen if you are struggling to control outcomes. In an improvisation, an accident is something to embrace, a thing to work with.

Falling on your face is no reason to stop the action, heck, I meant to do that!