November 11, 2008 (2008-11-11) (companion DVD release)
February 26, 2009 (2009-02-26) (NBC broadcast)
March 24, 2009 (2009-03-24) (separate DVD release)
Running time
24 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$10 million
Secrets of the Furious Five (also known as Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five) is a 2008 American animated short film produced by DreamWorks Animation that serves as a spin-off to the animated feature film, Kung Fu Panda (2008), and appears on a companion disc of the original film's deluxe DVD release. It was broadcast on NBC February 26, 2009, and became available as a separate DVD.
The film has a framing story of Po the Dragon Warrior (in computer animation) telling the stories of his comrades in arms, the Furious Five, who are depicted in 2D cel animation, similar to the opening and end credits of the original film.
In this short, Monkey is voiced by Jaycee Chan, son of Jackie Chan. Jaycee Chan also voiced Crane in the Cantonese version of the original film. Production of the film was outsourced to Reel FX Creative Studios, which worked on CG animation, and to Film Roman, which worked on traditionally animated sequences.[1]
Plot
Master Shifu instructs Po on how to teach an introductory kung fu lesson to a group of rambunctious bunny children. Po tries to teach the kids that combat is only part of what kung fu is about; its true meaning is "excellence of self". To illustrate his point, he explains the Furious Five's individual backstories, and the basic philosophical concepts that enabled them to be great kung fu masters.
Mantis, as a youth, was a petulantly impatient warrior, prone to jumping to conclusions and making impulsive decisions. After this habit got him captured by crocodile bandits, the lengthy wait that Mantis was forced to endure in his prison taught him patience, and he was able to use this to play dead long enough to ambush his captors.
Viper, the daughter of Great Master Viper, was born without venomous fangs. Her father, who relied on his venomous bite to protect the village, believed that she could never be a warrior like him, causing Viper to grow up shy and timid. One night during a festival, Great Master Viper encountered a gorilla bandit and broke his fangs on the gorilla's special snake-proof armor. Seeing her father in peril, Viper found the courage to fight the bandit and defeat him with her ribbon dancing skills.
Crane was the self-deprecating janitor of a kung fu academy until star pupil Mei Ling encouraged him to seek enrollment. Crane's lifelong belief that he was too skinny to be an effective kung fu warrior caused him to lose his nerve at the tryouts. However, when he accidentally stumbled into the intense obstacle course to determine eligibility, he discovered the confidence to use his skinniness as an asset and pass the test.
Tigress was an orphan, and unfairly isolated as a "monster" because of her lack of control of her ferocity and strength. At the behest of the orphanage staff, Shifu arrived to teach her the discipline that she desperately needed to control her movements, and the other children eventually trusted and befriended her. Despite this breakthrough, no adult would consent to adopt her, so Shifu took her in as his student and foster daughter.
Monkey was humiliated in his youth, and grew up tormenting his village with pranks as revenge. Many challengers attempted to drive him away, but Monkey would always remove their pants to humiliate them. Master Oogway, who had a shell instead of pants, was able to subdue Monkey, and saved him from being crushed by a column knocked loose in their brawl. Noticing his reaction to being cared about, Oogway told Monkey that he could stay in the village as long as he would show others the compassion that he so greatly desired.
Shifu returns, anticipating finding a lack of progress, and is surprised to see he has underestimated Po's talents again. When the Bunnies ask Po how his first day of kung fu was, Po has a flashback to all the unpleasant events of the first film. He smiles confidently and assures them that "it was awesome!".
Secrets of the Furious Five received eight nominations in the "Animated Television Production or Short Form" category at the 36th Annie Awards, of which it received four ("Character Animation", "Character Design", "Music" and "Production Design").
