These are great examples of villain designs that DON’T rely on offensive stereotypes. You can even tell what kind of threat each villain represents: Tai Lung represents brute strength, Lord Shen is a refined but ruthless evil tyrant, and Kai, with his horns and unnatural green eyes, looks almost like a demon. They are visibly mean and scary and not here to mess around, with imposing figures and muted color schemes. Now with Kung Fu Panda villains, you know EXACTLY why you should fear them. When people talk about Disney’s streak of twist villains, it’s noticeable that people almost always seem to forget to mention her. As such, the reveal that this character is the villain comes out of nowhere. There is absolutely nothing in this design that conveys info to the audience that this character would have ulterior motives. If I told you this character was supposed to be the villain, you would not believe me. Perhaps the most lackluster character design is of the movie’s villain, Bellwether: However, you can also tell the character designs used some short cuts to convey that she is, in fact, cute and female: she has absolutely HUGE eyes (a common problem in a lot or recent Disney films), generous hips and thighs, and her chest plate gives her the illusion of having breasts. It’s a perfectly fine and appealing design, but nothing about it really sticks out or tells us about his character.Īs for Judy, you can tell she’s meant to be cute, but naive, and not entirely ready for the role of a cop in a big city. Right away you can tell everything you need to know about his character: old (and experienced), benevolent, wise, soft-spoken, and someone the other characters would believably look up to and respect.Įvery character is distinct and well defined in the Kung Fu Panda series, whereas in Zootopia, while the designs aren’t BAD, are slightly more focused on appeal rather than uniqueness or conveying information. She is at once fierce, friendly, and (in her own way) beautiful. You can also tell that she’s very strong, powerful, and athletic. You can tell she’s female because of her feminine clothes, her smaller (but not petite) build, and the stripes on her face resembling makeup. She doesn’t have human breasts, a cinched in waist, or huge hips and bottom. This is a quintessential example of a female anthropomorphic design that DOESN’T rely on sexist tropes or inaccurate anatomy. He’s not to be underestimated and is more than meets the eye. You can tell that he’s fat, but also strong and athletic, and confident in his abilities in Kung Fu. Look at the picture of Po above, at his body shape, his pose, and his facial expression. With one glance at each character, you know exactly who and what they are. Kung Fu Panda is, simply put, a masterwork of character design. While I could probably make a two hour video on the subject, for now I’ll compare and contrast two things: character design and handling of themes of prejudice, and why I feel the DreamWorks trilogy does it better. While the premise, title, and first glance may come across as silly, it’s actually a beautifully animated, action-packed, funny, and engrossing film series with a surprising amount of depth without being too dark.Īnd honestly, after watching them in its entirety and then trying to watch Zootopia again, I couldn’t help but feel that the DreamWorks trilogy is VASTLY superior. Such a movie, or rather, movie series, includes DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda trilogy. Yet I feel that it is slightly unfair to hold Zootopia up to such a high pedestal when there are other animated films about anthropomorphic animals who are just as good, if not BETTER, than the film, and even do a better job at handling such mature subject matter. The main reasons for its success include the animation, characters, and the handling of the subject matter of prejudice. Disney’s 2016 hit Zootopia has been one of the company’s absolute greatest successes, with an impressive box office run (grossing over a billion dollars worldwide), glowing critical reviews, and numerous awards, including an Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
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