I find I belong to a crowd that has watched Kung Fu Panda, Toy Story, Shrek and Despicable Me times without number, and this is true of many animation high-fivers like me.
There was a time when the focus of animation companies was on simple entertainment with feature-length films made for children, clearly. The package was colourful, the story racily told with songs, music. Into these offerings came, about 25 years ago, a bolt of films which changed the perception of entertainment for good. DreamWorks and Pixar, among the companies, now realigned their films for all-ages watching, with PG.
On this platform, apart from a powerful story, two features became very important. The computer-animated visual narration, sound and music had to enthral. And the principal characters now moved in situations of compelling moral choices. The conflicts had nuances – for example, jealousy alloyed with compassion, attachment disturbed by mistrust. Bringing it all together was humour – action, dialogue and laughter-lines – sometimes laden with sub-text, cynicism, and arch references to recent events.
In this article, there is space to talk briefly about three films.
KUNG FU PANDA
Kung Fu Panda (DreamWorks, 2008) had a stunning impact and was followed by sequels. Po, the obese playful panda (Jack Black) works – distractedly, dreamily – in his goose-father’s noodle shop with visions of becoming a kung-fu master. He is accidentally propelled into that life when, in a series of unexpected events, he is chosen to be the town’s fabled Dragon Warrior, a master of kung fu who will help save and protect everyone.
In this forced role, he is tossed between Shifu his teacher (Dustin Hoffman) who is a tough trainer, and Oogway (Randall Duk Kim), the thousand-year-old Galapagos tortoise, who believes deeply in him, and instils in the naive and attention-low Po a sense of self-belief. In the magical settings of the Jade Palace and the breathtaking China landscapes outside, we see exchanges like these.
Po: [skittish, awed but anxious, tries hard to train to be the Dragon Warrior, but gives up and says he wants to quit]
Oogway: Quit; don’t quit. Noodles; don’t noodles. You are too concerned with what was and what will be. There’s a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.
[Po declares he is not cut out to be the Dragon Warrior, that’s not his destiny]
Oogway: [with a gentle, compassionate look] One often meets one’s destiny on the road one takes to avoid it.
In Kung Fu Panda 3, Shifu the teacher tells Po: I’m not trying to turn you into me. I’m trying to turn you into you.
And the classic and my favourite:
[Mr Ping, Po’s goose-father makes and sells noodles. But the day comes when Po has to tell him he cannot help him in the noodle shop anymore and has to go on to train as the Dragon Warrior.]
Po: Sorry, Dad.
Mr Ping: ‘Sorry’ doesn’t make the noodles.
SHREK
We now look at the Shrek series. Shrek (2001, DreamWorks) is about Shrek the ogre (Mike Myers) who undertakes a journey with his donkey friend (Eddie Murphy) to regain the swamp he lives in and to rescue Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) from the evil Lord Farquaad. Shrek and Fiona’s love for each other is transformative and she decides to leave the palace in Far Far Away, marry Shrek and both live as ogres in the swamp… until the day (Shrek 2, 2017) a palace contingent from Fiona’s parents, the King and Queen, comes to invite her and Shrek to the palace and a royal ball to meet everyone. Fiona begins to dream and tries to persuade Shrek to make the journey.
Shrek strenuously opposes the idea, then relents and they decide to go to Far Far Away with Donkey. The journey, animated by their fights and foreboding, now pounds out the experience, familiar and ancient, of hundreds of people who have chosen to leave home to marry and now, like Fiona, return to their homes for a visit. In this moment of magic and memory, epic stories also come to the mind of, especially, Indian viewers, with the tragic Shiv-Sati episode where Parvati’s (Sati’s) father Daksha treats her with scorn, with tragic consequences.
In the film, this moment when they get down from the carriage is captured with laconic brilliance. ‘Well this is it,’ says Shrek and doom descends.
Although Shrek 2 recalls this myth-memory with laugh-lines, the build-up of tension is unbearable – right up to the moment when there is a collective gasp from the crowd as Ogre Shrek and Ogre Fiona step out of the carriage.
But moments in this superb film are never laboured. Gently but sharply the story moves to perceptions of handsomeness and beauty in which both Shrek and Fiona get caught, and all of this with a lightness of touch that the joke-house of animation excels at.
DESPICABLE ME
Despicable Me (2010, Illuminated/Universal Pictures) is scaffolded on an extraordinary story. Felonius(!) Gru, played by Steve Carell is a bushy-eyebrowed, beak-nosed supervillain who plans to steal the moon. Intent on his villainous quest, he suddenly finds himself forced to adopt and look after three little orphans, Edith, Margo and Agnes. Innately gentle, wise and firm, these strong little women create pauses in Gru’s mind just by gestures of caring and not judging him, and take him off course. Gru, with his hold-your-sides-laughing accent, never openly melts but is smitten.
The on-screen wizardry, dialogues and action steer clear of sentimentality, but the scenes make their point – heart-warmingly. Here are some:
Agnes: Will you read us a bedtime story?
Gru: No.Agnes: Pretty please?Gru: The physical appearance of the please makes no difference. It is still no, so go to sleep.
Gru: Who are you texting?Margo: No one. Just my friend Avery.Gru: Avery? Is that a girl’s name or a boy’s name?Margo: Does it matter?Gru: No, it doesn’t matter... unless it’s a boy!
Probably my most important reason for watching the funnies is that they touch empathy chords. One revisits scenes in the films for these moments. And the quotes always stay, not just on Google.
