The Kung Fu Panda Beat Sheet
Blake Snyder teaches the "Kung Fu Panda" Beat Sheet to students at the Beijing Film Academy in November, 2008
With the sequel to DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda opening this weekend, what better time to post our beautiful illustrated beat sheet for the original? We’re showing the first two beats below, followed by a link to download the entire 10-page breakdown, which was written by Blake and Master Cat! Jose Silerio. It was a big hit with Blake’s students in China — and now it’s here for you.
Written by: Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger (screenplay), Ethan Reiff & Cyrus Voris (story)
Directed by: Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
Genre: Superhero
Opening Image:
Po dreams of being a Kung Fu warrior. In reality, he is the adopted son of a noodle maker.
Theme Stated:
Mr. Ping, Po’s dad, tells Po that we all have our place in this world. Mr. Ping’s place is in the noodle restaurant, and Po’s is in tables 2, 5, 7 and 12.
Download the 10-page illustrated Kung Fu Panda Beat Sheet (pdf).
Next week: From the Best of Blake’s Blogs — “Closer”
on May 27th, 2011 at 11:09 am
Fantastic! This is the elusive “King Fu Panda” beat sheet I’ve been looking for.
Very much appreciated!
on May 28th, 2011 at 9:48 pm
Thank you very much for the illustrated beat sheet. This is great.
on June 1st, 2011 at 4:39 pm
Great beat sheet, but as usual with beat sheets posted on this blog there is no mention of genre… why does everyone drop the ball on this when they post beat sheets here? lol
(if genre is mentioned and I simply missed it, I apologize profusely… lol)
on June 1st, 2011 at 5:42 pm
Genre not on the downloadable pdf, but on the blog, right under “Directed by:”
on June 4th, 2011 at 4:22 am
I love this movie and was happy to see the beat sheet. I would have put this movie in the “fool triumphant” genre though. I know “fool triumphant” and “superhero” have a lot of overlaps. I’m wondering what aspects of the story put this movie in “superhero.”
on June 10th, 2011 at 8:51 am
I’d say KFP is an almost perfect hybrid of “Superhero” and “Fool Triumphant,” but if I had to lean toward one, I’d go with “Fool Triumphant” because on page 251 of “STC Goes to the Movies,” we read that “the Superhero doesn’t have to wonder if he’s special, he knows he is.” Po is constantly questioning himself and his abilities, thus he’s a bit more of a fool than a hero.