踏進一季中國熱！

K ickinginto a Season of China-Mania

2008年過了將近大半，可以預見今年的其中一個娛樂關鍵詞，大抵就是“中國”。

雖然好萊塢電影經常出現唐人街的畫面，西方明星不時蹦出一兩句中文，兵馬俑偶爾還會當一回道具，旗袍和唐裝更是人見人愛，但也不曾像今年這樣熱熱鬧鬧：一大批洋溢著東方風情或者由東方面孔掛帥的片子爭先恐后地跳上大銀幕。如果說之前的《暗物質》、《黃石的孩子》和《功夫之王》都只是前奏，那么從《功夫熊貓》開始，浩浩蕩蕩的“中國熱”便正式席卷全球——

I still remember way back in 2005 when I first heardabout Kung Fu Panda， I thought it was a pathetic^{[沒希望成功的]}idea. It sounded like another annoying， witless animalcenteredanimation that would just rely on cheap jokesto amuse 10-year-olds. To my big surprise， however， thefilm now successfully proves itself a true summerblockbuster^{[轟動一時的作品]}!

我仍記得2005年第一次聽說《功夫熊貓》時的情景，當時我認定這個主意糟糕透頂。它聽起來就像又一部弱智惱人的動物主題動畫，只會靠一些低俗笑話來逗樂10歲小孩。而讓我大吃一驚的是，這部電影如今卻成功地證明了自己的實力，成了貨真價實的暑期大熱！

All About Kung Fu

Like its name， kung fu is one of the basic factors in thisfilm. Kung fu fans are all over the world. They marvelat^{[對……驚奇]} the skills of Bruce Lee (Li Xiaolong) and Jet Li (LiLianjie)， and have fun watching the antics^{[可笑的動作]} of JackieChan (Cheng Long). Come on， what else， besides the fightscenes between Jet Li and Jackie Chan in The Forbidden Kingdom，could attract such a large audience worldwide?

Since the directors， Mark Osborne and JohnStevenson， grew up loving kung fu films， theytake martial arts^[武術] as seriously as their maincharacter， Po the panda， to whom kung fu meanseverything. No wonder the new picture is almostlike an animated Crouching Tiger， Hidden Dragon.Many of the fights are so smartly thought outand presented that they could have been designedby an ace^[一流的] stunt^[特技] director like Yuen WooPing (Yuan Heping)， perfectly capturing^[捕獲] thelook and feel of martial arts masterpieces， butremaining accessible^{[可理解的]} enough even for theyoungest audiences.

The Year of China

Hollywood loves to incorporate^[混合] Chineseelements in its films. For example， fights in TheMatrix and Kill Bill are really eye-catching， andHayden Christensen from Jumper says “goodbye”in Cantonese. What’s special about Kung FuPanda is the film aims to create an ancientChinese world where everything lives in harmony.Even the outdoor locations were heavily influencedby the look of the Li River Valley and thecity of Guilin.

Jack Black， who dubs^[配音] Po in the film， can’tagree more. “If you’re setting a film in a certainlocale^[場所]， it’s important to get it right. If youreally nail^{[（俚）抓住]} it， the people who go to themovie are traveling to see that place as well.You want to take them somewhere real and spe-cial.”

But Kung Fu Panda is just the very beginningof a whole season of China-mania.Jet Li willreturn with the third film of The Mummyseries in August; Mei Lan Fang and Red Cliff areon their way to amaze global audiences. Withthe arriva lof the Olympic Games ， the world ’s interest in China is increasing day by day. Surely^[想必] Hollywood is not content to lag behind^{[落在后面]}.

A Really Pleasant Trip

It is not the first time we see an unlikely hero whomanages to save the day. And the movie’s message –you must always believe in yourself， no matter whatothers say – doesn’t it sound quite familiar?However， even if you know exactly where Kung FuPanda is going， it’s still a mostly entertaining journey.And if it makes one sports-loving overweight kidfeel relieved^{[不再憂慮的]} about following his athletic bliss^[福佑]， somuch the better.

功夫，又見功夫

正如其名，功夫是這部電影的基本要素之一。功夫迷遍及世界各地。他們為李小龍和李連杰的精湛技藝所折服，成龍的滑稽表演則讓他們覺得樂趣無窮。得了吧，要不是有李連杰和成龍的對打場面，《功夫之王》又怎會吸引了全世界那么多觀眾呢？

由于馬克·奧斯本和約翰·史蒂文森這兩位導演從小便是功夫片的粉絲，他們對武術的重視程度可與電影的主人公阿波媲美——對這只熊貓來說，功夫就是生活的全部。