This is not the plot line of a new animation film, but the hope of DreamWorks Pictures' CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg.
When DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda debuted in China in 2008, it hardly faced any rivals.
The third installment of Kung Fu Panda, a coproduction of DreamWorks Pictures, Shanghai-based Oriental DreamWorks and the China Film Group Corporation, will be released in China and the United States on Jan 29. Provided to China Daily
Records show that the first installment - which raked in 150 million yuan ($23 million) - became the first animation film blockbuster to surpass the 100 million yuan milestone in the history of Chinese cinema.
A bigger feat was achieved by the second installment. It became the all-time highest-grossing animation flick in 2011, and maintained its 608-million-yuan record for four years, until it was overtaken by domestic title The Monkey King: Hero Is Back at 965 million yuan in September.
Now, Katzenberg says his wish is to see Kung Fu Panda 3 return to the top of the animation film box office charts in China, the world's second-largest movie market.
"Today we have over 200 animators working in Shanghai. Their work will showcase a beautiful, amazing, world-class title, coproduced in Los Angeles and Shanghai," said Katzenberg at last Wednesday's Beijing promotion event.
While news of the coproduction is not new, the cooperation with Shanghai-based Oriental DreamWorks and the China Film Group Corporation, the exponential rise in the use of local talent - including around 260 Chinese animators - gives the film a very local touch.
Oriental DreamWorks was set up in 2012 as a partnership between DreamWorks and several Chinese companies. They are now working on catering to Chinese tastes.
Meanwhile, at the same event, DreamWorks said that the film, to be simultaneously released in China and the United States on Jan 29 (usually Hollywood tentpoles are released days or weeks later in the mainland), will have two versions.
Alongside the regular English edition, there will be a Chinese version.
The Chinese version will not only feature the voices homegrown stars, but also adjust the movements of the characters' lips to make it look like they are speaking in Chinese, says Oscar-nominated director Jennifer Yuh.
Yuh worked as the head of the story for Kung Fu Panda and took the directorial job from the second film.
Still set in ancient China, the third film is about Po's reunion with his long-lost father and a new mission to defeat an evil ox warrior known as Kai.
A 26-minute trailer, covering the English and the Chinese versions, was released last week. Viewers say they are impressed by the humor and Chinese-style landscapes.
In the film, when Po, guided by his biological father, walks into an isolated panda village, the heavy smog dissipates and verdant mountains appear.
Yuh says that the village is inspired by Sichuan's picturesque Qingcheng Mountain, one of the most famed landmarks for Taoist martial arts practitioners in Chinese wuxia books.
The South Korean American female auteur also visited a giant panda research base in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province.
She incorporates real panda behavior in the movie.
For example, in the movie, the lazy Po is delighted to find a giant panda rolling to get down from a hillside instead of walking.
"The setting of the film is China. We were looking for Po to learn about traditions he may not know," Yuh tells China Daily.
Research on Chinese culture and animal characteristics formed a significant part of work for the crew.
The first time Yuh met her Oriental DreamWorks' colleagues, some Shanghai animators wore artificial fur costumes to let the American team feel what it is like to touch a panda. Others wore ancient Chinese costumes to show them how Chinese warriors salute and move.
Mark Osborne, director of the original Kung Fu Panda and now known to Chinese audiences for the animation flick, The Little Prince, told China Daily in an e-mail: "I think what makes Po engaging is that he represents a common spirit within us all ... that is the power of his character. I believe that we can all see ourselves in him in some way," he says.
He says the understanding that "an American ideal that drives him" is limiting. "We all have the potential for greatness inside of us, and which child does not lie in bed and dream about becoming like his hero."
This seems true for Po's Chinese voice actor Huang Lei, who says that his 9-year-old daughter is proud that her father is the voice of her hero.
The Chinese version also features the voices of kung fu star Jackie Chan and Taiwan top singer Jay Chow.
Yuh worked as the head of the story for Kung Fu Panda and took the directorial job from the second film.
Still set in ancient China, the third film is about Po's reunion with his long-lost father and a new mission to defeat an evil ox warrior known as Kai.
A 26-minute trailer, covering the English and the Chinese versions, was released last week. Viewers say they are impressed by the humor and Chinese-style landscapes.
In the film, when Po, guided by his biological father, walks into an isolated panda village, the heavy smog dissipates and verdant mountains appear.
Yuh says that the village is inspired by Sichuan's picturesque Qingcheng Mountain, one of the most famed landmarks for Taoist martial arts practitioners in Chinese wuxia books.
The South Korean American female auteur also visited a giant panda research base in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province.
She incorporates real panda behavior in the movie.
For example, in the movie, the lazy Po is delighted to find a giant panda rolling to get down from a hillside instead of walking.
"The setting of the film is China. We were looking for Po to learn about traditions he may not know," Yuh tells China Daily.
Research on Chinese culture and animal characteristics formed a significant part of work for the crew.
The first time Yuh met her Oriental DreamWorks' colleagues, some Shanghai animators wore artificial fur costumes to let the American team feel what it is like to touch a panda. Others wore ancient Chinese costumes to show them how Chinese warriors salute and move.
Mark Osborne, director of the original Kung Fu Panda and now known to Chinese audiences for the animation flick, The Little Prince, told China Daily in an e-mail: "I think what makes Po engaging is that he represents a common spirit within us all ... that is the power of his character. I believe that we can all see ourselves in him in some way," he says.
He says the understanding that "an American ideal that drives him" is limiting. "We all have the potential for greatness inside of us, and which child does not lie in bed and dream about becoming like his hero."
This seems true for Po's Chinese voice actor Huang Lei, who says that his 9-year-old daughter is proud that her father is the voice of her hero.
The Chinese version also features the voices of kung fu star Jackie Chan and Taiwan top singer Jay Chow.
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