Which Kung Fu Panda 2 Jokes did Charlie Kaufman Write?

The original Kung Fu Panda came as a pleasant surprise. Jack Black’s carb-pounding panda, Po, with his body-image issues and dreams of Enter the Dragon heroics, added a touching pathos to the sarcastic-talking-animal genre. Po’s transformation into a kung-fu ass-kicker had all the inspirational uplift and acrobatic visual dazzle of a Biggest Loser finale choreographed by Yuen Woo-ping. However, when we read that Charlie Kaufman, Hollywood’s premier self-reflexive writer, had done rewrites on Kung Fu Panda 2, we rushed to our laptop to pre-order tickets—and realized we had a year to wait.

Identifying any individual voice in the chop suey of re-re-rewritten scripts may be a fool’s errand, but guessing which jokes may have come from Charlie Kaufman’s sui generis imagination would sure make one hell of a drinking game. Now a year later, with Kung Fu Panda 2 in theaters this holiday weekend, we can bust out the 3-D shot glasses.