The real Kung Fu Panda?

May 25, 2010 4:53 PM

Help me settle a bet. I saw this video and thought it was a fake, but after I saw the unedited version I think it's real. My husband is sure it's a fake. Who's right?

I think it's a bored bear who's having some fun with a stick. Hubby thinks it's impossible that the bear could toss the spinning stick in the air and catch it like that. My husband thinks most of it is authentic but that there are some parts that are too fantastic to be real.

Can anybody here tell if either video has been enhanced other than being cut to show the best parts of the Bear Kung Fu.

Fun link with the music and editing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ptYTGTNiyQ&feature=related

Link with the (supposed) unedited footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ghgg_fukbvU&playnext_from=TL&videos=qrgrI-PEcF8

posted by TooFewShoes to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

It's real. The stick doesn't fly particularly high or anything. Who knows how much actual footage there was. Minutes? Hours? Animals are capable of some very interesting things when they are locked into places much smaller than their natural habitats and given absolutely nothing to do.
posted by griphus at 4:56 PM on May 25, 2010

Best answer: 1) The video quality is beyond the current level of CGI. Compare this to, e.g., Cloverfield.

2) There's no way to prove it's not a guy in an extremely accurate bear suit, but the way the body scrunches up at the end looks much more like a bear than a person.

3) The Japanese people's reactions sound like it's real.

There's no way to completely prove a video on the Internet is real, but I think the evidence leans heavily in favor.
posted by shii at 5:02 PM on May 25, 2010

Best answer: There's other videos of the same bear on Youtube. This one appears to be from a news organization -- here is their original story.

Here's a third video, clearly the same bear, but with a smaller stick (and different lighting). That should be enough to convince anyone it's real.
posted by PercussivePaul at 5:08 PM on May 25, 2010 [2 favorites]

Looks real to me. It has been on CBS News. Their video (via CNET website) here.
posted by vidur at 5:18 PM on May 25, 2010

Sorry for the double post. The CBS Website story (text) is here.
posted by vidur at 5:20 PM on May 25, 2010

Response by poster: Mr. Shoes says they shouldn't let the bear watch Jackie Chan videos after hours.

He's convinced it's real, but he's not happy to be proved wrong. The other videos changed his mind.
posted by TooFewShoes at 5:26 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]

In case you missed it, there was an FPP on this video. There wasn't too much discussion on its veracity, but there was this comment.
posted by Gordafarin at 5:49 PM on May 25, 2010

Yes, that's Claude, in Hiroshima City Asa Zoological Park. Click the second link under "Topics." He's a pretty famous bear.
posted by misozaki at 6:24 PM on May 25, 2010

I'm seen a lot of bears. This is a bear.
posted by klanawa at 9:35 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]

Bears have been used as entertainer for centuries. Here's a circus bear doing something similar as well as numerous other tricks. I know my cat can play with certain objects in certain ways that entertain himself regarding their physical properties. The key difference, though, is that these objects are not taking the next step to become tools. Using the stick to, say, whack something off a shelf, poke the tourists through the bars, or whatnot would really amaze me. But this is just well-practiced play.
posted by dhartung at 10:24 PM on May 25, 2010