The Little Panda Fighter
The Little Panda Fighter is a 2008 Brazilian animated sports action comedy film directed by Michelle Gabriel. The film has drawn criticism as a mockbuster of the DreamWorks Animation film Kung Fu Panda. The film also received heavy criticism for its animation and plot. The film features the voices of Dan Green, David Brimmer, Erica Schroeder, Mike Pollock and Maddie Blaustein.
Plot
In a small town inhabited by anthropomorphic bears, a giant panda named Pancada works as a janitor at a boxing karate club called Bear Bar Box. He has dreams of one day becoming a professional dancer, despite everyone's indifference, and is in love with a brown bear waitress named Honey. His boss, a polar bear named Polaris, finds that his club is losing money, mostly due to his top boxer, Freak Teddy, winning every match he fights in. Despite wanting to go in and defeat Teddy himself, the property's manager, Grizzlepuss, informs Polaris that he is under contract not to.Later that night, Pancada visits his dancing instructor, a small brown bear named Master Jin, who teaches him about loyalty. The next day, Polaris has found his old fighting costume—a two-piece black top, bottom and face mask—and tells Pancada to wash it for him. After Polaris tells Pancada his plan to secretly fight Freak Teddy in disguise, the latter leaves, attempting to keep a cool demeanor. In the basement washroom, Pancada becomes distracted by the rhythm of the washer, resulting in the costume shrinking in the wash.
The day of the fight, a disguised Polaris is put in the ring with Freak Teddy, while Pancada goes to a dance competition. At the fight, the costume Polaris is wearing shrinks on him, causing him to look like a panda. This leads everyone to mistake Polaris as Pancada. Polaris wins the fight, while Pancada wins the dance competition under harsh criticism.
The following day afterward, Pancada is approached by his crush, Honey. Impressed by his "win", Honey kisses Pancada on the cheek. Pancada erroneously believes that he is being congratulated for his dancing skills. However, a newspaper later arrives at the club, showing Pancada that he was mistaken for Polaris. After some words of wisdom from Master Jin, he approaches Polaris in his office, wanting to rematch Freak Teddy to be more rightfully praised. While Pancada undergoes brief training, his fight against Freak Teddy goes badly, and Pancada gives up on boxing.
After the fight, Pancada becomes a laughingstock again, and arrives to Polaris' office to inform him of the loss. However, Polaris informs Pancada that he had made a bet that the latter would lose the fight, thus becoming very wealthy. Before Polaris leaves, he transfers ownership of the club to Pancada. Grizzlepuss finally confronts Pancada about the scheme, though Pancada simply denies this.
After Polaris retires to the icy mountains, Pancada transforms the boxing club into a dance club.