Kung Fu Panda

DreamWorks turned a one-joke premise, a clumsy panda who becomes a kung fu legend, into one of the studio's most reliable franchises. The CrossBinge entry runs deep: four theatrical features, multiple television series, holiday and short specials, and tie-in games.

The distinctive quality is sincerity. Po's arc could have been pure slapstick, and there is plenty of that, but the films take their wuxia influences seriously, staging fight choreography and painterly Chinese-inspired vistas with real craft. Kung Fu Panda 2 in particular reaches for genuine pathos about identity and loss, which is more than the setup promised.

It spans film, television, and games, with the feature films setting the standard and the spin-off shows extending Po's world for younger audiences.

The Kung Fu Panda franchise spans 3 series, 2 games, 10 films in the CrossBinge catalog.