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Kung Fu Yoga
Movie

Kung Fu Yoga

2017 • Unknown

Woke Score
2
out of 10

Plot

Two professors team up to locate a lost treasure and embark on an adventure that takes them from a Tibetan ice cave to Dubai, and to a mountain temple in India.

Overall Series Review

Kung Fu Yoga is a globetrotting action-adventure film centered on a Chinese archaeology professor and an Indian professor/princess on a quest for lost ancient Indian treasure. The film attempts to showcase and merge Chinese and Indian culture, including martial arts and yoga. The primary conflict is driven by a race to find the treasure against a greedy, avaricious descendant of an old Indian general. The narrative is a straightforward treasure hunt, focusing on action set pieces in exotic locations like Tibet, Dubai, and India. While the film attempts to celebrate both cultures, critics noted the use of Orientalist stereotypes for the Indian setting, depicting it with snake charmers and outdated 'desi exotica.' The overarching theme is one of preservation and cooperation between the two nations' cultures, contrasting the heroes' desire to return the treasure to the people with the villain's purely selfish motivations.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics4/10

The core of the plot relies on national and cultural identity, featuring a Chinese-Indian partnership to save an Indian treasure from an Indian villain. There is no focus on 'whiteness' or Western intersectional hierarchy. However, the film received criticism from Indian reviewers for perpetuating crude national and cultural stereotypes, framing a Chinese protagonist as the central figure who can solve an ancient Indian riddle and 'teach' Indians about their own artifacts, which centers national identity over universal meritocracy and borders on cultural xenophobia.

Oikophobia1/10

The film actively celebrates and promotes the history, culture, and traditional martial arts (Kung Fu) and spiritual practices (Yoga) of both China and India. The entire quest is about saving an ancient Indian cultural heritage for the people, framed as a joint effort to honor history. The narrative clearly values the ancestors and institutions of the involved non-Western civilizations, directly opposing civilizational self-hatred.

Feminism3/10

The female lead is a competent Indian archaeology professor and princess who initiates the quest, possessing the necessary map and background knowledge, which positions her as a proactive figure. The male protagonist is a world-renowned archaeologist and martial artist. Neither the male nor female lead is depicted as bumbling or instantly perfect, suggesting a mostly complementary dynamic. There is no presence of anti-natalist messaging or overt emasculation of the male characters.

LGBTQ+1/10

The narrative is entirely focused on an action-adventure treasure hunt with no plot points, characters, or dialogue dedicated to exploring alternative sexualities, gender ideology, or deconstructing the nuclear family. The presentation of relationships and characters adheres to a normative male-female structure, with all sexual identity issues remaining private or unaddressed.

Anti-Theism1/10

The final treasure location is an ancient mountain temple, and the villain is explicitly shown to be disrespectful of a temple priest and the sanctity of the site, presenting this behavior as a negative trait. The overall tone is one that acknowledges and uses Asian myth, fantasy, and cultural history as a source of plot and setting. There is no messaging that frames traditional religion, or Christianity specifically, as the root of evil; the moral conflict is simply greed versus cultural preservation.