Kung Fu Panda - 2008

Animation

Available on DVD/Bluray

Kung Fu Panda is one of the more pleasantly surprising movies I saw over the summer. Dreamworks Animation (who is responsible for Shrek) has given us a refreshing take on the kung fu genre, and the art of animation in general. A lot of animated films make the mistake of incorporating pop culture jokes into themselves, thereby dating them in a matter of five years or less, as the jokes become trite and turn the films into cheap novelties. Kung Fu Panda ignores these cop outs and chooses instead to focus on telling a compelling story that seems light and cheery on the outside, with an underlying dramatic tension beneath it. It also features some quite inventive ways of reinventing certain themes and ideas (like the standard hero training montage). The hero is a weeble wobble shaped panda named Po, who hopes to someday leave his mundane life of helping out his father (a goose, which plays into some funny jokes later on) with the family noodle business, and accomplishing more. Po's heroes are the Furious Five, a group of plush toy looking animals who are masters of their own respective styles of Kung Fu (Monkey does monkey style, Crane does crane style, etc.) Soon he is drawn in to the world of Kung Fu as he is apparently destined to become the Dragon Warrior, a foretold hero of his valley. The magic of the movie is in how it balances out comedy with heart and drama. It seems to have all the right flourishes in the right places, so it never becomes overly childish nor serious, which helps to serve both comedy and drama extremely well, without having either element feel entirely out of place. Jack Black is the voice of Po, and manages it quite well, shedding the bulk of his Jack Blackishness in allowing the character to be himself without forced jokes or quips. Dustin Hoffman also excels as Master Shifu, a small racoon looking guy with a huge voice. Shifu is the most conflicted character of the story, and along with Po learns alot about himself and how life isn't always quite what you expect. There are other great voice actors featured here as well, but the Furious Five who are portrayed by a miriad of celebrities, take a back seat as secondary characters, so you don't get to know them too well. Maybe they'll be more prominent in the sequel. Kung Fu Panda is visually amazing and the animation is brilliant. Expression and body language are done so well as to almost make you forget you're watching a cartoon. One last thing of note is the music of Hanz Zimmer, which actually takes itself rather seriously when the mood calls for it. He's always been a great composer, but his music lends alot of emotion and flourish to the movie. So check it out. Great for kids and quite enough to entertain this adult who has seen it multiple times.

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