Director: Mark Osborne & John Stevenson (Swoon)
Writers: Jonathan Aibel (screenplay), Glenn Berger (screenplay), Ethan Reiff (story) & Cyrus Voris (story)
Producers: Melissa Cobb
Starring: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Ian McShane, David Cross, Seth Rogen, Michael Clarke Duncan, James Hong, Randall Duk Kim, Dan Fogler
MPAA Rating: PG
Running time: 92 min

Each computer animated movie that Dreamworks Animation has released since the original Shrek has suffered from diminishing returns. I am not talking about the box office returns but the quality of each movie. With each successive movie I have looked less forward to seeing it and it is only because of the good reviews that Kung Fu Panda has received that convinced me to drag my son (who would rather hang out at home playing video games or just watching television) to the theatre. When I last looked Kung Fu Panda was sitting at an 85% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Now that I have had a day to think about it I’m glad to say that it is indeed a good movie and that my biggest complaints really should not lower a rating for a movie.

Kung Fu Panda is the story of Po (Jack Black), a large Panda bear that dreams of joining the Furious Five as a martial arts master. The Furious Five are made up of Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Crane (David Cross), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Monkey (Jackie Chan) who study under the leadership of their guru, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman). As is the case with most movies that tell the story of a nobody becoming someone important Kung Fu Panda follows the standard story format but is is the little touches that make it one the best movies that Dreamworks Animation has produced and one of the better movies I have seen so far this year. Po ends up being proclaimed the legendary Dragon Warrior and the saviour of the village by Master Shifu’s Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim). Po, Master Shifu and the Furious Five all must come to terms with Master Oogway’s proclamation as the entire village is in danger after Tai Lung (Ian McShane), Master Shifu’s first and strongest student returns to the village in order take by force the Dragon Scroll which will grant the true Dragon Warrior the true power of Kung Fu.

I think I’ll dive into what I did not like about the movie. My biggest complaint is that the Furious Five are not fleshed out as characters enough to make the choice of actors mean anything. It really felt like each of the five only had one or two lines through out the entire movie. The reason why I feel this is not as big of problem as I had initially felt was that I realized that just because Jackie Chan (the one I was most looking forward too) didn’t get much to do, his character really did not need more screen time. This not the story of the Furious Five it is the story of Po and Master Shifu. Criticizing Kung Fu Panda about this would be like criticizing a movie because cameo roles were not given enough screen time. This is my only real complaint about the movie other than perhaps it does feel a bit like its been done before. Fortunately though Kung Fu Panda tells the story really well and with enough class and emotion to make it quite enjoyable.

Lets dive into what is good about Kung Fu Panda because there are some seriously good aspects to this movie. The first few minutes of this movie are pure gold. The story starts off with what is obviously a dream sequence that shows Po’s dream of being a martial arts master. The animation style is completely different than the rest of the movie which is done in the now traditional 3D style. It really felt like it was paying homage to classic martial arts movies and won me over right away. It was pretty obvious from the trailers that Po was going to learn Kung Fu through his ability to eat and while this may sound silly it was played up really well and when you combine it with the initial tension and growth of the characters of Shifu and Po I quite enjoyed it. There was definitely some slapstick elements to his training and all the kids in the theatre enjoyed laughed more than a few times. I mentioned earlier that I was a bit unhappy with the amount of screen time given to the Furious Five but I did not mention Master Oogway and that is because I loved his character and one of my favourite scenes this year is the final scene between Oogway and Shifu.

A movie like Kung Fu Panda really relies on its villain to be interesting, scary (yet not too scary) and charismatic. Tai Lung is a top of the line villain. He is played perfectly by Ian McShane and could hold his own with any children’s villain out there. Tai Lung perfectly contrasts what is good in Po and their final battle is done perfectly.

Since this is in effect a martial arts movie even though it is animated it is probably worth mentioning the action in Kung Fu Panda. I do not know enough about the animators and how they created the fight sequences I can only guess that they must have employed a fight choreographer of some sort because the fight scene were filmed beautifully. The battle on the bridge was beautiful to watch in its complexity and the final battle between Tai Lung and Po combined the right amount of slapstick with action.

I’ll be the first to admit that is has been a pretty dry year so far so this does not mean as much as it would have if I had said it last year but Kung Fu Panda really is a good movie and for me is one of the better movies this year. Sure it follows the typical story but it does it with a fair amount of heart and it is done really well. It has its moments of slapstick humour but it never once feels like it is resorting to “fart” jokes. There are a few beautiful scenes that I really loved and the action is extremely well done. I would not place Kung Fu Panda up with the best of Pixar but it definitely can hold its own as a movie with some of Pixar’s movies. If you have kids, use them as an excuse and go catch Kung Fu Panda.

Links:
IMDb profile
Official Site for Kung Fu Panda