Po (voiced by Jack Black) is a giant panda and the downright laziest animal in the Valley of Peace. So when called upon to save his people from banished snow leopard warrior Tai Lung (Ian McShane), he is understandably surprised.
Instructed in the deadly arts by wary Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), Bo must overcome his saggy belly and inherent clumsiness to fulfil an ancient prophecy and restore calm to the valley.
A recent box office hit in the US, this film presents a brand new way to laugh at Jack Black without having to look at him. That's got to be worth a star in itself.
They say:
Total Film: “Nothing particularly new.”
Variety: “The voiceover work ranges from solid to tasty.”
Empire: “The finest DreamWorks Animation effort since the first Shrek.”
We say:
"Star Wars meets The Karate Kid with animals" - with this simple concept the makers of Kung Fu Panda have tapped into exactly what makes animation fun for adults and children alike.
Pixar's upcoming Wall*E has layered subtext - this has the rejected cast of The Jungle Book beating the crap out of each other.
The starry voice actors are not overly distinctive, but do fit their roles without the distraction of trying to figure out who they are. Black is especially funny in dishing out dry humour - the one liners and jokey pay offs after falling on his humongous butt for the twentieth time. His enthusiastic drawl personifies cute and cuddly Po perfectly.
Master Shifu's (Hoffman on form) disgraced former student Tai Lung is a benevolent creation. An English villain, obviously, Ian McShane slips on Lung's wickedness as easy as Lovejoy's leather jacket.
His character's overblown acrobatics are awe inspiring too. Marvel as Lung climbs a barrage of falling rocks, then cower in fear as he darts through the air, his claws exposed like talons, roaring - he's frightening to grown ups, let alone six year olds.
However it's OK parents, because Kung Fu Panda has wired enough ethical lecturing inside the narrative to more than counterbalance all this scary snarling and chopsocky violence. In general though, the fighting action doesn't suffer because of it.
There are plenty of sequences of breakneck martial arts combat, although directors Mark Osborne and John Stevenson have attempted to show the discipline behind kung fu as well as the moves. They didn't need to - they could have played down the morality and let teachers worry about all the bleeding noses in the playground. It's this care and attention that makes Panda a decent message movie in addition to a fun one.
Some of the middle scenes do drag on too long, repeating Po's inner conflict over and over - "I am the chosen warrior, I'm not the chosen warrior, I am the chosen warrior - make a decision, please!" Often Black's shtick is relied upon to keep momentum going. With wisecracks like "I've only ever seen pictures of that picture" and "Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend" he hits more frequently than he misses.
And yet, more chat and whack from Shifu's 'Furious Five' ensemble, including turns by Jackie Chan, Angelina Jolie and Seth Rogan, would have given their characters greater purpose and beefed up the story a tad.
Doused in retro (kung fu is still very 1970s) and employing a scrappy grit evocative of Disney's The Rescuers, this hasn't been made to win awards - move over Ratatouille. Kung Fu Panda is no frills frivolity and it kicks fat ass.
CAST
Jack Black
Jackie Chan
Dustin Hoffman
Angelina Jolie
DIRECTORS
Mark Osborne
John Stevenson
TIME
92 mins
POSTED...
Sun 13 Jul at 11:55am
