Kung-Fu Panda: Movie Review (2008)

Directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne, written by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, 95 minutes, rated PG.  

DreamWorks’ new computer-animated movie, “Kung-Fu Panda,” does a few things right, not the least of which is hitting theaters three weeks prior to Pixar’s eagerly anticipated “Wall-E,” which would have crushed it had it opened opposite it.

Since “Panda” deserved to find its niche--which the box office certainly suggests it did--it’s good that that wasn’t the case. The movie is filled with clever, colorful animation, likable characters and one villain sure to ignite plenty of PG-rated fear in younger viewers.

The film follows Po (voice of Jack Black), a cute, bumbling Panda with a gut the size of the moon whose hum-drum life is spent with his adoptive father, Mr. Ping (James Hong), making noodles for the Chinese locals. Saddled with low self-esteem and a job he hates, Po is nothing if not a panda armed with a rich imagination. As unlikely as it seems given his size, he nevertheless has dreams of being as great at the art of kung-fu as his heroes, the Furious Five.

That group is a clutch of fiercely competitive animals--Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Crane (David Cross) and Viper (Lucy Liu). For much of their lives, all have been trained by Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) to become the next Dragon Warrior and thus battle the fearsome Tai Lung (Ian McShane), a tiger who turned to the dark side after also being trained by Shifu.

When the turtle, Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim), mistakenly makes Po the next Dragon Warrior, let’s just say that Shifu has his work cut out for him to turn this Panda into the warrior he presumably can become if only he has the courage to believe in himself. And he’d better do just that, since there’s an ancient scroll involved that will allow its recipient supreme powers to use for good or evil.

While all of these messages have been recounted before in other movies, how they’re packaged here still is sweet.

What the film manages to do that so many computer animated movies don’t do well is that it achieves a balance of getting the high-tech incidentals right--the texture of a panda’s fur, for instance, or the realistic way that Po’s belly bounces when he moves--without sacrificing what really matters, the characters and the story. After its buoyant start, the film does drag a bit during its less-involving second act, but it pulls itself together (not unlike Po himself) to deliver a terrific final act.

Bolstering all of this is the feisty, often beautifully realized animation, which is consistently inventive and strong, particularly in the clipped, frenetic fight sequences, which bring to mind the wit of Warner Bros. animation director Chuck Jones. That his influence continues to be felt is no surprise--there’s a wealth still to be learned there--and it’s one of the underlying reasons “Kung-Fu Panda” works as well as it does.

Grade: B

View the trailer below: