kung-fu panda

Image via Wikipedia the name Kung Fu Panda really makes a person feel like its another dumb movie made just for kids, but hey... its dreamworks and they made shrek, one of my favorite animated movies of all time. i had heard good things about the movie from everyone that's seen it, so july 4th was as good a day as any other to go check it out.

the plot involves a fat panda bear named Po who loves kungfu, but is stuck working in his family's noodle shop. after being chosen to fulfill a prophecy, fat Po's dreams of learning kungfu come true as he joins china's greatest masters in training. there's a baddie that believes he should be the one to fulfill the prophecy and he's coming back to take what he believes is his, and Po eventually, as the chosen one, fight him. moral of the story? (SPOILER!!!) true power is inside oneself.

the visuals in the movie are really good. like in shrek, dreamworks does its usual great job of rendering lifelike animal characters and backgrounds. additionally, the opening scene in the movie itself is one of the most gorgeous in any animated movie yet. its not super hi-tech or anything but is more of an artistic rendition of Po's dreams of being a kungfu master in the style of Okami.

the music of the movie was... chinesey. its sorta the usual fare with any movies for white people about chinese culture type of music. it wasnt bad or anything. on the other hand, the voice acting was superb. jack black is pretty perfect for the role of Po because he's sorta the same kind of character in real life, a fat, lovable, galoot. in addition to Po, there are a buttload of big name actors. in addition to black, there's dustin hoffman (as master shifu... which kinda means master master cuz shifu means master...), angelina jolie (as tigress), jackie chan (as monkey, so very fitting...), seth rogen (as mantis), lucy liu (as viper), david cross (as crane), michael clarke duncan, kyle gass (the other half of TENACIOUS D), wayne knight (newman!), and the greatest asian american-cinema actor of all, James Hong (as Po's father). its an all-star voice acting class.

overall, this movie is fantastic. the story is good, the voice acting superb, and its really really funny for all ages. its even better because i was expecting it to be bad when i first heard about it. go catch this movie if you can, and if you gotta wait... try to get it on blu-ray, its a beautiful movie.


good: very funny, great voice-acting, great animation
meh: music was not inspiring