Shawn's Kung Fu Panda Review

2008 Movie #60 - Kung Fu Panda

It seems like it took a ridiculously long time to get from my 50th review to my 60th but then again I am way behind. My computer is full of movies I have to watch for this thing. I'm working at getting caught up on the summer movies at least though.

It's weird to think back to a time when you would get excited at the prospect of an animated movie. You know back when we would only get a handful of them every year, at the most. Now there's a minimum of one a month and whenever I see a trailer for one I usually just groan. Horton Hears a Who turned out to be a pleasant surprise and sure enough, as did Kung Fu Panda. In fact between the two of them I would have to give the slight edge to Kung Fu Panda as the better movie.

It's a plot you've seen before, you know exactly what's going to happen, but in the end it doesn't really matter (oh god , Linkin Park lyrics). The point is that the movie is entertaining and also funny. This pretty much comes down to the voice work in the movie. Jack Black is great as Po the Panda and has some of the movies funniest lines. In fact the opening scene ranks as one of the funniest things I've seen in a movie so far this year. Dustin Hoffman is a close second, almost stealing the show away from Jack at times.

Everyone else is voiced by some pretty big names (including Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, Seth Rogen, Jackie Chan, etc) however it seems like they weren't given a whole lot to do. Each one of them is only on screen for a handful of scenes and when they are they each only get a couple lines of dialogue. In fact I can't even remember a single line that Jackie Chan's Monkey got to say. I know he spoke at least twice. I mean I guess everyone did fine with the roles but it seems a little strange to have that amount of voice talent for roles that aren't very prominent in the movie.

Aside from being funny, another thing that surprised me was how well done the action scenes were. There are quite a few scattered across the movie and each one is very well done and exciting. The animation is great and these scenes are a great mix of slapstick and solid action. That's one thing I never thought I would be saying about this movie so good job on that one Kung Fu Panda people.

So the summer season continues on without a weak link in the bunch. Indiana Jones may have been a disappointment but it was far from a bad movie. I just hope that the Happening doesn't come in and ruin this rare streak.

****/5