Kung Fu Panda
3.5 Waffle!

After this movie, pandas might be the new penguins. And, you know Kung Fu Panda is going to be good because TALKING ANIMALS ARE FUNNY!

Po the Panda (voice by Jack Black) is a rambunctious dreamer who wants to be a karate superstar, but seems destined to take over his father’s soup shop (and, his father is a duck, which seems kind of weird that a duck would produce a panda offspring, maybe the wild kingdom is wilder than we ever imagined). Their small Chinese town is protected by a group of ninja warriors (The Furious Five), and, according to the prophecy, a hero named The Dragon Warrior is supposed to be chosen to keep peace in the village. Somehow, even though everyone thinks Tigress (Angelina Jolie) is one of the greatest warriors in all of the land, the clumsy, pudgy, less athletic Po is chosen (I know, he’s just big boned), and the local master, Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), must train the flabby furry one to save them all from the evil Tai Lung (Ian McShane).

Can Po develop the skills needed to be a kung fu panda?

Do Tigress, the rest of the Furious Five and Shifu believe Po has what it takes?

Kung Fu Panda is a fun and action-packed movie if you are 5-years old or 50-years old. Most of this comes from a painstaking attention to detail by directors Mark Osborne and John Stevenson, as well as the entire production and design team. They do a wonderful, stunning job creating a world true to the classic kung fu movies of the past including art work, title sequences, design of the village, music and more (they’re only missing David Carradine and Quentin Tarantino). Kung Fu Panda looks perfect and probably more authentic than any scene from this summer’s Olympics in China will be.

Then, writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger incorporate all of the traditional story elements you would expect in a movie of this style. We have the feared villain, a prophecy, and the training montage (you’ve gotta have a montage) – all expected but not rejected by the viewer because you are having such a fun time watching it all develop on screen. I especially loved the action scenes with slow motion and freeze frames to capture all the right moments during the fights (to amaze you and make you laugh until the M & M’s come out of your nose, so be careful if you like peanut M & M’s).

Kung Fu Panda would be nothing without the panda, so you’ll be happy to hear Black is funny and outrageous enough to keep us laughing, and never gets annoying. I know I have picked on him before as Bill Murray without the talent, but Black has evolved over the past few years to prove me wrong. Along with the fantastic facial expressions you can see on Po’s face (a hilarious mix of bravado and fearful uncertainty), Black makes Po endearing to the audience for his pure love, energy and belief in what he wants to do, and an unflinching dedication to making the audience laugh.

Aibel and Berger even throw in some good drama about growing up and deciding what you want to do with your life even if others don’t approve or laugh at you, as well as the big battle as Shifu, Tigress, Po and the entire team face potential harm in the coming battle, but know they must fight for the greater good.

If you get a chance to see it in a theater with the right kind of equipment, the digital presentation is amazing as you can see each little hair on Panda’s fur and the detail to every aspect of every item in the frame. It takes a very very good movie and elevates it just enough to stand out even more.

Kung Fu Panda is rated PG for sequences of martial arts action.