Voices of:
Jack Black
Dustin Hoffman
Angelina Jolie
Jacky Chan
Lucy Liu
It's been a while since my last animation feature, good entertainment they may be, but I can't seem to bring myself to watch any of them of late. So it surprised even me when I decided make the effort for Kung Fu Panda.
The story of a mild-mannered Panda mastering Kung Fu against all odds follows a similar formula for Hong Kong Kung Fu flicks, well substitute the Panda for a village weakling. Student learns from master, then faces the baddie who was a former student of the master turned rogue. So it was kinda like watching the run of the mill Kung Fu movie with animals as the starring role.
I enjoyed the story, simple as it may have been. Po (Jack Black) was likeable as the fuzzy Panda, and I liked teamwork and camaraderie shown by the Furious Five, and the friendship extended by most members of the five to Po, even if they disapproved of him. It was amusing to see that no one saw anything amiss about Po's father being a bird rather than a panda. In fact, when Po's father wanted to reveal a secret to Po, I thought it would have been that he was adopted. Instead, he revealed to Po the secret ingredient of noodle soup. The action scenes were also well-choreographed. These were the extent of the positives.
While the animation was elegant, I found the movie to be underwhelming and the plot insufficient to arouse the interest of a more matured audience. I did expect a lot of laughs, but the movie was a little bit short of it, if only just. With the exception of Jack Black, the rest of the star-studded voice cast were unable to lift the show, and merely served to lend their names to promote the show.
In creating animated block busters, Dreamworks simply do not measure up to the Disney-Pixar tag team, as the team's latest fare, Wall-E will ultimately showcase.
The story of a mild-mannered Panda mastering Kung Fu against all odds follows a similar formula for Hong Kong Kung Fu flicks, well substitute the Panda for a village weakling. Student learns from master, then faces the baddie who was a former student of the master turned rogue. So it was kinda like watching the run of the mill Kung Fu movie with animals as the starring role.
I enjoyed the story, simple as it may have been. Po (Jack Black) was likeable as the fuzzy Panda, and I liked teamwork and camaraderie shown by the Furious Five, and the friendship extended by most members of the five to Po, even if they disapproved of him. It was amusing to see that no one saw anything amiss about Po's father being a bird rather than a panda. In fact, when Po's father wanted to reveal a secret to Po, I thought it would have been that he was adopted. Instead, he revealed to Po the secret ingredient of noodle soup. The action scenes were also well-choreographed. These were the extent of the positives.
While the animation was elegant, I found the movie to be underwhelming and the plot insufficient to arouse the interest of a more matured audience. I did expect a lot of laughs, but the movie was a little bit short of it, if only just. With the exception of Jack Black, the rest of the star-studded voice cast were unable to lift the show, and merely served to lend their names to promote the show.
In creating animated block busters, Dreamworks simply do not measure up to the Disney-Pixar tag team, as the team's latest fare, Wall-E will ultimately showcase.
