Movie Review: ‘Panda’ tons of summer fun

In “Kung Fu Panda” Jack Black voices Po, a wide-eyed, ultra-klutzy, roly-poly panda who is destined to become a lightning-quick martial arts master. Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before? In the era of CGI, “cartoons” have never been better and kung fu heavy films are in high demand. “Aladdin” prepare to “Enter the Dragon.”

Po works for his father in a noodle shop and dreams of attaining kung fu glory someday even though he’s been told “broth runs through” his veins. The eager bear is constantly discouraged but refuses to give up and decides to go on an inspirational jaunt to watch a ceremony in which one of his heroes will be chosen as the ultimate fighter, the Dragon Warrior. In a clumsy turn of events Po is fingered as the chosen one.

The action hits full-belly throttle when Po begins training with his onetime heroes, the Furious Five—Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (the mere sound of Seth Rogan is funny), Crane (David Cross) and Viper (Lucy Liu) — who attempt to teach him all the necessary twirl ‘n’ whirl techniques, although they seriously doubt he’s really the chosen one.

The chubster has a hard time keeping up — it’s a task even making it up the stairs, but he does the best he can do with what he has.

Overseeing the chaos is the Yoda-like, Fu Manchu-mustached raccoon Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman’s grainy sarcasm is just right) who scoffs at Po, refusing to teach him at first.

Master Shifu has almost given up when he discovers Po in the kitchen going to town on all the cupboards have to offer. The panda’s nimble, quick and fierce…when it comes to food, of course. Shifu figures out he can use bowls of dumplings as snackspiration to entice the student to split, kick and roll his way to earning the dragon scroll (which grants limitless power once gotten).

Fight sequences act as another character in KFP. They are detailed, true to form and reminiscent of “The Matrix,” “The Karate Kid,” and “The Last Samurai” (just to name a few). Watching a monkey, viper and tiger go at it will have your nine-year-old air punching in his seat. Couple that with the slo-mo roll of Po’s belly after it’s been punched and the laughter/excitement quota for family entertainment value is met and exceeded.

DreamWorks Animation has really upped the ante, using a buffet of techniques for the eyes to feast upon. From the flowing hair standing up on Po’s arms and the bright orange of Tigress’ eyes to the fireworks that look fantastically real. There’s a dash of Anime here and parts that look like claymation there — it’s all lively, vibrant and oodles of fun.

Alongside the zany characters, crazy colors and the most awesome action animation’s ever seen there are the proverbial moral messages. Why don’t we see these more often and blatantly in films for grown-ups? We could all use a, “you just need to believe” and “never quit” from time to time.

Grab the grandkiddies and head to the theater because KFP kicks up the summer fun for all parties involved.

Adrienne Mackey is a former Green Valley News staffer and freelance movie reviewer. Hear her talk a lot more about movies on “The KLPX WakeUp Call with Scott Barnett” weekday mornings from 5 to 10 a.m. at 96.1 KLPX.

Movie Review

3.5/4 Stars

Animation/Action/Comedy/Family

Run time: 1 hours, 32 minutes.

Rated PG for sequences of martial arts action.

Starring: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan.

Written by: Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger.

Directed by: Mark Osborne, John Stevenson.