Kung Fu Panda
Starring: Jack Black, Ian McShane, Angelina Jolie
Director: Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
Genre: Animation | Action | Comedy | Family
Rated: Rated PG for sequences of martial arts action.
Duration: 1hr 28mnis
Plot: Po (Black), a reluctant panda bear, is recruited by a team of Kung Fu masters and trained in the ways of the ancient martial art in order to protect the Valley of Peace from an evil snow leopard.

My Review:I took the kids to see this movie over the weekend. I am not ashamed to admit that I wanted to go see this movie, kids or no kids. Having kids though keeps you from being totally embarrassed when walking to the theater. I am happy to report that this movie lived up to my expectations. I have been let down so often, after going to see a film that was over-hyped that I have become nervous walking into the theater whenever I look forward to a movie. However, Kung-Fu Panda succeeded.

I have to say that I really liked this film. Po the panda is a very lovable character. The story was somewhat predictable. From the second you meet Po, you know the general outline the story will follow. In this case that was OK. I enjoyed how it was told. You do have to remember that while this movie is PG it really is targeted at younger audiences with less sophisticated cinematic palettes (kind of like me).

The animation was very well done. To me what makes a great animated film is one where you are so engrossed you completely forget that your watching an animated movie. I don’t mean that it is so realistic, I mean that the animation is not so distracting that it takes away from the story or the action. For example, I found the animation in Ratatouille to be somewhat annoying and distracting. The animation though in Kung-Fu Panda though was nearly perfect (Ok, the mouth on master hamster or whatever kind of animal he was bugged me a bit but other than that it was great).

Likewise the voice work by the stars was brilliant as well. When It comes to movies I am most interested in the becoming engrossed in the movie. To be transported into the film. This is for me the hallmark of any great movie. So like the animation, I typically want to forget who the actors are while I am watching the film (The exception is when I’m going not for the story but for the actor, for example any Will Ferrell movie). Live or animated, I want their performance to be believable. While I thought this film would be really funny because Jack Black was the Panda (I’m a big fan), I thought it was even better because as I watched the film I forgot that Jack Black was the Panda.

Overall Kung-Fu Panda was a fun movie, with lovable characters, great animation, and lots of action. Next time its raining and the kids are complaining (or its too damn hot outside) this is a great movie to take the kids too. Kung-Fu Panda is definitely watchable for adults (and you may even find yourself liking it too).

Rating: 4/5 stars

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Kung Fu Panda - Movie Trailer: