'Kung Fu Panda'
Reviewed by Lon S. Cohen

When I heard that Jack Black was going to star in an animated Dreamworks production populated only by animal characters playing a martial arts wielding panda, my initial reaction was, “What the Fu?” But as the brilliantly rendered characters appeared all over the Internet, followed by clips and blips of animated sequences (and Jack Black-esque comedy), my curiosity was peaked. By the time the theatre darkened at show time, I was giddy as a schoolboy with anticipation.

Po is a panda. Not only that, he’s a panda who’s in the family business of selling noodles to hungry customers. And even more absurd, he’s a Panda with a stork for a father (James Wong). Jack Black, playing Po, captures the wild-eyed hero-worship that infects all of us at one time or another, dreaming of joining up with his fantasy world’s version of super stars, The Furious Five. His action figures sit precipitously on the window sill of his small shack above the little noodle shop in a town below the great temple where Kung Fu is practiced by his heroes.

With Po the panda, as an unlikely hero, we all know what’s coming: Somehow, someway, at sometime, Po will become a Kung Fu master, trained by an ancient master (Dustin Hoffman), and will vanquish a powerful villain. (Oops! Did I forget to say Spoiler Warning ahead? Pretend you didn’t hear that last part.)

While the plot of the movie is as destined as Steven Spielberg’s paycheque, the comedy, touching story and exciting action scenes are, if predicable, executed as deftly as a flying split-kick. The deadliest move in the whole film is the detailed CG rendering that in no way overshadows the brilliant cinematography (can we use that phrase for an animated film?) and eye-popping colours in the very authentic-looking scenery and sets. By authentic, I don’t mean photorealistic rendering (thought that is sometimes the case), I mean the beautiful, slightly stylistic, yet very Asian influence that pervades the entire production design. The details of the artwork were definitely worked out on this one and I have to give credit to Dreamworks’ animation team. It is worth the price of admission (and the fuel charge to get to the cinema) just for the visual experience.

On top of the lush imagery, there are some damn fine voice actors, not in the least wasted on this effort. Sure, each one, by him or herself, might be able to lead this film just on voice talent and star appeal alone; there’s easily a few century’s worth of acting experience between them. Hell, Wong and Hoffman (sounds like a great name for an insurance company!) are both old pros who increase the median age of the cast by a factor of two all by themselves. Considering the rest of the cast which is comprised of some serious surprises – if, like me, you never even bothered to look at a cast list beforehand, thinking that Jack Black was the only star power in the film –it’s no small wonder that the movie is doing so well at the box office.

The Furious Five are composed of Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Crane (David Cross), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Viper (Lucy Liu), and Mantis (Seth Rogen) all trained to compete for the title of Dragon Warrior by their mentor, Master Shifu (Hoffman), who is supposed to be either a raccoon, a shrew, or some other sort of rodent. I am a big fan of Dustin Hoffman but the irony of him playing the role of a diminutive, wise, rodent-like creature is not lost on me. Even the master has a master and that is Oogway the tortoise (Randall Duk Kim), the very ancient temple master.

Oogway plays the benign but firm Yoda role in the film, teaching the teacher how to teach so that the student may learn how to learn. And that’s exactly what happens.

When, either by mistake or some twist of fate, Po is chosen by Oogway to be the prophesised Dragon Master, the Furious Five must learn to step aside while Master Shifu struggles to train the podgy, clumsy, blasé panda the subtle arts. Meanwhile, an evil snow leopard named Tai Lung breaks out of prison to seek his revenge on the town. The Rhinoceros prison guards and their Rhino leader – voiced menacingly by Michael Clarke Duncan as the warden – are beaten by Tai Lung, displaying his immense mastery of Kung Fu. In a very insidiously pleasing casting call, Ian McShane, who played the even more insidiously pleasing character Swerengin in the HBO Studios miniseries, “Deadwood”, plays the bad guy to perfection.

Along the way, Master Shifu discovers what we have known all along – chubby Po is motivated by food. Shifu uses this knowledge in the final hour to train Po and prepare him for the final confrontation with Tai Lung. I will not spoil the secret ingredient in the Dragon Scroll, the noodles recipe and the moral of the tale. Suffice to say that although clichéd, it still satisfies.

Kung Fu Panda kicks the CG genre up a notch in everything from voice acting, story telling, animation, design and comedic timing. It’s an old-time fantasy story told with new characters, in a new way, with a whole new pallet. If ever there was a film to introduce the kids to the Asian fantasy of Martial Arts, it’s this one.

What am I saying? It’s even better for adults.

And the fight scenes? Totally Awesome.

“Kadoosh!”