Film Reviews

Kung Fu Panda

• Rating:
• Director: Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
• Starring: (voices of) Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu
• Details: USA / 92mins / (PG)

“He was so deadly, his enemies would go blind from his awesomeness.” A funny line from a funny and beautifully animated opening sequence, Kung Fu Panda switches back to the computer graphics norm for the remainder and with it goes any kind of innovation. Po (Black) is a panda who works in his father’s noodle restaurant but dreams of being a kung fu master. His dreams have a chance of becoming reality when he is chosen to fulfil an ancient prophecy and be the Dragon Warrior. Reluctantly trained by Master Shifu (Hoffman), Po’s road to greatness is rocky at best and gets even rockier - the evil Tai Lang (Ian McShane) has escaped from prison and wants the title of Dragon Warrior for himself. It might be a case of over familiarity with the story or the constant bombardment of animation these days, but Kung Fu Panda is a stale, slow, boring and obvious movie. The celebrity voices are on show again (Jolie, Rogan and Lucy Liu all make appearances) but again are totally unnecessary and might as well be the guy next door for all the input they have. Po is all Jack Black, though - think Tenacious D in a light kung fu parody. We’re told that the animation is the slickest Dreamworks have released thus far, but apart from the brilliant prison escape, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. What about the message? Whether it’s a lion escaping from a zoo, a bee fleeing the hive, a cow taking over a barnyard, a mammoth in prehistoric danger or an ogre falling in love (I could go on and on), the same message is served up - if you believe in yourself you can achieve anything. Kung Fu Panda, however, puts a little cherry on top: Boys and girls, it’s alright if you’re obese as long as you believe in yourself. Well it isn’t, frankly - it’s extremely dangerous to your health.

Review by Gavin Burke