Reviews
Kung Fu Panda (PG)
I EXPECTED Kung Fu Panda to
be funnier. The very notion of a
panda doing martial arts raises
a smile, but directors John
Stevenson and Mark Osborne are
more concerned with making a
cartoon kung fu movie than a
cuddly animal comedy.
There are
gags and moments of humour with
the visual style echoing cartoon
strips but, more than anything, this
is an animated action movie with
breathless fight sequences and
perilous situations to rival anything
that Indiana Jones does.
Jack
Black is ideally cast as the voice of
Po, a big kung fu fan who dreams
of martial arts glory but confined to
working in the family noodle shop.
He's mistakenly named as the
"chosen one" by red panda guru
Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman)
much to the annoyance of the
legendary Furious Five who
expected to get the top job.
They're
a mixed menagerie of kung fu
exponents - Tigress (Angelina
Jolie), Crane (David Cross), Mantis
(Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu) and
Monkey (Jackie Chan) - who show
Po no mercy as he studies kung fu
alongside them. Po must protect
the land from the evil snow leopard
Tai Lung (oh-so-nasty sounding Ian
McShane) who's planning a
takeover once he breaks out of
prison.
He's introduced in his
prison-for-one in a scene that the
directors deliberately based on
Hannibal Lecter's introduction in
The Silence Of The Lambs. It's
these adult touches - which will go
over the heads of youngsters more
interested in cuddly pandas - that
make Kung Fu Panda such an
entertaining experience.
Voices of Jack Black, Dustin
Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, David
Cross, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu,
Jackie Chan, Ian McShane
Running time: 92 mins
Rating: Four stars
4:54pm Thursday 3rd July 2008
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