Kung Fu Panda (2008) review

(8/10)

It's just another DreamWorks movie, but this one actually works.

PLOT:Po (Jack Black) is a fat, lazy panda that works at a noodle shop with his father; he always dreams of being a respected kung fu warrior fighting among the Furious Five. One day, it is declared that it's time to choose the Dragon Warrior. In a crazy chain of events, Po is chosen instead if any of the Furious Five. Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) doesn't believe Po has the potential to be the Dragon Warrior and tries to make him quit, but with Shifu's former student gone bad, Tai Lung (Ian McShane), on the loose, he has to try. It's a good plot executed well, yet a bit formulaic.



VOICES:The voice acting in here was pretty good. Jack Black makes Po, as he does with all of his roles, his own. Black has a certain style which all of his characters seem to follow. The cast was pretty much all-star with those said above, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Seth Rogen, and David Cross. The shiners out of this whole bunch are Jack Black as Po (of course), Dustin Hoffman as Master Shifu, Ian McShane as Tai Lung, Angelina Jolie as Tigress, Seth Rogen as Mantis, David Cross as Crane, and Jackie Chan as Monkey with an honorable mention going to James Hong as Po's father, Mr. Ping. I believe this had to be one of McShane's best voice roles, if he has any more. I like his creepy voice.

SCORE:The score was pretty well composed, as it almost always is by Hans Zimmerman. I liked a good bit of the themes in here.

ANIMATION:The animation in here was very good for a DreamWorks movie. It was very detailed and at times quite beautiful.



OTHER CONTENT:This isn't the best DreamWorks movie out there, but it's pretty good. The jokes were only sometimes funny, the combat sequences were well executed and intense, and the story, though formulaic, came off as pretty epic. The only flaw I noticed besides the formulaic familiarity was that it often stuck to one subject for a long period of time making it tired and monotonous. This movie truly goes to the kids, but if the adults can notice some of the smaller (or bigger) things, it can be an enjoyable film.

OVERALL,a great DreamWorks movie with a well executed plot, a pretty good voice cast, well composed Zimmerman score, detailed and beautiful animation, sometimes funny jokes, well executed combat sequences, and an epic story, but it's overly familiar to the DreamWorks formula and it sticks to one subject at times too much, making it tired and monotonous.