“Kung
Fu Panda” is the story of a fat (is there any other kind?) panda that
dreams about being an awesome kung fu warrior, and when given the
chance, rises to the occasion. In-between those moments, we get plenty
of fat jokes at the panda’s expense, and enough cartoon kung fu violence
to, possibly, convince parents this may not be the right movie to be
taking your very impressionable kids. Especially if said kids have a bad
habit of using little sis as a punching dummy to try out his new
“moves”.
The
above said, Dreamworks’ “Kung Fu Panda” is a fun little movie, although
“little” may be a bit of an exaggeration. Take a look at the voice
cast: Jack Black as Po the panda, Angelina Jolie as Tigress, Jackie Chan
as Monkey, Dustin Hoffman as Shifu, and of course, the always
incredible Ian McShane (of Deadwood fame) as the villainous Tai Lung.
Which reminds me: I was never really sure why Tai Lung was supposed to
be such a villain; as far as I can tell, his only qualification for the
mantle is that he’s really good at kung fu, and he really, really wants
that kung fu scroll that, when read, will endow the reader with
incredible kung fu mastery. But to hear the movie talk about him, you
would think the guy went around eating babies or some such.
But I digress.
In
“Kung Fu Panda”, Jack Black voices Po, a happy-go-lucky panda who toils
away in his father’s (voiced by the venerable James Hong, no less)
noodle shop. His father dreams of passing on the family business, which
includes the family’s secret ingredient noodle soup recipe to his son,
but Po has other dreams – namely joining up with his idols, the five
martial arts masters known as the Furious Five, and fighting the good
fight against villainy and such. Alas, being a panda, he’s a bit, well,
fat, and not all that coordinated. Or fast. Or able to climb a lot of
stairs really fast. Because, you know, being fat and all. But as it
turns out, Po’s secret weapon is none other than his appetite and
prodigious belly, which comes in mighty handy when Tai Lung escapes his
prison (guarded by 1,000 soldiers to Tai Lung’s singular prisoner) and
seeks vengeance after 20 years of captivity..... read more
