"Kung Fu Panda" 2008

[El Dingo]

Really - I'm the first one to review this?

I did a search for 'Panda' but only got a hits from side-mentions in the 'Up' and 'Wall-E' threads. DM reviews every 'Barbie's Pink Princess Unicorn Fairy Adventure' but not 'Kung Fu Panda'?

I'm a sucker for anthropomorphic 3-D animal movies. I liked 'Ice Age', 'Madagascar'. 'Surf's Up', 'Happy Feet' etc. I did not like 'The Barnyard'. Well - it got better after a couple scotches when I realized how bad it actually was. Every scene kept setting the bar lower than the previous one until we were nearing 'Chicken Little' bad. 'Chicken Little' was another bad anthropomorphic 3-D animal movie.

But I digress.

Here's the plot: Po the Panda (Jack Black) is picked by the head priest of the local temple to be trained as the next Dragon Warrior.

OK that's the plot.

The writers and animators obviously had a deep love of old-school martial arts films. Bringing to life the Crane, Mantis, Serpent, Tiger(ess) and monkey as actual characters was awesome. At first I was worried this was going to be a mean-spirited bully-fest but was pleasantly surprised to see them tolerate Po as he attempts to alternately learn and worship their skills.

There is a LOT of 'Drunken Master' in here, substituting wine for kid-friendly food items. As Po trains there are lots of nice messages about being all that you can be and stuff we learn is a lie as we get older.

Anyway. I liked this better than both 'Wall-E' and 'Up'. The characters are likeable, the villain is scary, the humor is laugh-out-loud slapstick and the fight scenes are very creative.

Check it out.