Hill Country News: Serving Cedar Park, TX

‘Kung Fu Panda' a great family movie

To me, in the summer time, a good family film is as important as a pool or ice-cold snow cones. The first really good kid-oriented film this year comes in the form of an over weight animated panda bear and Jack Black's wonderful sense of comedy. “Kung Fu Panda” also starring the voices of Dustin Hoffman, Michael Clarke Duncan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, Jackie Chan and many others, kept my always-moving 4-year-old grandson engrossed and entertained from start to finish and, even better, it held my attention the entire time, too.

The film is set in and around China's Valley of Peace, where there are no humans, only talking animals. Po the Panda (Black) spends his days and nights dreaming about being a kung fu hero. Even when he's working for his father - an awkward bird of some sort (James Hong) - making and serving noodle soup, he longs to be a martial arts master. Meanwhile at a nearby temple, the head monk, aging turtle Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim), envisions the escape from prison of power-mad Tai Lung (Ian McShane). He is certain that Lung will ravage the Valley in his quest for dominance. To stop this, Oogway must discover the one soul who deserves to become the Dragon Warrior and who will protect the people and defeat the dastardly Tai Lung.

There are five obvious candidates - each an apprentice to Master Shifu (Hoffman): Monkey (Chan), Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Viper (Liu), Crane (David Cross), and Mantis (Rogen), but in a series of seemingly random and seriously funny events, Oogway chooses Panda Po, outraging Shifu and his star pupils. The thought of Po confronting Tai Lung brings laughter to everyone, since the fat panda has trouble making it to the top of the temple's stairs and can't even see his own toes. Still, Oogway stands his ground and soon Shifu discovers that Po has hidden talents - talents Shifu must unlock before his former prize student Tai Lung arrives to wreak havoc on the temple and the villagers below.

Black and Hoffman delight. I love Jack Black's natural comic timing and in this he is particularly funny. The familiarity of the voices only serves to enhance the characters. Black is cartoonish in real life, so this lumbering, lovable panda character works well for him. Hoffman as Master Shifu and McShane as Tai Lung also work well. Hoffman brings authority to his tiny rodent character and McShane bleeds menace as his prize pupil gone bad. The other characters are minor at best with Jolie having few lines and Rogen and Liu having even fewer. I recognize Jackie Chan's voice instantly, but he speaks little, too, as does the typically larger-than-life Duncan. As far as star power goes, “Kung Fu Panda” is loaded with it.

In addition to decent computer animation, the filmmakers get comedic mileage out of making Po a kung fu fanatic who takes great pride in his knowledge of everything kung fu. Po stands awestruck in the center of the temple, a proverbial kid in a candy store - soaking in the details and spewing trivia like nobody's business. For him, meeting the Furious Five is a dream come true. Regardless of his new place as the Dragon Warrior, he is wholly taken by the mere presence of Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Snake and Crane. Additionally, no stone goes unturned when picking on Po's robust size and penchant for eating. In fact, his eating habits are precisely what leads Master Shifu to see his talents and leads Po to fulfill his destiny.

I can't say there is anything particularly special or new about the animation in “Kung Fu Panda.” Since the film opens with a two-dimensional animated dream sequence, the move to full animation is eye-catching, but it adds nothing to the animation of previous films. It is, however, far more entertaining than the last few animated movies to come our way. I must say, too, that the crew has good fun with the martial arts sequences - playing on films like “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” and “The Matrix.” There are tastes of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee in the fighting sequences, and the battles are not any more or less believable than in real-life films. It's all pretty scripted and over the top, but my little one laughed delightfully and he was truly tickled at many points. As we returned to my car, he told me with great zeal about scenes that he enjoyed - retelling in detail the parts he found funny and entertaining.

As a big fan of quality family films, I am delighted that the PG-rated “Kung Fu Panda” adds gratifyingly to the genre. Black and crew please and I am placing an A- in my gradebook. As previously noted, when a film holds a 4-year-old's attention and keeps him quiet in his seat, it is A-OK in my book. “Kung Fu Panda” offers families a pleasant enough diversion from the doldrums of summer heat.