Kung Fu Panda

The animation flick “Kung Fu Panda” works. Its a good watch cause it delivers on almost all points one expects from animation flick from Pixar.

The movie is about a panda Po who works in his dad’s restaurant and dreams… yearns to be a kung fu master. He is a fanatic follower of kung fu, on the eve of ‘dragon warrior” ceremony he accidentally gets nominated as The Warrior to fight the evil Tai Lung. This irks the real contenders “The Famous Five” and especially Tigress. She snubs Po at every possible opportunity.

The story then continues on the usual path of this nobody panda learning the tricks and succeeding in the mission.

What sets this movie apart from all other “good over evil” movies is the treatment. The opening sequence is in the chinese puppetry style and reminds one of “Samurai Jack“. Unlike most others the film sticks to authentic “epic” feel and completely avoids the “pop and celebrity references” which has become the necessary ingredient for animation. It stays away from spoofs and parody. Yes, some action sequence are similar to kung fu epics like “Hero” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”.The film is wide screen and this adds to the epic feel. The detailing of the background and the music helps too.

Now to the heart of any kung fu movie, the action sequences. This one scores well on this front. All are good, but the ones that stand out is the escape of Tai Lung from prison and the dimsum training of Po by Shifu. This two just shows how much effort has gone into making this one a authentic flick.

The choice of voice over stars is excellent regarding the main characters. Jack Black’s voice defines the very nature of Po. While Dustin Hoffman brings to life Shifu the master. The other star voices are that of Angelina Jolie as Tigress, Jackie Chan as the monkey, Lucie Liu as Viper.

The message is clear…. “Live your Dream” and “Be your own hero”. The movie delivers this all the while staying true to kung fu epic.

Go watch it…