Movie Review: Kung Fu Panda

So this was looking pretty funny during all the trailers. But did it live up to its potential? Awesomely.

Kung Fu Panda (2008) 

Overall		Story
Production		Acting

Story: Kung Fu Panda is the story of Po, an overweight, out-of-shape Panda who is a tremendous fan of the Furious Five, martial arts masters at the Jade Temple up the mountain over the Valley of Peace where he lives, working in his father’s noodle shop. A comics nerd, in short. When he is “accidentally” chosen to be the Dragon Warrior, the kung fu master who will transcend all other fighters, and incidentally protect the Valley from the notorious Tai Lung, can he overcome his many shortcomings — and the opposition of the other masters — in order to succeed?

Well, of course he can. If there’s one flaw in this movie (and there aren’t many), it’s that there are very few surprises. Each of the characters flows in a very predictable story arc, and from the time the initial problem is established, it’s pretty clear how it will end.

That said, and within those limits, KFP’s story is neatly crafted, with some imaginative ways of getting from the predictable points A to B to C to D. It won’t keep you on the edge of your seat in suspense, but you won’t mind sitting back and enjoying the ride.

Acting: I’ll limit myself here to the voice acting, since the physical acting, obviously, is part of the overall production. It’s good, no question about it, but not great. There’s a variety of accents, some stereotypical, some pedestrian. Indeed, the mix is part of the confusion — some folks having overt oriental accents, others anything but. 

For that matter, though many of the voice artists are martial arts / action-associated stars (Bruce Lee Jackie Chan (duh), Lucy Liu, Angelina Jolie), that doesn’t actually add all that much to the mix. In point of fact, not many of the characters have a lot of opportunity for a lot of voice artistry, any many of those who do are more “roles” than “characters.” Indeed, beyond Po and Shifu, and perhaps Oogway, Tai Lung and Mr Ping, most of the voices take a second place to the action.

That said, Jack Black gets a chance to do some fine stuff with Po, and Dustin Hoffman’s Shifu is a pretty nice part, too.

Production: Here’s what makes the movie stand out. The action sequences are exquisite. The martial arts scenes are wonderful — each creature’s moves (of the Furious Five) are both marvelous uses of their individual physiology and based on the actual martial arts styles attributed to those animals. While you can imagine a tiger style and a monkey style, and the Karate Kid gave us a little taste of the crane style, watching the mantis and snake styles are a lot of fun.

Indeed — arguably, based on the chorography, Best Martial Arts Movie Evah. At least, the best computer generated movie fight scenes, and I include my beloved Incredibles in that. Y’know all that wire-fu and fighting-on-tree-top sorts of things they do in Chinese cinema? They do it here, and it looks real.

The CG movement is fantastic, foreground and background, textures are wonderful, and character design is lovely, stylized when it needs to be, realistic when it should be. The general Chinese mythos world, is lavishly decorated, both to generally walk through and as fights roll across it. I’m certain that the city in the Valley of Peace was fully mapped out and set up for the fight choreography — it just feels that way.

As if that were not enough, we get a second style of mythos/animation — an initial credits sequence and an end titles sequence, rendered in a more traditional 2D animation, but still lovely. Indeed, I commend sitting through the end titles for two reasons: (a) the drawings that flow past it (mostly, it seems, views of the characters into the future, now that things have been settled for the moment), and (b) a (back to CG) denouement which, while not Iron Man-squeeful, is touchingly appropriate.

An interesting side note on design. Obviously the Main Characters are all different sorts of critters (the aforementioned Po and the Furious Five, plus a tortoise, a red panda, and a snow leopard). Interestingly, the general populace is much less heterogenous. Broadly speaking, just from a single viewing, they appear to be rabbits (general peasantry), pigs (clerks, merchants, courtiers), and geese (court/temple functionaries, though at least one runs a noodle shop). Oh, and rhinos (soldiers). It’s an odd mix (and makes for an amusing running joke regarding Po and his family), but it works.

Overall: I’m sure I’m leaving stuff out, because something this full and lavish to the eye is going to have eleventy-dozen other things that get caught with reviewing. But in short, Kung Fu Panda is a tremendously fun and attractive movie — and one that is suited for “kids of all ages” (children will love it, but it doesn’t rely upon “juvenile” humor to do. If the story itself is no more unexpected or filled with twists and turns than any other myth or legend, it’s well done for all of that, and will reliably entertain for years to come.

Highly recommended, and pre-ordering the DVD.