Starring the voice talents of: Jack Black (Po, the Panda) Jackie Chan (Master Monkey) Angelina Jolie (Master Tigress) Lucy Liu (Master Viper) Seth Rogan (Master Mantis) David Cross (Master Crane) Dustin Hoffman (Master Shifu) Ian McShane (Tai Lung). Plot was pretty standard Kung Fu flick fare. Take oddball wanna be, gets himself into trouble, becomes the chosen one as a result of his silliness, and goes through the process of learning about himself and beats up the bad guy at the end, becoming everything he dreamed of being. Voice acting was well-done, and the animation was great. Looks like they did their homework; the fight scenes were well-animated, and some were actually based on real Kung Fu. It's a bit "kiddier" than perhaps I would have liked, but since I saw it with another 37 year old man who was laughing almost the whole movie along with me, I think we can say it wasn't just for kids. Just beware the WUSHU FINGER!
Well Davey, it was done by DreamWorks (ala Shrek and Shark Tails fame) so it should appeal to "big kids" too. I for one can not wait to go see Kung Fu Panda w/ my 11 year old. I may have more fun then he will.
Saw it advertised a while ago, looks a laugh, will have to take the kids to the cinema soon so i will suggest this one.
just got back from it. i really enjoyed it but it gave me a terrible craving for dumplings its a fun time and you will laugh a lot.
I just saw it tonight, too. I thought it was excellent. The story line was pretty standard but that's part of its appeal, I think. It was very reminiscent of some of Jackie Chan's films with a touch of "Circle of Iron" (aka "Silent Flute") thrown in. It was what I expected from the line up and what I'd seen from the previews - funny with a poignant (if predictable) moral. Mike
I agree that the familiarity of the standard Kung Fu movie was part of the appeal. I particularly liked the opening dream sequence. The plot itself is virtually identical to that of Lost Kingdom, minus the multi-dimensional/time travel part.
We've seen it already Aye, the chopstick duel, tossing bowls around, tossing food around, pushups over a fire, fighting from stilts, leaping over tiled roofs, throwing tiles at the enemy, etc -- we've seen it all before at least with Jackie Chan, if not with other human actors also. (The tile rooftop runs screamed "CTHD" to me.) I was mostly bored because the only thing original in the movie is the use of animals rather than humans. Even the moral of the story about believing in yourself (the scroll was just a mirror) was recycled from 100 prior Disney movies. Yaaaaawwwwwn.
I loved the movie. I took my school to see it last thursday and and everyone loved it even the parents. Everyone was still talking about it friday during class. I give it 2 thumbs up.