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ExplorePo: “Wow, you’re all so much bigger than your action figures. Except you Mantis, you’re pretty much the same.”
Kung Fu Panda proved to be way more enjoyable than I thought it would be. The wonderful animation combined with some great humor from the performers and over the top clownish that reflects recent action scene in various wire-fu movies. All this makes it probably one of the best computer-animated Dreamworks film since the original Shrek.
Jack Black stars as the title Panda, Po, practicing what is essentially Jack Blackanese throughout. He is a heavy weight panda, working for his father (a goose) in a noodle shop. Po is also a huge fan of the Kung Fu warriors living in a temple on the highest mountain.
Through what appear to be a series of misunderstandings, Po is suddenly chosen as a skilled warrior, known as the Dragon Master. This is obviously objected to the other professionally trained warriors and their masters, but they attempt to try and make him leave. Po persists and eventually becomes more liked among them.
Po: Maybe I should just quit and go back to selling noodles.
Oogway: Quit, don’t quit? Noodles, don’t noodles?
Meanwhile, a villainous former warrior escapes from prison, of course with the intent of returning to the temple to get some revenge on those who locked him away. It eventually comes up to Po to stop him, after learning some secrets of the Kung Fu arts on the way.
The story is really nothing new for fans of both Kung Fu movies and family oriented comedies, but its all in the execution, and this movie succeeds, so Skadoosh!
Along with Jack Black, the film features a really high list of credible stars including Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogan, David Cross, Ian McShane, and Michael Clarke Duncan. While Jolie is kinda a bitch throughout, and Chan is virtually unused, Rogan delivers a lot of laughs through his lines and character of Mantis and Hoffman’s back story is surprisingly effective to the characters. James Hong (Pai Mai in Big Trouble Little China, among other roles) also worked for me as Po’s consistently spirited father.
The animation is also amazing. It always astounds me that these CG movies keep improving upon themselves to look even better than the last. I still remember being taken by Shrek, let alone Toy Story or Frozen. Still, for this movie, everything is wonderful, fully imagining the abilities of these characters, combined with a large variety of skillfully handled action sequences.
It was also nice to see this movie stay focused in its own zone and not use pop culture references throughout. I don’t object to this in other films if it works, but its nice to have more plot and character oriented humor for a bit of a change. Kung Fu Panda was wonderfully entertaining, definitely a must-watch for everyone.
Tail Lung: Who are you?
Po: [exhausted from climbing the stairs] I am the dragon master.
Tai Lung: You? But you’re a panda. What are you going to do, sit on me?
Po: Don’t tempt me.
And now, my favorite part of the article – Kung Fu Panda t-shirts! I’ve dug up some of the best designs on the internet so check them out and pick your favorite(s)!
Enter the Dragon – Kung Fu Panda T-shirts
Kung Fu Panda t-shirts from Design by Humans:
All DbH tees are only $24 each and you can use our Exclusive Design by Humans Coupon Code to get a 10% discount on everything you order!
Kung Fu Panda t-shirts from TeePublic:
All TeePublic t-shirts are priced at $20 and every month they have site-wide sales where their prices drop to just $14 per tee so make sure you check them out often!
Kung Fu Panda t-shirts from RedBubble:
