Review of Kung Fu Panda (2008) by Robert L — 15 Jan 2012

A different stance on fighting.

Kung Fu or rather Karate has always been somewhat of an interest to us in the west, it is seen as the very highest level of combat. When we consider great fighters from film history most employed some kind of martial art to deal with the final confrontation, I suppose this should be no surprise to most of us then, that someone finally made an animated feature about that discipline.

Now, I should start by saying that I don't like Jack Black, I think he is arrogant and an attention seeker, I know all actors are by definition attention seekers but I always feel like Jack Black layers it all on for no reason other than to feed his own delinquent ego, so the question is will the fact that it's only his voice in the film mean this is little Pick Of Destiny or ....

Ironically one of the words I would used to describe Kung Fu Panda is "tribute" as watching the movie you can see many influences and nods to other movies and all of the classics, it's only one step down from having Po's cut and licking his own wound (too much for a U probably), but I suppose it is nice to see that both Mark Osborne and John Stevenson do have some kind of respect for the film he is making and the heritage that it represents, in a way it's refreshing to see an animated film that has such a feature, but then again DreamWorks always pay homage to what has came before it, even in Sherk.

Something that does make Kung Fu Panda unique is that apart from all the past Martial Art films that it makes reference to there isn't a whole lot of other references, there are non of the sly whit of Shark's Tale or movie parodies of Shrek in Panda, oh no, Panda is it's own man. Sadly, that seems to be a very sombre and serious man and while it does have slices of comedy the film for the most part is just a little too serious to be a true Dreamworks picture.

Even with it's seriousness I think that Mark Osborne and John Stevenson deals with the story well; the main theme of Kung Fu Panda is destiny and what choice, this is a theme of a lot of eastern films, take The Karate Kid for example (or if you are ambitious "The Seven Samurai"). Something tells me that Kung Fu Panda has more in common with The Last Samurai than the latest Disney release.

One of the films major downfalls however is the very nature of it's subject, Kung Fu is predominantly about reversing what your opponent does, when shown in a live action film this isn't usually a problem as the director can swing the camera or slow down time, but in an animated feature because it is set in a dream like world with images we are not usually accustomed to (like a panda who works in a noodle bar) it can become disorientating trying to keep up with the action, and this is the case in Kung Fu Panda.

While I am on the subject of the animation I should say that at times the film looks beautiful and at other times the movie looks surprisingly ordinary, but no matter what the background always look stunning, I also particularly enjoyed the end title sequence.

The cast speak for themselves and are all top tier talent, from Jack on down, each of the 5 "masters" have voices that fit, along with Po's mentor Shifu (voiced by Dustin Hoffman). For some reason I can tolerate Jack Black's voice much easier than I can tolerate him, and his inclusion in the film doesn't hold it back. What does hold the movie back is the inclusion of Ian McShane's voice as the villainousTai Lung, I don't know what McShane did to force Hollywood to be the bad guy so often but can we please stop it now? Or is it just because he is British? Really? REALLY NOW!

Kung Fu Panda is a bite size portion of the orient, which for the most part works, even if it is a little too serious.