Kung Fu Panda (2008)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Directors:

Mark Osborne
John Stevenson

Writers:

Jonathan Aibel (screenplay) &
Glenn Berger (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

6 June 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Comedy | Family

Tagline:

Prepare for awesomeness.

Plot:

In the Valley of Peace, Po the Panda finds himself chosen as the Dragon Warrior despite the fact that he is obese and a complete novice at martial arts.

Plot Keywords:

Kung Fu | Hero | Panda | Master | Slacker

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 12 wins & 20 nominations

Cast

Jack Black	...	Po (voice)
Dustin Hoffman	...	Shifu (voice)
Angelina Jolie	...	Tigress (voice)
Ian McShane	...	Tai Lung (voice)
Jackie Chan	...	Monkey (voice)
Seth Rogen	...	Mantis (voice)
Lucy Liu	...	Viper (voice)
David Cross	...	Crane (voice)
Randall Duk Kim	...	Oogway (voice)
James Hong	...	Mr. Ping (voice)
Dan Fogler	...	Zeng (voice)
Michael Clarke Duncan	...	Commander Vachir (voice)
Wayne Knight	...	Gang Boss (voice)
Kyle Gass	...	KG Shaw (voice)
JR Reed	...	JR Shaw (voice)

Also Known As:

Kung Fu Panda: The IMAX Experience (USA) (IMAX version)

MPAA:

Rated PG for sequences of martial arts action.

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Sonics-DDP (IMAX version) | SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

South Korea:All | Australia:PG | UK:PG | Finland:K-7 | Malaysia:U | Singapore:G | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Ireland:PG | USA:PG (certificate #44302) | Hong Kong:I | Switzerland:0 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:0 (canton of Geneva) | Taiwan:GP (original rating) | Portugal:M/4 | Portugal:M/6 | Germany:6 | Netherlands:6 | Brazil:Livre | Sweden:7 | Argentina:Atp | Peru:PT | Portugal:M/6 (original version) | New Zealand:PG | South Africa:PG | Canada:G

Company:

DreamWorks Animation

Trivia:

According to his online diary, Jackie Chan recorded his voice-overs during a single 5 hour recording session in LA on October 15, 2007. He also recorded his lines for the Mandarin and Cantonese versions.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Po wakes up in the beginning of the movie a throwing star falls down and lands on the floor. Later when he tries to throw it back up on the wall you see the original throwing star is still in the wall.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Po: Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2009) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Kung Fu Fighting

Entertainment in its purest form

Like many others, I saw the "trailers" featuring Jack Black. The featurette made me think "Okay, at least I got to check this out". Not much more. It didn't make me think "This is gonna be awesome" or anything like that.

Boy, was I ever under-expecting.

At first I thought it was quite okay, decent entertainment and at least not totally crap. But then the really funny scenes and details kicked in, after Po gets into the temple. From then on, it was laugh after laugh, excellent voice acting, amazing CG animation (but this is Dreamworks so I expected that).

The whole deal simply hit home run for me. Spot on. I love martial arts movies, I love Dreamworks CG movies and I must admit I find Jack Black amazingly funny (saw Be Kind Rewind the other day and loved it). There was so much charm and amusement in this movie. It's without doubt the best animation from Dreamworks since the first Shrek.

Now, I am not saying this will be for everyone. There IS a lot of fighting going on, and while it is (for most of the movie) comical (yet amazing to behold) violence, it might not be suitable for the smallest of children. But for any healthy kid aged 6-7 or above (especially boys), this will be kick-a**! I cannot really put my finger on anything bad. Sure, the movie is filled with clichés, but sometimes you can go a long way with those. And this one serves them perfectly. I even rated this higher than Ratatouille, due to the fact that it took me totally by surprise. With Ratatouille, I EXPECTED it to be great. Kung Fu Panda I only expected to be decent, but it was awesome. That deserves the last point.