Kung Fu Panda (Full Screen Edition)

My six year old and four year old love this movie, and as movies that get played over and over in my house, I find this one repeatedly entertaining. The nature of good and evil here does confuse my elder son, as he perplexed that one teacher can create a very good and a very evil student. Still, he is puzzling out that the world is a little more complicated than he once thought and having a great time doing so. The movie is fun, and if it makes a kid think a little --all the better.

I guess I've been spoiled by Pixar and I guess Dreamworks doesn't care for my money because this is one of the worst animated movies since I can remember. On the other hand, the toddlers might like it because it's pretty and it's animated but otherwise it's empty and just an excuse for Hollywood to do what it's best at...making money. If you're an adult looking to be entertained, please don't bother. If you want your kid to leave you alone for a minute buy it and play it over and over again. In the end it's my fault for thinking that as an adult I could be entertained by the same people that gave us the newest Indiana Jones movie and Iron Man. Hey guys, you have all the money in the world...try working with people with talent to work on the stories in your horribly written movies.

My family and I LOVED this movie! It is very well made, with great characters and storyline -- an overweight panda who dreamed of being a kung fu master! Of course, it's silly -- do you know any pandas who can cook noodle soup? Of course, it's violent -- it's kung fu at it's cartoon best! One of my favorite scene was the one where the panda came puffing up the stairs to save his mentor! Gash, if I had to climb that many stairs, I'd be puffing away, too! LOVE that panda! Jack Black did very well as Po. The other memorable role belong to Dustin Huffman as his unwilling mentor. I also learned a thing or two about the past, the present and the future, but I won't give it away. See the movie. Two thumbs WAAAAY up!

"Kung Fu Panda" has a pretty good kick. You're given the standard boiler-plate unlikely hero makes good plot, with Jack Black as Po the Panda and Dustin Hoffman as his not-so-willing coach, Master Shifu. The "Furious Five" are all super-jocks that think this oafish bear doesn't belong in their rarefied air, but Po eventually winds them over with pluck, wit and courage. The evil villain Tai Lung (voiced superbly by Deadwood's Ian MacShane) comes back to get revenge on past discretions; can Po save his beloved valley and prove that he was correctly chosen the Dragon Warrior?

That's the plot in a nutshell, and if you think you've seen this a million times before, you're right. Both in live action (A League of Their Own) and animation (The Shrek Trilogy) have covered this ground, and "Kung Fu Panda" walks the same turf like it was rice-paper. What sets it apart are the clever nods to old-school Kung-Fu flicks (along with having Jackie Chan add his voice skills) and its ability to resist over-indulgence in easy humor. Only once or twice does the film resort to butt or burp/fart jokes.

That helps hold the film's IQ higher than much of "Family Film" content, so I feel safe bumping "Kung Fu Panda" to a fourth star. The dialog is also clever and snappy, which leaves Jack Black plenty of room to riff and vocally mug. (Something the clumsy Robots couldn't overcome, even with Robin Williams leading the voice cast.) The animation is super, giving each character his or her own special trait; I especially loved the burning eyes of Tigress. The battle scenes were exciting, too. With such a positive message in the midst of it all, "Kung Fu Panda" was second only to Wall-E as the summer's best animated movie.

This was hilarious. It made my whole family cry until it hurt. I don't think we have all laughed together like that ever. Check it out!