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Kung Fu Panda Full of Awesomeness and Acttractiveness
Monday, June 9th, 2008 at 10:37 am by Jami
Audrey and I caught Kung Fu Panda opening night and just fell in love with the movie! It’s easily one of our absolute favorites of the summer thus far. Martial arts movie fans will appreciate the wonderfully choreographed action sequences and the many nods to Kung Fu classics. You can tell the writers did their homework. The voice actors have a lot of fun with their characters and it comes through in every bit of dialog. Certainly a great summer movie that everyone can enjoy, Kung Fu nerd or not.
A few complaints before the gushing continues. I realize that I’m throwing my full support behind a movie that by and large cast non Asians to portray Chinese animals. Lucy Liu and Jackie Chan are the only Chinese voice actors and neither has a large portion of dialog. We were sorely disappointed that Jackie had about five lines throughout the entire film. Also, there’s a dramatic tone shift between the penultimate and final confrontations. There’s no way the final fight between Po and Tai Lung could have sustained the dark drama of the fight between Shifu and Tai Lung for a kid’s movie. And it probably would have rung a bit false. But it’s a jarring enough shift that it almost jumped me out. Fortunately, it’s handled well enough to suck me back in.
The opening and end credit sequences are done in traditional 2D animation and are absolutely stunning, especially the opening. Why Dreamworks hasn’t done a full 2D feature yet is beyond me (Forgot Prince of Egypt. Thanks Devin). I will purchase the DVD as soon as possible just to play that sequence over and over. It’s that fucking good! From superb 2D we jump into gorgeous 3D. Dreamworks is really kicking their game up. The environments are so realistic and detailed and the characters move so fluidly it’s easy to get lost in the world and forget you’re watching a movie made of ones and zeros. Very pretty ones and zeros.
Other highlights include old master Oogway’s old man lips and subtle twitchy hands, Tai Lung’s escape (one of the craziest action sequences filmed ever!), Po’s training sequences with master Shifu, and the Furious Five paper craft on Po’s windowsill. The story is familiar and somewhat predictable, but nonetheless thoroughly enjoyable. So highly recommended!
We had so much fun in the theater. I highly recommend everyone check out the awesomeness of Kung Fu Panda as soon as possible! A great summer movie that must be seen on the big screen!
UPDATE: Wayne reminded me. Be sure to stay through the end credits for a short additional scene. Very cute.
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