Kung Fu Panda [HD]

Cute Animated Comedy That Inspires Lessons in Life
From the very beginning, Kung Fu Panda had me practically falling out of my seat --- laughing. It was the perfect blend of comedy, heart, and action, all necessary elements in a successful and great animation/CGI film, in the tradition of The Incredibles and (less action, but containing the heart and laughter) Ratatouille, Finding Nemo and Monsters, Inc.

I was laughing, smiling, and guffawing at Po, the main protagonist (voiced by Jack Black) and his misadventures at becoming a Kung Fu expert. This was certainly a flawed character, one that a lot of people can relate to because he dreams, he's funny, and he can laugh at himself. Also, the story was pretty clear and easy to follow because the storytelling was well crafted, and the animation was paired well with characters brought vividly to life by some of the most famous names in Hollywood.

Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman are downright excellent as the main characters, and Ian McShane as the bad dude gave it the...

Delightful yet amazingly faithful!
With deep foreboding, I walked into this movie braced for second rate animation (at least compared to Pixar), endless fights between cartoons (as in the CGI "Clone Wars"), and a cultural sensitivity that was either painfully preachy (like "Mulan") or outright insulting (like "Aladdin").

At first, my dread seemed confirmed. Poor Dustin Hoffman mangles Chinese names without mercy - so much so that James Hong, Lucy Liu and Jackie Chan have to deliberately mispronounce stuff just to match what he says.

But once the movie got rolling, I found myself grinning from ear to ear in sheer delight. Yes, it's true, Dreamworks can't compete with Pixar's technology, but they make up for it with beautiful graphic design, sheer wit and - of course - those hilariously quivering "Scrat Eyes". What's more, the animators somehow manage to make Kung Fu battles between cartoons both exciting and enjoyable - every bit the match of live action fights (which nowadays are nothing more...

The secret ingredient
You have to try to understand a
Noodle eating lazy panda
Who should be serving noodles faster
But dreams that he's a kung-fu master

Short Attention Span Summary (SASS):

1. Noodle eating lazy panda, Po (Jack Black) dreams of becoming a kung-fu master.
2. He's really a waiter at the family noodle shop
3. A new Dragon Master is about to be named to battle the fearsome Tai Lung (Ian McShane), just in case he succeeds in breaking out of his escape-proof prison
4. The front runners for the job are the members of the "Furious Five" - Master Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Master Crane (David Cross), Master Mantis (Seth Rogen), Master Viper (Lucy Liu) and master Monkey (Jackie Chan)
5. Po drops in on the ceremony, causing an upset
6. The soup hits the fan when Tai Lung escapes
7. Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) has to make a martial arts master out of a panda bear, and fast!
8. With the right motivation, Po learns the secret of...

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