Kung Fu Panda DVD Review

"Kung Fu Panda" reviews

DVD

Kung Fu Panda

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2008-11-19 15:41:46

Rating

3/5

Provider

DVD Review

Well they certainly pulled in the Hollywood big guns for this animation with Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Angelina Jolie lending their voices to cuddly, wise and fierce characters.

Po (Jack Black) is a sweet, charming panda who longs to be a respected world-famous Kung Fu Master. Unfortunately for Po not only does his huge amount of flab and love of noodles stand in the way of his dreams, but his father, Mr. Ping who also happens to be Po’s boss is not keen to let the heir of his noodle shop fly the nest without ever finding out his Secret Ingredient Soup.
After sneaking away to the Temple to catch a glimpse of the Furious Five (Monkey (Jackie Chan), Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu), and Crane (David Cross)) Po is accidentally chosen to fight the Kung Fu warrior Tai Lung (Ian McShane). Much to everyone’s annoyance the Zen Master’s words are final and he enlists Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), to train the overweight panda to defend all who reside in the village.

It would be great to know how a goose could father a panda, or what exactly Dustin Hoffman’s character is supposed to be. Despite finding myself pondering these anomalies during the film, it wasn’t quite enough stimulus to keep the boredom from bay, and I have to confess to mentally falling asleep during the mid-section of the film, which was hugely disappointing after a strong start. DreamWorks doesn’t have the best track record after wowing us with cute characters and compelling storylines in films such as Madagascar, which had childless adults queuing to see their films as well as screaming toddlers.
Any fan of Jack Black should be rushing to add this DVD to their comedy collection, while anyone with a kid should already have it added to the Christmas shopping list. For everyone else – it depends how far cuddly pandas and warm, friendly films float your boat.

Copyright © 2008.