KUNG FU PANDA (2008)

KUNG FU PANDA (2008)

Tagline: Prepare for awesomeness.

(Action, Adventure, Animation) [PG]

Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend.

So when I think about animation studios and who is still crushing it after all these years, Disney of course comes to mind, they might still be the best, but if anyone is a close second it’s Dreamworks. With an impressive line-up that includes all of the SHREK movies, MADAGASCAR, TROLLS, and probably most not worthy the HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON series if anything Dreamworks is probably even more recognized for animation now than they ever have been. KUNG FU PANDA took 4 years to make and the animators absolutely killed it. 

In this one, a panda named Po (voiced by Jack Black) is a huge kung fu fan and loves the legendary Furious Five. Tigress (voiced by Angelina Jolie), Crane (voiced by David Cross), Mantis (voiced by Seth Rogen), Viper (voiced by Lucy Liu) and Monkey (voiced by Jackie Chan) are all hoping they will become the dragon warrior who has the power to save the land. Po goes to the choosing ceremony and is shockingly picked to fulfill the prophecy of the aforementioned dragon warrior. Needless to say, the Furious Five are furious. There were none by the count of five as completely freakin furious as the Furious Five. Does Po have it in him to become the dragon warrior and can master Shifu show him the way before an old tiger foe named Tai Lung (voiced by Ian McShane) can forcedly take the dragon scroll and possess limitless power?

Enough explanation… let's review… 

First off the animation in this thing is freakin incredible even by today’s standards. There are some mind-blowing scenes in this that also display an incredible understanding of space and depth. Especially the escape scene with Tai Lung is still quite the spectacle. The design work is top-notch as well. Overall I loved the voice work in this and unexpectedly Dustin Hoffman was able to pull off the kung fu master voice of Shifu pretty well. We also get the likes of Randall Duk Kim as the voice of Oogway (a kung fu turtle), Michael Clarke Duncan as Commander Vachir (a rhino), and James Hong as Mr. Ping (a goose…yeah I think he’s a goose). Jack Black is epic in the role of the main character Po in addition to of all this other talent.

Apparently, this film drew inspiration from CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, HERO, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, and KUNG FU HUSTLE, but if you ever pay attention to what Quentin Tarantino has to say, this movie was a parody of KILL BILL? I will say that some of the scenes definitely might have been drawn from that movie. 

I really don’t have a single complaint about this movie other than the fact that there were not enough scenes in the actual movie that was as legendary as the opening sequence narrated by Jack Black but all drawn in conventional 2D animation. This movie to this day is still one of the best-animated films ever made and it was freakishly unique in the animated world when it came out. 

I give KUNG FU PANDA a 7 out of 7. There really isn’t anything to not like here.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF DREAMWORKS ANIMATION AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.  

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