Kung Fu Panda is about a panda bear, Po, who inadvertently becomes what he dreams of becoming, the Dragon Warrior.  We follow him from his father’s noodle shop (somehow his father is a bird) to the Dragon Warrior naming ceremony where the Furious Five are vying for the crown.  After a fireworks mishap, Po lands in the middle of the ceremony and hence, becomes the Dragon Warrior.  The rest of the film is about Po’s acceptance of the title, Shifu and the rest of the Furious Five’s acceptance of Po, and the villain Tai Lung.  Ultimately, Po finds the hero inside to become the true Dragon Warrior.

I was excited and worried about seeing Kung Fu Panda.  When my daughter and I went to see Horton Hear a Who, we saw the trailer and were instantly wowed.  Then every other marketing outlet had something Kung Fu Panda related.  As the hype grew I was getting all giddy waiting until we could go and see it, but then it hit me.  How many times does a film actually live up to the hype?  In this case, it does.  Living up to the hype was vital for me because I did not want my daughter to leave the theater with a bad experience.  Here we had Happy Meal toys and Lunchables with Po all over them, imagine the disappointment if the film sucked.  Thankfully, it is now in her top three films of all time (yes all time is short to a four year old but none the less), only behind both High School Musicals.  So what makes this film wonderful?

The number one reason this film works is because of the voice acting.  I don’t know how many times I’ve been put off by the actors behind the voices, and with Jack Black being the lead, I hoped we got the reserved actor rather than the off kilter one.  As Po, Black brought out the sensitive humorous side in the character.  We had the charming jokes and the tenderness with only limited Jack Black flair.  Check out the title of the post to see the most Jack Black thing about the character.  It was great being able to see beyond Black and see Po.  Even the other voice actors worked.  I loved Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and Oogway the turtle (Randall Duk Kim).  They gave their respective characters the needed wisdom while still getting a few laughs.  The biggest surprise came from Crane (David Cross), who carried most of the conversation of the Furious Five.  He was aloof yet caring.  The rest of the cast was decent, but perhaps faded a bit due to the lack of dialogue; which may have been for the better.  Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Mantis (Seth Rogan), Viper (Lucy Liu), and Monkey (Jackie Chan) fit their roles fine, but were relegated to back seat status.  Since I can’t stand Seth Rogan, this worked out well.  Even Tai Lung (Ian McShane) and Commander Vachir (Michael Clarke Duncan) where perfect for their roles.  McShane gave the villain the needed growl while Duncan just made sense as the head rhinoceros guard.  You could really tell that the actors believed in the film and gave each character the needed personality without overwhelming the character.

The second reason this film is wonderful is the animation.  Pixar is known for its computer graphics, but DreamWorks took it one step further with an amazing animated style.  Even from the opening dream sequence that looks like Samurai Jack, you knew that time was put into the animation.  Not too mention seeing Tai Lung’s fur move with the breeze.  These may be minor things, but these minor things brought out a tremendous amount of emotion.  It just worked, plain and simple.

I did have some reservations, mainly that it was rated PG.  Since my daughter is only four, I did consider skipping this because of the rating.  I am so glad I didn’t since the rating was mainly for animated violence.  Duh, it’s a film about Kung Fu.  So how bad was it?  No worse than any other kids show, in fact perhaps better since it was timed perfectly and fit the story.  The fight scenes were never bloody or overdone, in fact many cut away before any major violence happened.  This was no worse than watching professionals spar.

So how about my developing film critic?  She love this film.  She connected with the relationship between Po and Shifu, she was appropriately scared and understanding of Tai Lung, and even had a girl to like in Tigress.  She goes around the house showing us her Kung Fu (limited to Hiyaa! and a front kick) and sleeps with her stuffed Po as a protector against bad dreams.  There may not have been songs to sing like in High School Musical, but she found that sometimes a good story is all you need.  It was also nice to see her become interested in Chinese culture.  It may not be much, but the film allowed her to venture away from her own cultural background.

Kung Fu Panda is an awesome film that will no doubt be repeatedly viewed in my home once it hits DVD.  As a kids film, it has everything you could want including interest for adults.  There may not be the adult humor of a Shrek, but who needs it when the story is so good.  See this film, buy this film, and get ready for a sequel!

The D.E.B.S. are an elite school of possible spies. They have been chosen based on a hidden test in the SATs that evaluates their spyness. If chosen, they are taken to a D.E.B.S. training school. Our main characters are spy students who run across the most foul villian in the D.E.B.S. world, Lucy Diamond (Jordana Brewster). Amy Bradshaw (Sara Foster) is our main protagonist and the only D.E.B.S. to ace the hidden test. By chance, she is writing a thesis on Lucy Diamond. And by chance, she happens to literally run into her. As their eyes and guns lock, the sparks fly. The rest of the film is about their relationship and the plight of Amy in the world of D.E.B.S.

I realize that all of that sound really bad. I’m not about to argue the lunacy of the plot, it’s simply what it is. In many ways its your typical girl meets girl story. Oh right, forgot to mention that Lucy is a lesbian and Sara isn’t, at least she’s not at first. But then she is, or maybe she is. You know, I’m not sure. Perhaps she’s just in love with Lucy and it doesn’t really matter what she is. Labels suck anyways.

So let me get down to the goods and bads in a more direct manner. The acting borders on obscene, simply because it’s bad most of the time. Each character plays a stereotype. From the inept and borderline dense Janet (Jill Ritchie) to the French sex addict Dominique (Devon Aoki) to the drill sergeant squad leader Max Brewer (Meagan Good). Yes I know it’s supposed to be campy, but at least give me more than a bad accent (or good if you like overdone French). The two leads, Sara and Lucy, are actually quite good though. The plot we’ve discussed, no surprise that it is also comical (perhaps because it was based on a comic). Aside from that, everything from the cinematography to the action is just okay.

So what’s good? The music was awesome. It’s like an 80s flashback and dance party all wrapped into one. My favorite was Lucy singing to Erasure’s “A Little Respect.” So what else? The love story. There are many movies that try and sell a love story. They want the audience to buy into the love and believe that these two people truly love each other. If they can get that, they are able to manipulate to audience into opening the emotional flood gates. Aside from the lipstick quality to Lucy and Sara (they are both gorgeous), I believed they love each other. Their playfulness and seriousness combined to create this aura of true love. Now basis for this reaction can be traced the whole way back to The Princess Bride. That for me was a film that defined a love story. Lucy and Sara share that same love. Who cares if they are both girls, hell if it works this well they could both be boys, or even aliens. In another context; if this film was less campy, it could be one of the great love stories of all time.

Is it worth the watch? I guess I’m just a sucker for films like this because I was very happy I looked past the cheese and found the gold. It was also nice to see a female director, Angela Robinson take the helm. While this film may not be for everyone (I’m thinking of people that are offended by spies), it has this very playful and innocent quality. I may even watch it again, no probably not. But at least watch it once. For crying out loud Michael Clarke Duncan is in it. Oh come one, if I can sit through D.O.A you can sit through this.