John Stevenson and Mark Osbourne, Kung Fu Panda

Photo Credit: DreamWorks Animation

by Kathryn Durfee
06/09/2008

Nearly every summer, the folks at DreamWorks Animation serve up a predictable but entertaining family film about the importance of believing in oneself. Kung Fu Panda, the studio's latest, is no deviation on the formula. Though entertaining for a single viewing and a triumph in computer animation, Kung Fu Panda will be quickly forgotten.

Jack Black voices Po, a clumsy panda working in his father's (a goose, and don't ask me how that happened) noodle shop. Po is sweet and good-natured, but he has a secret desire to be a great martial artist. When the elderly and wise Oogway the turtle (voiced by Randall Duk Kim) divines that the village is in danger, he announces that the time has come to select the prestigious Dragon Warrior. Everyone expects the Dragon Warrior to be one of the martial arts masters studying under Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and Po's heroes, the Furious Five: Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Viper (Lucy Liu), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Crane (David Cross) and Monkey (Jackie Chan).

It comes as no great surprise that the untrained and out of shape Po is chosen as the Dragon Warrior. Po struggles to learn the arts from Master Shifu and is ready to give up when Shifu discovers the hidden secret of Po's strength: his insatiable appetite. The majority of the film is spent watching Po's transformation into one of the heroes he once admired and how he triumphs just in time to save the village from destruction.

Kung Fu Panda spends its entire 90-minute run time blending jokes and action to achieve the maximum comedic effect. Unlike its predecessors, Kung Fu Panda is the first DreamWorks Animation film not to rely on pop culture references and pop music for its humor and backgrounds, which may help to give the film a longer shelf life. Sure, there's a sequence set to the song Kung Fu Fighting but we can forgive directors John Stevenson and Mark Osborne.

Since Po's success is a formulaic given, the majority of the film is exposition for an ending we already know is coming. The story is thin and predictable, but Mr. Black gives the role his all, infusing what could have been weak character with his love-it-or-hate-it charm. Dustin Hoffman enjoys a sizable role as Master Shifu and plays it as though it was turn as Yoda. The other characters are sadly underdeveloped and appear to be part of the story only as periodic vocal reminders of Po's high probability of failure.

The animation in Kung Fu Panda retains DreamWorks' cartoony style, maintaining its difference from other animation studios like Pixar, which strives for photorealistic backgrounds and realistic characters. This is certainly far from bad animation; as an amateur computer animator, I often found myself in awe of the fast-moving action sequences that recall anime and live action kung-fu films. The backgrounds take inspiration from ancient Chinese art and are a joy to watch. Even the DreamWorks logo has been given an Asian remodeling. The fighting styles of each character are unique and tailored to the animal, showing that the illustrators studied not only their subjects but also watched a lot of martial arts movies.

Though I scoffed when I first heard about the project, I am now glad that I was given the opportunity to see Kung Fu Panda premiere (out of competition) at the Cannes Film Festival. This bundle of bouncing animation turned out to be a welcome change from the heavy and largely depressing films shown at the festival. I recently attended a meeting with Australian director Paul Cox, who made it a point to tell his audience that Americans are blinded by pure animation and have lost the respect for cinematic art its ability to make a difference. While I agree that much of American filmmaking concentrates on commercial viability and marketability, I certainly appreciate one Kung Fu Panda for every foreign film about despair and loss of all hope.

Kung Fu Panda isn't DreamWorks' best release, but it's not a disappointment. With the voice talents involved and the reputation of the studio, Kung Fu Panda is sure to be a box office hit this summer. It just might not be remembered much beyond this season. Besides, any fan of computer animation is counting down the days until Pixar's WALL-E.

Directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osbourne; written by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger; story by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris; produced by Melissa Cobb. Running time: 90 minutes. Rated PG.

With: Angelina Jolie, Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Seth Rogen, Ian McShane, David Cross.

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