Entertainment in its purest form

Rating: 9/10 (7 June 2008)

Like many others, I saw the "trailers" featuring Jack Black. The featurette made me think "Okay, at least I got to check this out". Not much more. It didn't make me think "This is gonna be awesome" or anything like that.
Boy, was I ever under-expecting.
At first I thought it was quite okay, decent entertainment and at least not totally crap. But then the really funny scenes and details kicked in, after Po gets into the temple. From then on, it was laugh after laugh, excellent voice acting, amazing CG animation (but this is Dreamworks so I expected that).
The whole deal simply hit home run for me. Spot on. I love martial arts movies, I love Dreamworks CG movies and I must admit I find Jack Black amazingly funny (saw Be Kind Rewind the other day and loved it). There was so much charm and amusement in this movie. It's without doubt the best animation from Dreamworks since the first Shrek.
Now, I am not saying this will be for everyone. There IS a lot of fighting going on, and while it is (for most of the movie) comical (yet amazing to behold) violence, it might not be suitable for the smallest of children. But for any healthy kid aged 6-7 or above (especially boys), this will be kick-a**! I cannot really put my finger on anything bad. Sure, the movie is filled with clichés, but sometimes you can go a long way with those. And this one serves them perfectly. I even rated this higher than Ratatouille, due to the fact that it took me totally by surprise. With Ratatouille, I EXPECTED it to be great. Kung Fu Panda I only expected to be decent, but it was awesome. That deserves the last point.