Amazingly good

Rating: 8/10 (8 June 2008)

After seeing the commercials on TV for this one, I didn't want to see it. It looked inane and more of a children's movie than one for adults. Today, though, my friend wanted to go, and I was pleasantly surprised to see one of the best movies I've seen this year. I was first struck by the art work... not the CG/animation but the artwork, the backgrounds and sets of the scenes. They're stunningly beautiful, as is the soundtrack. Then the story pulled me in, even the minor things like why a Panda has a goose for a father. I really liked the "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"-type action scenes; they were really well done, using the characteristics of each character to add to what the character was able to do. The villain was especially well done, intimidating but not over-the-top scary that would scare small children. (There were many children in the theatre of course, but the movie kept them interested apparently because they were all well-behaved, engrossed in the movie.) The acting was well done as well. I'd wondered if Jack Black would be as funny when you can't see his physical humor, but I shouldn't have worried. I read a review of the movie this week that said Angelina Jolie wasn't very good. I'm not really a fan of hers, but I don't know what movie that reviewer saw; I thought she was great. In fact, I wish there had been more scenes and actions with the 5 Kung Fu warriors, the Monkey, the Snake, the Mantis, the Tiger and the Stork. They were all excellent as was the Kung Fu Master, voiced by Dustin Hoffman. Hopefully, there will be a sequel (done as well as this one was) and we will see more of those characters, and find out about Po's father.