Fun animation from DreamWorks

Rating: 8/10 (18 June 2011)

I hadn't got around to watching this film but as I'd heard good things about it I thought I'd check it out when it was on television. Initially I wasn't sure I'd enjoy it as I'm not really into 'talking animal' films; soon I was ignoring that and enjoying the humour and the story. The story itself is hardly new but tat didn't stop it being entertaining. Po is a panda who dreams of becoming a kung fu warrior fighting alongside the greatest warriors in China; unfortunately for him however he seems destined to become a noodle chef! One day the local kung fu master Oogway prophesied that a dangerous former student is going to escape from prison and return to seek his vengeance and steal the scroll that will make him the legendary Dragon Warrior. Oogway decides that he must find a new Dragon Warrior first; to this end he gathers everybody together to appoint the new warrior. Po is desperate to see the ceremony and in his efforts to see finds himself at the centre of the ceremony and being selected himself. Not surprisingly the five greatest warriors and their trainer are not impressed that a fat panda has been selected over them. When their enemy does indeed escape they head off to meet him while master Shifu attempts to train him. As is the way with such films Po finds that he has hidden depths and learns kung fu, the only question is will he learn the secret of the scroll and defeat the dangerous Tai Lung.
While the two films are very different I couldn't help thinking about Star Wars due to the relationships between the main characters; Shifu was like Obi Wan as his best student turns bad, Oogway was similar to Yoda. I'm not sure if this was a deliberate reference, it didn't matter if it was though as they never really laboured the point; in fact the film was refreshingly free from obvious pop culture references which I suspect will lead to it having a greater longevity than some other Dream Works animations. The animation looked pretty good in a way that made the characters believable even though they are talking, kung-fu fighting animals! The voice actors did a decent job; they avoided giving their characters 'cartoony' voices that can be a problem with animation at times. Over all I'd recommend this as it is a good family film with nothing too offensive for children or too childish for adults; it might not be as good as Pixar's best but then what is?