Surprisingly Good, But Inconsistent...

Rating: 6/10 (26 July 2008)

*** SPOILER ALERT ***
To be honest, I think this time Dreamworks surprise me. I really think they delivered one good animated movie with their latest Kung Fu Panda. It was cute, beautifully rendered, and had a lovable characters.
Unfortunately, Dreamworks will be Dreamworks and here is why:
Kung Fu Panda was fun, sure. But it didn't have something that Dreamworks should work very hard to achieve its goal: a great story. Yes, I know the story was rather 'good', so was the action sequences, the music from Hans Zimmer was enchanting, the China background is spectacular too. But it wasn't enough!
Remember, they compete with the animation giant: Pixar. Maybe the bar was set very high it will be difficult to compete with Pixar. But they should try, although I think this is kind of great for a start.
Kung Fu Panda tells a story about a fat panda, Po. He was addicted to kungfu. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the 'qualities' for being good at kungfu or any kind of sports (not surprising since he was very fat and slow). Meanwhile, far from Po, one of the most dangerous villain on China - Tai Lung - is escaped from prison. So Oogway, the famous and respectable guru try to gathered all warriors from China to pick one of them to be The Dragon Warrior. Surprisingly to everyone, Po was chosen. Along the way, Po tries so hard to believe in himself and making everyone believe that he - the fat panda - will bring peace to China.
I said I was surprised. Why? From the beginning until the first half of the movie, Kung Fu Panda tells us about one of the most important philosophy in the eastern world: the grand design of the universe. Oogway told everyone that Po was destined to be The Dragon Warrior, and it was not an accident. Simply because 'there was no accident'. Everything in the universe was design in its way that we as a living being couldn't do anything about it but Accept it and Believe in it.
But then, on a second half of the movie it fails to satisfies me. Finally Po believe in himself after he saw the Dragon Scroll. The Dragon Scroll is one and only ancient scroll that only can be seen by the Dragon Warrior itself. And it contains nothing. No words, no moves, only a plain paper that interestingly reflects every face who sees it. Later Po knows that all he could do to beat Tai Lung is to believe in himself. At the end of the story, Po was suddenly learn one of the deadliest move of all time.
How he could learn that moves, is still a mystery to me. After a brief introduction to the eastern philosophy this movie choose a safe, dull, weird ending. What happened to the grand-design-believe-in-yourself-there-was-no-accident thing? Maybe Dreamworks was scared that the 'heavy message' won't reach to the younger audience. But I think they should try harder to make it still believable to your sense.
Overall, Kung Fu Panda fails to satisfies me. But its still one of the funniest summer movie out there. I hope Dreamworks will delivered something magical and smarter next time. Although being alert that Madagascar 2 and Shrek Goes Forth is going along, I just pray for those two won't be another Dreamworks Animation Disaster.
Oh, and Angelina Jolie and Jackie Chan were such a waste...