Not as funny as a movie titled "Kung Fu Panda" should have been.

Rating: 5/10 (22 June 2008)

First, let me say my niece enjoyed the movie quite a bit...this was her first movie so it was a new experience for her. If I was rating the movie on her thoughts on it I would have rated it higher. However, I paid money to see this one too, and I have to say I just thought it would be funnier. Jack Black is great as the voice of the Panda as was all the cast, though I thought the five warriors were rather ignored for the most part with the Tigress one sort of stepping up a bit. The movie was just to talky for me with way to many serious moments. I will draw a parallel if I may. The first hour of Shrek had me laughing a bit and was rather good. The last half hour I did not laugh much at all and I thought it dragged down the rest of the film. This whole movie seemed more like the last half hour of Shrek rather than the first hour. It had a few cute parts here and there, but for me it just did not deliver the goods, the preview for Madagascar 2 looked better than this one. The story has a Panda who dreams of becoming a kung fu hero ending up being the chosen dragon warrior to the dismay of a master of kung fu and his students. A villain escapes and is on his way to challenge the dragon warrior and nothing to surprising happens along the way. A few chuckles to be sure in the ending fight, and scattered throughout the movie, just not enough for my tastes. However, my niece loved it so it is a good movie for kids anyway.