Breathtaking both in humour and in graphical splendour

Rating: 9/10 (7 July 2008)

I don't think its often you see a movie that can deliver a belly full of laughter as well as moments of poignancy but The Panda film is one of them. It was a joy to sample this film full of sparkling entertainment more because of the refreshing balance that it delivered between adult humour and kids humour than anything else. Detractors and critics will point to the quite complete and singular focus on Jack Black's character and perhaps the jocular mentality towards obesity. However I think it fairly charmless to attack the credibility of an animated adventure comedy on the basis of politically incorrect humour, after all comedy has to live on the border of good taste. As for Jack Black his performance is everything we would expect of an expert comedian - and in particular some awards have to go to the effects team for getting the facial expressions of the creature so accurate and human-like.
In short if you enjoy physical comedy, are not afraid or too politically minded to embrace some fat jokes, and you heartily enjoy fully rendered CGI images that swoop, dive, and lift over some awe inspiring scenery then this is the film for you.