Well crafted and fun film with strong story and characters driving the humour

Rating: Null/10 (13 July 2008)

Po may well dream of kung fu glory but the reality is that he is heavy, lazy, food-focused and likely to spend his life in the noodle business like his father. When the test for the Dragon Warrior is announced, Po hopes at very least to be an observer of the contest. So imagine his surprise when he finds himself to be the one chosen. Trainer Shifu and his students are sceptical at least and furious at worst, but are confident that Po will soon quit, but they do not count on the sheer, good natured pleasure that Po takes from just being involved. Thing is, what Po doesn't know is that the Dragon Warrior is prophesied as the only one who can stop the powerful and evil Tai Lung, who has just broken free of a prison of one prisoner and a thousand guards.
I wasn't totally sold on going to see this film but it got the group vote so away I went. It wasn't that any one thing put me off it, it was just that the bar has been set high for this sort of thing by Pixar etc and I have been disappointed by some films that were "only" OK. Kung Fu Panda opens with a really cool sequence that suits the genre of animated martial arts films and then quickly moves into reality and the seemingly straightforward tale of an individual who aspires to more than his appearance would suggest him capable of. It sounds generic and indeed I suppose that, in its basest form, it is but it is the delivery that sees it be much more than just this.
It worried me at first that the film was not loaded with pop culture references and "for the adults only" one-liners that Shrek etc often are but I quickly got over this. Instead of lots of quick fire humour, Kung Fu Panda actually focuses on the characters and the story and builds the humour onto that rather than the two just happening to be alongside one another. As The Times noted, the film is also free of lavatorial humour which is not only a pleasing omission but one that must have been deliberate given how easy it would have been to draw f*rt gags from the main character of Po! But instead it is a smarter type of humour, with the only downside being that younger children might be a bit restless at the infrequency of really obvious comedy. I didn't roll with laughter that much either but for me it was more rewarding as a film rather than an animated series of references and sly gags.
The focus on character does help because I was drawn into the story quick effectively to the point where I wasn't bored if I didn't have a laugh for five minutes. Those that set up the quick-fire stuff as the agenda risk this feeling but the story was my interest here. It also helps the voice actors to be more than just voices. Black and Hoffman both benefit greatly from this and the expressions of their animated characters. McShane has a simpler character but his voice really suits Tai Lung. The supporting cast looks great on paper with Jolie, Cross, Rogen, Liu and Chan but sadly they are not that well used and have too few lines considering. One star with no dialogue is the animation itself. It is amazingly detailed and stunning and yet another example of how the technology seems to be constantly moving in leaps and bounds.
Kung Fu Panda is not the funniest animated film you will see and it doesn't really deliver the rapid laughs of Shrek (for example). This comes with the approach though because the film doesn't load itself with pop culture references and lots of gags for kids while slipping adult humour into the one-liners, instead it is much more satisfying in its construction and deliver. The clichéd framework of the plot is fleshed out really well and ultimately I really enjoyed it for this. Well worth seeing for what it is and how unpretentious it all is.