Great, Innocent Fun, with a bit of depth

Rating: 7/10 (14 June 2008)

I don't know what to say, exactly, about this movie, except that it was about as close to pure distilled comedic awesome as I have come into contact with in recent years. That said, this is not humor for every person, as it is not always perfectly clear where the punchline is. The fact of the matter is that the entire movie should be treated as one giant jab at old, super-cheesy Kung-Fu movies. However, rather than flatly lampooning it, what we wind up with is a deconstructionist approach to the genre. Rather than making fun of specific elements, Kung Fu Panda seems to set out to, instead, write every Kung Fu movie ever made, and does so to hilarious effect. It is a simple plot, but well-executed, and the animation is superb. Every frame is a work of art.
The only thing that keeps me from giving this movie a perfect score is that it is so simple, and the depth of the movie suffers somewhat from it. However, the movie does have a point, let no one convince you otherwise. It is nothing earth-shattering, and is somewhat in the vein of "feel-good" types of thematic statements, but it is, all in all, an excellent movie, and one I would recommend all should see. Unless you have a personal vendetta against Dreamworks, CGI movies, animation, Eastern culture, martial arts, or Jack Black, I could just about guarantee you would enjoy this movie.