The big, fat and silly waist of my time.

Rating: 3/10 (20 July 2008)

There's a conspiracy around the world! I kid you not! Apparently me and my family saw some different version of the Kung Fu Panda movie than the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, reading the other comments assured me of the opposite. At least the plot and special effects/kung fu combats, mentioned by everyone else, seem just the same.
Look, I really liked the main idea of" there's no secret ingredient", which, by the way, was pretty obvious to me from the start. But throwing it in as a mere side note, instead of building a good story around this comfortably familiar (though redundant) concept, was a pretty lame idea.
The whole movie feels like a 5-minute silly and funny at some parts TV gag stretched for the entire hour and a half - no character development, including the main hero, not a single fresh idea (which could be forgivable sometimes, but no redeeming value here) - just wonderfully executed kung fu fights. So, if you're a fan of those - you'd be pretty satisfied. In case, you're not - you won't.
I was really hoping this movie has something under its sleeve, as some first facial exchanges between the two old masters took place, yet, ultimately, they had no special meaning at all. And while we saw a dubbed Russian version, I really can't understand why would anyone hire such a star-studded English cast for voicing a few lines for absolutely unneeded kung fu masters characters. I doubt Angelina Jolie's or Jacki Chan's voices could do any difference here.
Not to mention, that this whole idea of "a simple good guy" who comes and succeeds at what fail the long-time experts for absolutely no understandable reason (apparently learning all the principles in one day because he wanted to get some dumplings) - look, it really starts to get on my nerves. Really.