Kung Fu Panda
Year: 2008
Rating: PG
Length: 92 minutes / 1.53 hours
Many people give animated films flack for being directed at children. DreamWorks movies have historically leaned toward the younger demographic with plenty of fart jokes while still having the occasional adult jokes sprinkled throughout. The problem with discounting the medium on the whole is that there are some things it can do very well. Kung Fu Panda (2008) not only has a great message about playing to our strengths, but it also uses the fact that it’s animated to present some extremely well-done kung fu fights.
Jack Black brings Kung Fu Panda to life with Po, the kung fu obsessed panda who doesn’t fit the physical model needed to practice the martial art. Despite being chosen as the next Dragon Warrior, Po must learn kung fu so he can protect the land from one of the most dangerous practitioners of the fighting style. It’s important for kids to see that he struggles with the traditional teaching methods, but he can still achieve success by learning his motivations and playing to the strengths of what makes him unique as a panda.
The beauty of an animated film comes down to the amount of control the animators have over what’s on the screen. By planning out all the kung fu moves in a series of brilliant battle set pieces, Kung Fu Panda didn’t have to rely on actors being able to perform these amazing stunts. Instead, these kung fu fights were only limited by the imagination of the animators. It’s a lot of fun seeing these battles take place since the kung fu on display is basically a deadly dance between two skilled individuals. Of course, even with all of its strengths, there are still the handful of fart jokes that bring it down a notch.
A powerful message of unique attributes accentuated by brilliant animated kung fu, I give Kung Fu Panda 4.5 stars out of 5.
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