'Kung Fu Panda' Is a Kick

By Martha Brockenbrough
MSN Cinemama

There aren't that many family movies I actually take my kids to see in the theater. Going to the movies is expensive, and there's a lot of so-called "family" stuff out there that doesn't work particularly well for the kids, the parents or both.

"Kung Fu Panda" is one of the rare exceptions.

It's funny, well crafted and full of appealing characters. Even if it isn't the most original thing under the sun, this DreamWorks Animation picture is punchy summer fun -- literally.

The movie starts with a Technicolor dream sequence in which a panda named Po (voiced by Jack Black) and a band of kung fu fighters known as the Furious Five battle 10,000 demons simultaneously.

From this over-the-top fantasy, the kung fu-loving Po wakes to his real life ... as a waiter at a noodle shop.

But it's not just any noodle shop. It's the one owned by his father, a bird, and it's the best in the entire Valley of Peace. (We don't know how a bird came to be raising a panda, but it works nicely for the story.) Someday, the shop -- and the secret ingredient of the delicious noodles -- will be Po's.

But first, the roly-poly Panda wants to watch the nearby kung fu master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) choose the next Dragon Warrior from the Furious Five. This is a big deal, because the Dragon Warrior will find out the long-hidden secret to limitless power. Plus, kung fu is awesome.

It's probably not giving too much away to reveal that Po gets the nod in a delightfully improbable sequence. Equally improbable is the notion that this movie -- and Po -- will succeed without whittling away all that's lovable about Black's roly-poly panda.

And yet, it does. With flying, kicking colors.

What's in It for Kids

This movie is rated PG because of all the kung fu fighting. Everybody really is kung fu fighting, but it's not even a little bit frightening, because the fighting is largely comical. There is no blood, though there is some drool. The villain, Tai Lung (Ian McShane), is a bit scary, but less than the voracious seal in "Happy Feet," and even the dentist diver in "Finding Nemo."

In many ways, the "violence" in this movie is far less emotionally wrenching than what you see in many G-rated movies, so it's not an issue to worry too much about.

Make no mistake, though, this is not a movie to see past bedtime unless you want to tell your kids repeatedly to stop climbing the walls and eating cookies. It's highly stimulating fare.

It's also an equally appealing movie for boys and girls. Though the main character is male and the two kung fu masters are male (Kim's Oogway and Dustin Hoffman as Shifu), Angelina Jolie's Tigress and Lucy Liu's Viper show that kicking tail isn't the exclusive domain of boys.

In fact, the Tigress was the presumptive nominee before some upstart black-and-white bear stole the show. Indeed, she tried to take the role for herself even after Po got nominated. For some reason, this all feels so politically timely. Very strange, grasshopper ...

Anyway, the message for kids is also a good one. Though parents are well intentioned, our destinies are our own to seek.

There are some other nice messages, too, that can't be revealed without spoiling the fun of the movie. Suffice it to say that kids will like "Kung Fu Panda," and it will offer wisdom that's actually useful (and could probably fit conveniently inside a fortune cookie, if it hasn't already).

Fat jokes do drive the plot, but the movie isn't likely to be a source of mean nicknames later. Po succeeds despite (and in one scene because of) his girth. His weight moves the story forward and there is no miraculous slimming-down scene that would suggest chubby pandas need to be beach-ready in order to make a difference in the world. In short, it's a movie where size doesn't matter ... all that much, anyway.

What's in It for Grown-ups

We all grew up watching the TV show "Kung Fu," didn't we? If we had the right kind of parents, we might also have watched more than our share of crazy martial arts movies.

"Kung Fu Panda" is a pleasure because of all the fun it makes of -- and with -- the kung fu genre.

But it goes beyond that.

It's also well crafted. The funny details introduced at the beginning actually make a difference at the end. The sight gags develop the characters and propel the story, leaving no room for the extremely tired fart jokes. Po and his nemesis nicely echo each other, even though they're day and night, yin and yang, peanut butter and chocolate. Yes, it's a comedy, of course. But it's been made with care, and this is what elevates this to art.

Speaking of art, the animation here is lovely. It's not overly laden with texture, and it evokes Chinese landscapes without aping them. It's a pleasure to watch.

The performances, too, are solid. Black is quite appealing, but let's face it -- he hasn't quite pulled off every role he's taken on. "Nacho Libre," anyone? His Po is one of the successes. Black makes for a fine kung fu-happy panda. Imagine his "High Fidelity" record-store zealot, softened by many bowls of noodles and suffused with a passion for martial arts instead of music.

Hoffman can now be forgiven for his performance in "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium." Here, his mentor character is nowhere near as twitchy and annoying. It's Kim's Yoda Oogway who really steals the show, though. The voice and animation here blend in a way that's increasingly rare with the reliance on big-name stars in animated movies.

This movie isn't as funny as the first "Shrek," but it's easy to see where Po and friends could make their own franchise, and with a richer cast of characters and less reliance on pop culture-driven jokes, it's a franchise that could last a good, long time.

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Martha Brockenbrough is Cinemama for the Parents' Movie Guide on MSN. She is also the author of "It Could Happen to You: Diary of a Pregnancy and Beyond" and the founder of SPOGG, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. She writes a fun-with-kids column for Cranium.com, as well as an educational humor column for Encarta. Check out her Web site.

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