Kung Fu Panda

I initially wanted to start this blog as a way for me to review all of the various games, movies, music, and books that I pick up. I haven't exactly being doing that. But now is a good time as any.

Kung Fu Panda came out over the summer, and while it didn't garner nearly the hype or glowing reviews that Wall-E got, it still was one of the best received movies of the year. And for the most part, I concur with the other reviews. The most noticeable positive is the apparent manic energy impressively translated into his simple, hopeful, and rather large noodle-serving panda. Unlike some other characters in previous Dreamworks movies, at no point do you separate the voice from the character. This isn't Eddie Murphy's Donkey or those two insufferable idiots from The Road to El Dorado. (I could dedicate this entire post to my hatred for the Shrek franchise, so I think it's best I move along.) The animation style is impressive. It's smooth, crisp, and beautiful to look at. Most of the character models are equally solid - although the large cat models are the exception. And, thankfully, no human characters stilt around to muck up the scenery. On top of all of this, the movie FEELS exceptionally Asian. Even the story seems like it could be a simplified version of some Saturday afternoon kung fu matinee. But, while the story may seem simplified, there's a lot of weight here. The villain of the story, Tai Lung, carries a real sense of danger throughout the latter half of the story. And his utter battering of Shifu, his former master is a fight to rival any live-action fight scene. Also, Oogway is probably one of the best characters in any U.S. animated film. He has the funniest and most thought-provoking lines in the movie. His departure halfway through the film has an emotional - and, again, mature - tone rare for a children's film. I could see others criticizing the scene as a cop-out or glossing over reality, but I would disagree. It somehow manages to be spiritual without being campy or overwrought. And that brings me to the best compliment I can give this movie; it has a serious, spiritual, well-meaning message and it never pounds you over the head with it. (*Cough* Scorsese! *Cough*) It was only after the movie that I put two and two together and realized The Message. (Don't quit; even if you're a fat cow, you might be meant for something; believe in yourself; etc.) Finally, it's become a cliche now to call a film 'fun for the whole family' or 'a movie for kids and adults' or whatever corporate-generated, buzzword-filled tagline movie studios garnish their movie posters with, but that really does apply to this movie. The story moves along, the action is tight and exciting, the style stands out, it's funny . . . And, well, giant, fat pandas look both cute and funny.

But that's not to say their are no flaws. For starters, the actors are all wrong. While Oogway (Randall Duk Kim), Po (Jack Black), Monkey (Jackie Chan), the Rhino general (Michael Clarke Duncan), and Po's father (James Hong - or better known as "That Asian Guy") are all perfectly cast. Unfortunately, no one else is. While Ian McShane has the voice of a villain, it feels totally out of place here. Seth Rogan (Mantis) sounds bored and clearly could not be worse suited for voice-over work. The same can be said of Angelina Jolie who just seems to want to get through her lines before she misses overacting in The Changeling or A Mighty Heart or something. Luckily, hardly any of their characters are on the screen for very long. Unluckily, Shifu is on screen a lot. And Dustin Hoffman . . . sucks. There's no other word for it. He is horrible. His voice is grating and he never seems to hit the right emotional notes. While Dreamworks did an admiral job hiring the right people for some of the jobs, they clearly couldn't let go of their name-grabbing idiocy left over from the Shrek days and stuck "The Big Name" into key roles. And this is really too bad. The writing really is amazing. It's just . . . There were times when I just wanted to punch Dustin Hoffman right in the face. Another problem I had with the movie - and this is really kind of minor . . . We've seen it all before. This is basically a mash-up of The Matrix, Star Wars, every Kurosawa movie, and every kung fu movie ever made. But, for what it is, it works. And totally original stories are hard to come by. My biggest criticism, however, could also be my greatest compliment. I want MORE! The movie just felt too damn short! The fight scenes were amazing, but there weren't enough of them. And some of the emotional gravitas is only touched on and then quickly let go. There's a hint, a whiff of backstory or emotional resonance and then the movie moves on like nothing happened. I want to see what happened between Shifu and Tai Lung. I want to see Shifu's emotional rejection of Tigress. I want to see Po before the events in the movie - long before. I want to see MORE!

Despite my relatively minor gripes with the movie, this was eminently watchable. It's funny, touching, spiritual, and far more intelligent and respectful to its audience than ninety percent of most modern Hollywood movies. Hopefull, Dreamworks learns from this and moves more towards Kung Fu Panda and further away from the Shrek franchise.