Kung Fu Panda - Family Movie Review

Movie Mama Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Starring: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Ian McShane, Lucy Liu, Angelina Jolie, David Cross, Seth Rogen

Directed By: John Wayne Stevenson, Mark Randolph Osborne

Running Time: 1 hr. 35 min.

MPAA Rating: PG for sequences of martial arts action.

Genre: Children's, Animation

Po the panda (Jack Black) is just a regular guy working in his father's noodle shop, although his passion for Kung Fu seems to always get in the way. His father desperately wants to pass the noodle shop down to Po, but fate takes a different turn. While at a ceremony at the Jade Palace, Po is surprisingly named the legendary Dragon Warrior, and finds himself studying Kung Fu alongside his idols: Monkey (Jackie Chan), Viper (Lucy Liu), Crane (David Cross), Mantis (Seth Rogen), and Tigress (Angelina Jolie). Po tries his best to become a Kung Fu master under the tutelage of Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman). But when their enemy, Tai Lung (Ian McShane), escapes from prison, and Master Shifu declares that only the Dragon Warrior can defeat him, Po must believe in himself and search for the hero within.

Po's overly enthusiastic outlook on life is refreshing and entertaining to watch. Jack Black's take on the character is fluid and genuine, and you find you just can't get enough of this optimistic panda. The voices and animation are what really make this film sparkle, yet the plot leaves much to be desired. There are several truly engaging parts, but the entertainment is interrupted by an equal amount of boredom. I found myself looking around the theater, yawning, etc. The audience was comprised of kids no younger than five, which I think was appropriate. Any child below the age of five might have trouble sitting through the slow scenes. But it all depends on the child. Parents looking for the comedy stylings of Jack Black might be disappointed--almost all the funny parts are stuffed into the trailers. The animation could rival Pixar films, but the story doesn't even come close.

PROS

Po struggles with being overweight, but he handles mean comments with dignity, and doesn't let anything get him down. He's overly optimistic, never wanting to give up on dreams or people. He studies Kung Fu with a passion and gives it his all. Even when he fails miserably, he gets back up and tries again.

Po, like a lot of people, overeats when he gets stressed out. But when he finds something positive to fill his life with, he finds that he no longer has time to obsess about food. This is a great lesson for parents--if you have an overweight child, it might be time to get him/her involved in something physical that they can truly get excited and passionate about.

Kids will be thrilled with the fighting and action scenes. I can picture little boys everywhere playfully trying out their Kung Fu Panda skills at home.

CONS

The film is one of the cleanest of the year, however there are a few things I'll mention:

There is a brief gag where Po places two bowls on his chest as though they are either breasts or a bra. Po exclaims, "My tenders!" when referring to groin pain. He uses the word "suck" several times, as well as exclaiming that he's going to pee when Tai Lung is "tickling" him.

Throughout the entire film we are reminded that we must believe in ourselves in order to succeed. But I felt there was a casual underlying theme suggesting that as long as we simply believe, then everything will turn out okay in the end. This isn't the greatest lesson to teach our children, who should know that life doesn't always work out the way we've planned.

OVERALL

It's a good clean film, however there's nothing new to get excited about. If you're looking for a film to take the kids to, I suggest waiting until the end of the month for Pixar's WALL-E. Save Kung Fu Panda for a DVD rental.

Megan is the staff family movie reviewer for pluggedinparents.com. For more parenting articles on health and safety, nutrition, baby, money and tech, family life, pets, and movie reviews, visit pluggedinparents.com today!

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