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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Kung Fu Panda Kicks Butt! A Movie Review

BOTTOM LINE: This latest animated feature from Dreamworks is a lot of fun, visually spectacular, and has some wonderful characters and original story. However, the film is quite short and as such the narrative feels somewhat two-dimensional and under-developed, leaving the overall experience of watching the film underwhelming and best saved for DVD.

THE GOOD: Eventually Hollywood will turn every animal ever lived in to a loveable cartoon character, but there's much to like about Panda (voiced perfectly by Jack Black) who is in the unimaginable position of transitioning from a loveable slob to a kung fu master. Panda doesn't really discriminate or hold grudges, as seen most in the scenes with Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and his students who have no time or respect for Panda and his hopelessness at kung fu. Shifu is a strong character; despite his wisdom, his pride and self-anguish over his split with star student Tai Lung (Ian McShane) who becomes his nemesis make him a somewhat fallible, human character that you can come to love and understand. Tortoise Master Oogway (Randall Dul Kim) is perhaps the best character in the film with his fortune-cookie style responses which lead to some big laughs without being at his own expense. The animators have done a spectacular job with the visuals; watching the images unfold is worth the price of admission alone, with the vibrancy, richness of colour, and texture all creating a wonderful ancient Chinese world that almost looks real. "Kung Fu Panda" is a lot of fun, with a great voice cast which also includes Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, David Cross and Seth Rogen.

THE BAD: The story and narrative are quite original for a film of this type, it's just a shame that they didn't expand upon its potential. With a very short running time, the big fat Panda goes from being a wannabe with big kung fu dreams to being a real master in a matter of a few minutes. As a result, you don't get the feeling his character has gone on much of a journey and it's underwhelming. A by product of this under-development is that the character of the snow leopard, the evil Tai Lung doesn't come across that threatening. Although his back story with Master Shifu is explained, it's only glazed over and it would have been nice to see more there, especially with Panda coming to save the day and defeating him. When the credits roll, you get the feeling that aside from the magnificent visuals which demand viewing on a cinema screen, you could have watched this on DVD and had the same experience.

For the original review, follow this link: http://www.allaboutmovies.net/filmreviewkungfupanda.htm

Todd Murphy is a staff reviewer at the film/DVD review web site, All About Movies.net - for all the latest reviews on the newest releases. He is also an administrator for the web site: http://www.approachingsexywomen.com

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Kung Fu Panda Birthday Party Ideas

One of the most popular movies of 2008 is Kung Fu Panda. This movie, which teaches that everyone can make a difference in their own way, is well-reviewed and well-loved by nearly everyone. Therefore, don't be surprised if your child wants a Kung Fu Panda themed birthday party. Thankfully, it is not that hard to provide for them when you use some imagination and craft supplies.

Pick a Character

One thing everybody is going to have to do is pick their favorite character. You may have a lot of pandas but that is okay. You can simply work with it. Once everyone has picked their favorite character, give the kids paper plates with eye holes cut out of them. Then, using party supplies and craft items, the kids can create their character on the paper plates and then wear them, turning them into the characters they love from the movie.

The Belts

Every Kung Fu master has a belt, so by using some simple paper or even a bit of fabric, you can make belts for everyone. These aren't going to be your normal belts though, they are all white (or some other color) and the kids can decorate them how they see fit. Let them put their personality into their belts and you will see some great works of art unfold.

Capture the Moment

Once you have created the masks and the belts, it is time for everyone to strike their best Kung Fu pose for the camera. Get a picture of it, put the name of the character they are (even a made up name) in the computer and print it off for them. This will give them a great picture to remember the fun Kung Fu Panda birthday party with.

Kung Fu Panda is poised to become the biggest movie of the year and something everyone wants to see. So, you should be ready when your child asks for a Kung Fu Panda themed birthday party. If you use a few supplies and these party ideas, you can create a great Kung Fu Panda birthday party!

For even more great Kung Fu Panda Birthday Party Ideas, visit Birthday Supply Depot.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Crystal_Mclain

Cash in From Kung Fu Panda!

Released in July 2008, the DreamWorks movie Kung Fu Panda offers some profits if you know how. Here are 3 methods you can use...

The first way is to set up your own Kung Fu Panda site. You could source it with loads of memorabilia, and arrange deals with the film makers and manufacturers for potential profit. The problem with this method is that you have to invest before you get the profit. It takes a lot of time and money arrange all the deals, and you will have to hold the stock and deal with all the delivery issues and so on.

There is potential there, because film memorabilia is undoubtedly a huge market, and Kung Fu Panda in particular works well in the toy and poster fields. I like the second method which is to use the affiliate model. With this technique you still get to promote all the official products, but you don't have to set up a site or have a stock of the goods.

You send traffic to sites already selling the stuff, and if anyone buys, you get a commission. Yes, the commissions are not as much as if you sold the products yourself, but remember this method is totally no risk. It should also be noted that there is a poster site for example that has affiliates earning 5 figures a month from those commissions!

The third method, and it's the one I prefer, is to provide information. Film fans love information, and Hollywood churns it out to promote the films. If you can write about the film, you can then generate traffic from people that read your articles. Then you can send that traffic to a site which is monetized. Kung Fu Panda has some big name stars - Dustin Hoffman, Jack Black, and in particular Angelina Jolie.

She is a tabloid dream, and with her just giving birth to twins, there is great potential to use this writing model.

So you can see there are several ways of tapping into movie profits, to cash in from Kung Fu Panda.

Gordon Bryan is a writer and movie fan from the UK. He loves the fact that he earns money online by just writing about movies, and can show you how to do *exactly* the same at his site: http://www.gordonbryan.com/movies

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