KUNG FU PANDA [PG]
review by Robert Newton

This movie and its dumpy star, Po the Panda, may not possess the across-the-board appeal of DreamWorks’ Shrek, but the star of the studio’s latest attempt at an animated franchise is warmer and more lovable than that ornery ogre was in his three times at bat combined.

Jack Black (Be Kind Rewind) gives voice (and likely a physical inspiration) as the rotund kung-fu and dumplings-loving bear, who, upon the pronouncement of a wise old turtle named Oogway (Randall Duk Kim), is chosen to lead the fight against the raging snow leopard, Tai Lung (Ian McShane). Seeing the lazy dough-boy receive such an honor not only irks the diminutive red panda, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), but also the force known as “The Furious Five.” They are a fearsome menagerie: Monkey (Jackie Chan), Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Crane (David Cross), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Mantis (Seth Rogen), and they are mostly business.

Let’s see… does Po get his act together and save the land from the chronically grumpy Tai Lung? Does this quirky quintet learn to work with the special needs bear and in the process, learn valuable lessons about patience and acceptance? Will the National Zoo in Washington, DC experience a surge in admissions this summer? Silly questions all, as this is America, where we don’t like “down” endings (like those ennui-folk over in Europe), always go for underdog stories and line up with cash in hand at the gift shop after catching a brief glimpse of Mei Xiang and Tian Tian not reproducing.

The movie is quite visually engaging, with welcoming and accessible character designs. Wisely, directors Mark Osborne, DreamWorks vet John Stephenson and their quartet of scribes avoid all the pop culture anachronisms that might quickly date the movie (and really, was a Matrix spoof ever really funny?). They are free to instead concentrate on the rich landscapes and take many opportunities to let loose with color. The film may be mostly CGI, but a lot of ink-and-paint work went into these gorgeous backdrops (and lovely fantasy cutaways), and it sure shows.

While each of the Furious Five represents well the five kung-fu styles (someone did their homework or was a big fan of The Shaw Brothers), they don’t register much in the characterization department. This is with the exception of Seth Rogen (The Spiderwick Chronicles), who is as consistently funny here as Black. The brunt of the interpersonal conflict is between Po and Shifu, and it is pretty well-played, as is the bitter, unresolved past that Shifu shares with his former student, Tai Lung. Unfortunately, it is to the exclusion of all the others.

A key trio of characters do stand far out in front, however. Hoffman plays the part of The Disappointed Father with smarts and tempered emotion, and McShane is suitably nasty (without being one-note or resorting to his @#$&! “Deadwood” vocabulary). It’s Black’s show all the way, though, and his motor-mouthed approach to giving more than just words to the smiling-on-the-outside fanboy makes it doubly easy to gloss over some of the movie’s shortcomings and focus on that One Thing in your own life that you love (though might not be that good at).•••

NOTE: Kung Fu Panda is also playing in IMAX theaters. You might pay a little more for your ticket, but even movie fans with the most lavish of home theater systems feel humbled while sitting in front of a six-story screen, Surrounded by 12,000 watts of digital sound and jarred to the point of personal spillage by a sub-glutean bass unit called the ButtKicker.