Review: 'Kung Fu Panda'
Animated feature puts a comedic spin on martial arts with a Jackie Chan voice-over.
By Peter Rainerfrom the June 6, 2008 edition
Martial arts movies are often comedic even when they don't intend to be. The whoops and hollers and high kicks inevitably carry an element of self-parody. Jackie Chan certainly understood this, and so do the filmmakers behind the Dreamworks animated feature "Kung Fu Panda," which, not coincidentally, employs Chan as a voice-over artist for a character called "Monkey." But it's the panda (voiced by Jack Black) that's the star attraction here. Designated as the long-awaited Dragon Warrior, the pot-bellied, courage-free slacker is an unlikely candidate to go up against the tigerish kung fu master Tai Lung, who regards the 1,000 guards assigned to imprison him as a mere nuisance. The animation is consistently sporty and there are some choice comic riffs on martial arts movies. Grade: B+ (Rated PG for sequences of martial arts action.)
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