Kung Fu Panda
The Age
Friday June 27, 2008
Kung Fu Panda
3/5.5 (88 min) PGDisarming, good-natured DreamWorks animation, set in the world of Chinese martial arts, about a clumsy panda called Po (voiced by Jack Black) who fantasises about becoming a martial arts hero. When it's time to name a new champion at the temple, Po finds himself living out his wildest dreams, much to the astonishment of his mentor, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), who has to prepare Po for combat against a former pupil who has gone over to the dark side (Ian McShane). Jackie Chan - whose breakthrough comedy Drunken Master was the tale of a similarly unlikely martial arts exponent - has a cameo voice role, alongside the likes of Angelina Jolie and Lucy Liu, as warriors Monkey, Tigress and Snake. These supporting characters are sketchily developed, but Black and Hoffman are perfect as pupil and master, and the visual style of the film is consistently graceful and sometimes quite lovely. There are some hilarious, character-driven comic and combat moments, but there's none of the Shrek-style hang-ups with pop culture riffs or frantic double-entendre catering to the adults: Kung Fu Panda has enough confidence in the directness of its appeal. -- PHILIPPA HAWKER
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