Movie Review: Kung Fu Panda

My daughter has been hounding my wife and I for months to see the movie Kung Fu Panda, I hand it to DreamWorks they know how to market to kids. For several months before the movie premiered every other commercial on Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Cartoon Network has been an advertisement for this movie.

So it came time for the movie to premier, we waited a week to avoid the crowd and caught the lower priced matinee showing of the animated film Kung Fu Panda.

I've been a Jack Black fan for years so I was eager to see how his normally crude humor and attitude would do in a G Rated film, to my surprise he pulled it off well and in good taste. Mr. Black does the voice of Po a young panda in China who works with his father in a noodle restaurant but dreams of being a Kung Fu master. His only problem is he is a bulky stumbling panda bear and has never learned kung fu! Through a humorous series of events Po is chosen to be the Dragon Warrior, a legendary Kung Fu Master prophesized to be the savior of the valley from destruction. This upsets the real kung fu students and masters the Furious Five who have trained and studied kung fu for most of their lives.

Po at first jokes and stumbles his way through training but finally after some creative teaching Po gains some coordination and learns kung fu to become the Dragon Warrior and receive the Dragon Scroll. This movie is full of jokes and site gags that will make both kids and adults laugh, it's full of deep Confucius like sayings, and in the end it has a great lesson in life that everyone should take to heart. I won't give away the secret, so round up the kids and check out the movie for yourself. The only negative thing I can say about the film is during the final fight scenes the animation style gets darker so my five year old daughter was frightened a little. So parents with younger kids who scare easily should be ready to comfort your child during these scenes. Other than that Kung Fu Panda is a top notch children's movie that I would recommend for the whole family.