Kung Fu Panda

Kung fu Panda is quite deceptive. It comes across as a "different" cartoon that benefits from a decent setting, charismatic voices, and excellent (!) action scenes. However, on the climb up the final stairs, the story gradually runs out of steam enough to just wheeze out a few moral lessons, and the viewer realizes that DreamWorks has actually just reworked the first Shrek model, without pop culture references and with more winking at children. That’s too bad because they could have shaken hands with Pixar with that awesome animation. (26.10.2008)

They may not be as good as Pixar, but you can’t say that the guys at DreamWorks aren’t trying. Kung Fu Panda is a great martial arts movie, a tribute to older Chinese movies (a great scene with the last dumpling, by the way ;-), and also a great cartoon about a big, fat, panda with the snappiest of lines. And I was overjoyed whenever Mr. Turtle (Master Oogway) made an appearance. He had greater charisma than anybody I know. (30.10.2008)

A bomb that animated competition can hardly catch its breath and possibly the last chance in which Dreamworks at least once successfully tried to equalize more successful rivals. It relies on its certainty, but it has heart, an incredible dose of martial arts fandom, and above all, so much exaggeration, humor, and sentiment that it elevates the legacy of adventurous Disney movies to a new level. And comparing it to Shrek is completely out of place here - perhaps no one wants to convince me that Po, as an individual with a desire to become a hero since forever, can be compared to a grumpy troublemaker who only embarks on adventures against his will. The unknown twins of screenwriters and directors have boldly stepped into the world of success. It's been almost ten years since I watched it, so I don't understand why only the former is often mentioned, but at least I'm glad for that. (26.01.2009)

You too can do what a toucan can. And when I see a panda, I jump with joy and start laughing, kinda. A panda with a gut like a hippo and the power of kung-fu. While I was expecting a regular DreamWorks ado. In other words, one pop-culture reference haphazardly after another, a worn-out edit sequence to the tune of a pop hit and loads of parodical joking around that we’ve seen (at least) a hundred times before. For all the Chinese saints, imagine this: somebody had the amazing idea of not doing a parody on kung-fu movies, but instead a completely classic, while lightweight and kid-friendly, kung-fu picture with everything that this brings. The good and the bad things. Although this Panda odyssey isn’t one of the peak of kung-fu genre, it is the best animated representative of the genre that I know (on the other hand, I don’t know too many of them). And who would have guessed that a family animated movie would treat me to the best and most ingenious action sequences this year. I just hope that Master Shifu and his followers don’t spoil it with a part two, which probably won’t take long to appear. I almost want to add the word “unfortunately". (14.06.2008)

Kung Fu Panda is beautifully made. Not pretty or nice, but really beautiful. And I don't just mean the animation. I was struck especially by the great color stylization of each scene and their design in general. Together with Zimmer's music, all of this made for an almost magical experience, if it weren't for... The story. It's just plain ordinary. Po is likely to become a hero, although no one around him, not even himself, expects it. So I was hoping for a lot of jokes, but Panda is not exactly full of them. Fortunately, though, there are likable characters (I liked the master dubbed by Dustin Hoffman much better than the main character) and briskly and humorously filmed fight scenes (the battle "for the dumpling" leads the way). Three and a half stars. And I just decided to round them up. Just because. (05.05.2010)