So I had the honor of seeing Kung Fu Panda last night with a bunch of Blue Sky employees and you know….walking into it I didn’t know what to expect. I was hoping that it was going to be a laugh out loud comedy with stunning visuals and something I would go see in theaters more than once….
Boy was I surprised.
It surpassed my every expectation. It was great! Kung Fu Panda was extremely well executed and it was entertaining the whole way through!
So let me start at the beginning… I knew I was going to love this movie the minute the opening scene started because the first 3 to 5 minutes of the movie were 2D animated in Flash. Like it’s recent predecessor “Horton Hears a Who” (another one of my all time favorites), Kung Fu Panda seamlessly integrated 2D and 3D and created a visually stunning scene purely done in Flash. It was spectacular! It filled me with such joy to see that 2D animation is making a come back. If I had pictures of the opening scene I would show you but sadly I do not, when I find some I will post them.
Another reason to absolutely adore this movie: Jack Black. I love Jack Black, he is one of the only actors/comedians who can always make me laugh, b
ut for those of you who find his comedy style so-so or too loud and obnoxious, never fear. Jack Black brought something to the scene that you never thought would come from him…awkwardness. When have you ever seen Jack Black uncomfortable in any situation? Chance are he’s the reason things are uncomfortable right? Well in Kung Fu Panda, Jack Black found a way to make Po the Panda funny and outrageous but at the same time with a sense of humility. He’s awkward and clumsy, he is obviously self-conscious and you can feel that both through the voice acting and the animation. Not only does Jack Black give a fantastic performance but so do all the minor characters and their voice over counterparts: Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, Dave Cross, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen all helped make these crazy characters seem real. Dreamworks has a tendency to create characters and get big time actors to play their roles but sometimes they don’t mesh as well as they’re supposed to…but they hit the nail on the head with this one. Dustin Hoffman as Shifu?! A tiny little raccoon like squirrel…thing….who plays the Panda’s Sensei! Perfect!
The animation was stunning. It had its own style, it wasn’t too realistic but it was believable and I like that. Many 3D animators, especially in video games lately, are striving to achieve the perfect uber realism but that quite frankly…is boring. This movie had a style all its own. The environments and atmosphere were very well done and you could see how much time and effort was put into the fur and details on the individual characters.
The one gripe I had with the movie, or rather not me but a fellow intern of mine noticed was that although the story was very well done and was very solid, the term “Dragon Warrior” got very repetitive.
“You’re the Dragon Warrior?”
“I’m the Dragon Warrior?”
“Yes, you’re the Dragon Warrior.”
“No, I’m not the Dragon Warrior.”
“Then who is the Dragon Warrior?”
And so on and so forth….but it’s so minor it didn’t even bug me.
Kung Fu Panda is truly a gem of an animated movie in a sea of wannabes and lookalikes. It truly deserves to be the number one movie in America and I whole heartedly recommend it to anyone and everyone.
