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KUNG FU PANDA ***

KUNG FU: Panda Po is clumsy and podgy

Sunday July 6,2008

By James Mottram

SAY what you want about DreamWorks’ latest animation, but it does what it says on the tin.

Kung Fu Panda is about… well, you’ve guessed it. There’s a panda named Po (voiced by Jack Black) and, in the words of Keanu Reeves in The Matrix, he knows kung fu. Or at least he wants to.

The joke being that Po is podgy, clumsy and works in his father’s noodle store in a tranquil Chinese land called the Valley of Peace.

His father – who inexplicably is a stork of some kind – wants him to carry on the family business. “We are noodle folk,” he says. “Broth runs through our veins.”

Still, after a farcical turn of events, Po is prophesied to become the kingdom’s next Dragon Warrior by the ancient turtle-sage Oogway (Randall Duk Kim).

But the film doesn't strive for greatness

This causes consternation among those vying for the title, the so-called band of highly trained warriors, the Furious Five: Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Viper (Lucy Liu), Crane (David Cross) and Mantis (Seth Rogen).

Po must train with them, under sceptical Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), in order to face the terrifying Tai Lung (Ian McShane), a former pupil of Oogway’s who has escaped from prison with the express intention of wreaking havoc in the Valley of Peace.

Cue plenty of self-doubt, some Rocky-like montages and lines that feel like a series of fortune-cookie proverbs strung together. “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery but today is a gift,” we are told. “That’s why it is called the present.” All very profound, I’m sure, but hardly awe-inspiring.

The Cinemascope animation is lush with mountainous backdrops and star-filled skies.

No question, though, the Cinemascope animation is lush. Mountainous backdrops and star-filled skies are a wonder to look at, while the sequence when Oogway shuffles off this mortal coil in a storm of blossom is truly beautiful. The scene where Shifu and Po battle with chopsticks over a loose dumpling is also a delight.

If there’s a problem with Kung Fu Panda, it’s that, unlike its panda protagonist, the film doesn’t really strive for greatness. Everything is formulaic or derivative – from the tired theme about following your dreams to the rope-bridge battle sequence that recalls Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom.

While Black’s performance will entrance/irritate depending on your feelings towards him, the other big-name stars, including Jolie, are given precious little to do. Only Hoffman and McShane manage to flesh out their roles.

As good-hearted as it is, even the youngest of viewers will sense Kung Fu Panda is about as sophisticated as a bowl of rice.

OUR VERDICT: 3/5
(PG, 92 mins)