Rocky pounded the underdog way, The Karate Kid took up the title and tweaked it for teens, now a Kung Fu Panda has arrived to inspire the noughties' tweenies and stir some nostalgia in adults. And yes, Kung Fu Panda is that good a film that it can be mentioned in the same breath as two such bigtime classics.
An animated anthropomorphic adventure about Po (voiced by Jack Black), a clumsy and somewhat rotund panda with a penchant for kung fu, Kung Fu Panda is one of those heart-warming, message films for the kids. The most unlikely of heroes, Po works in his father's noodle shop whilst idolising the legendary Furious Five: Tigress (an almost vocally unrecognisable Angelina Jolie); Crane (David Cross); Mantis (Seth Rogen); Viper (Lucy Liu); and Monkey.
But when he is unexpectedly chosen to fulfil an ancient prophecy, Po finds himself training under the tutorship of Master Shifu (a perfectly-cast Dustin Hoffman) and preparing to do battle with the baddest big cat the Valley of Peace has ever seen, snow leopard Tai Lung (a growly-and-great Ian McShane – why he wasn't cast as polar bear Iorek Byrnison in The Golden Compass is beyond me).
Finding out that what he deems his greatest weakness might just turn out to be his greatest strength, so in turn coming to not only believe in himself but to be true to himself, is the evocative message on offer in Kung Fu Panda . It might not be original, it might have been done in kiddie-flicks before, but it is always a welcome maxim for moppets to hear again and learn: you don't need to be the biggest, strongest or coolest kid in school to be a success or impress, you just need to be yourself. It's actually a lesson that needs reiterating for many adults too.
As iconic as the role of Rocky was for Sly Stallone and Daniel Larusso was for Ralph Macchio, so Po the panda looks set to be for Jack Black. As perfect a roly-poly fit for Black's boisterous and bouncy persona as The School of Rock 's Dewey Finn proved to be, the plump, drowsy, always-hungry, huggable black and white bear with a heart of gold could almost be said to be a direct CGI recreation of the great funny man himself.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given Black's involvement, Kung Fu Panda is riotously funny. Mostly riffing on J.B.'s endless energy, lack of smarts and verbal diarrhoea (see, true to his real life persona), there is also a perfectly portrayed and impeccably-timed series of pratfalls attributed to his uncoordinated panda Po. To keep the younglings interested, there are also several kick-ass kung fu action sequences on offer, each one as kinetically exciting as you'd expect – think Stephen Chow's off-the-wall Kung Fu Hustle combined with the referencing majesty of The Matrix .
All of this excellence is brought to life through some truly sumptuous yet stylised animation, combining almost photoreal backgrounds with cuddly toy-type characters. The best big screen animation DreamWorks has produced yet, the animation work, vocal stylings, plot mechanisms and, most importantly, characterisation of Kung Fu Panda is up there on a par with the best work of Pixar, which is pretty much the biggest compliment you could pay in itself.
Four stars
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