Kung Fu Panda Review

It's a startling fact that hardly any animated offerings, despite positioning themselves in the family arena, have tried to balance the charming characters with some bold action set pieces that might appeal to the adolescent bracket of the market. Very few have tried to push the boundaries of the medium. Yet this CGI 'toon from DreamWorks Animation, the same studio that brought you the "Shrek" franchise, purports to do just that…and it does so quite admirably.

"Kung Fu Panda", as the name might suggest, really does deliver some great martial arts-inspired moments. Directors Mark Osborne and John Stevenson manage to crank things up a notch with a thrilling rope bridge showdown almost at the mid point of the film. Not only is this scene inventive, involving the film's famed Furious Five, each with differing styles of attack, but it is made all the more keener for the fact that this sort of thing is rarely even tried in films of such ilk. But more than the ambition of those involved, "Kung Fu Panda" excels due to its characters - all of whom are terrifically voiced by a pitch perfect cast.

Po the Panda (voiced with predictable awesomeness by Jack Black) finds himself out of the noodle kitchen and into the fire when he gatecrashes a sacred ceremony. Chosen by the old sage Oogway (a scene stealing turtle voiced by Randall Duk Kim) as The Dragon Master, the villagers' fate rests in the podgy lap of Po. Soon the rotund wannabe is beaten from pillar to post by Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and the aforementioned Five (led by Angelina Jolie's Tigress) in order to ready Po for the coming onslaught of the evil Tai Lung (Ian McShane).

OK, so the pat mysticism maybe a touch too on the nose even for the younger members of the audience (going along the lines of self belief and inner strength). But this doesn't stop "Kung Fu Panda" from being a fun ride all the same. With a healthy injection of patented comedy from Black, some jaw-dropping action scenes, and the best old master since that little fella out of "Star Wars", "Kung Fu Panda" has positioned itself as one of the most entertaining events of the summer.