If you’ve got kids, you’ve probably already seen Kung Fu Panda, but if you haven’t – seen it, that is; Constant Viewer doesn’t care if you have kids -- you could do a lot worse at the bijou this weekend. Its got a star studded voice cast (CV has a hard time thinking of Jack Black as a star, but there it is), humor and pathos (Black strikes CV as a much more sympathetic character as a panda), excellent animation just a step or two short of Pixar’s (which is as good as DreamWorks’ animation is ever going to get), wonderfully choreographed martial arts action sequences (which is to say they’ve stolen from the very best live action kung fu films) and even a decent story. What’s not to like?
Okay, so the story is a little, um, shopworn. Po (Black), the heir apparent of a noodle pushcart business, dreams of being a great warrior. Through dumb luck – or is it fate?!? – he ends up getting picked as the Dragon Warrior over the “more worthy” Furious Five, different animals supposedly representing different martial arts styles. Their teacher, Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), must train Po to defeat his former greatest student, now gone bad, the snow leopard Tai Lung (Ian McShane). Wacky antics ensue and, what’s more, just like in an afternoon special, we all learn something about being true to ourselves in the end. Yeah, it’s hokum, but it’s fun hokum and a harmless and very entertaining movie for older children and ‘tweens that adults won't mind watching, either.
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