Kung Fu Panda

KUNG FU PANDA

It's the story about a lazy panda named Po, who dreams of becoming a Kung Fu warrior. Unfortunately, broth runs in his veins. (his family owns a noodle shop). Through some comedic mis-steps, Po is chose as the "one" who will fulfill an ancient prophecy and becomes the Dragon Warrior. Po leaves his home to join the world of Kung Fu and trains alongside his idols the Legendary Furious Five - Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Viper and Monkey. Po, along with the legendary Five, does not believe that he belongs which is even more apparent when he learns that the vengeful and evil snow leopard Tai Lung has escaped from his prison and is on his way to exact his revenge on the valley. Can Po rise to the challenge and become the Kung Fu warrior he has always dreamed about? Po puts his heart - and his stomach - into the task and the unlikely hero learns that his greatest weaknesses turns out to be his biggest assets.

Featuring the voice talents of: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, James Hong and many others.

Rating: PG

What a star studded cast. I just love watching movies where you can recognize the voices of some of your favourite actors. My husband and I both enjoyed this film. We both enjoy the humour of Jack Black and this movie has typical Jack Black style written all over it. I love that Dustin Hoffman is in this film. You just don't get enough of Dustin Hoffman these days.

The graphics were great, the storyline was well written. It is rated PG (which typically means 8 and up) and parents, I definitely recommend that you follow the guideline. While this movie was clean in it's jokes; i.e. no over the kids head kinda humour meant to draw in the adults, it does have several dark scenes. Tai Lung, the villain in this movie, is held prisoner in a dark prison drawn in black and reds. The guards have glowing red eyes and and when Tai Lung does his thing, it is violent and very evident that he's fighting to the death. They do actually mention at one point "why didn't he kill them?" So for very young children, this is not appropriate and I was glad that we did not allow our 5 year old to watch it.

On the other hand, if your child is older and has already watched these types of movies in the past, there is nothing else in this film that should prevent you from allowing them to watch it.

What I particularly liked about this film was that they took a person (in this case an animal) that normally would not be the first pick for a kung fu warrior. Through the story everyone learns that it's not about your size or who you are but what's inside and sometimes you can surprise even yourself as to what you can do.

Cheers

Zeemaid

A Mom's Movie Review