Kung Fu Panda

A slight cut above such recent computer-animated films as Madagascar and Ice Age: The Meltdown, Kung Fu Panda follows the title character (Jack Black’s Po) through the various misadventures that ensue after he’s selected as his small village’s “Dragon Warrior.” This leaves the exceedingly able Furious Five (Angelina Jolie’s Tigress, Seth Rogen’s Mantis, Lucy Liu’s Viper, Jackie Chan’s Monkey, and David Cross’ Crane) and their stern master (Dustin Hoffman’s Shifu) with little choice but to transform Po into a competent combatant before the arrival of the villainous Tai Lung (Ian McShane), though their efforts are continually hampered by Po’s apparent inability to become a true kung-fu master. Directors Mark Osborne and John Stevenson – working from Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger’s screenplay – have infused Kung Fu Panda with a bright and vibrant visual sensibility that’s certainly reflected in the uniformly energetic performances, as Black and his myriad of costars effectively (and convincingly) bring their unapologetically broad characters to life (and as good as Black is here, it’s ultimately Hoffman who stands out as the film’s MVP). It’s only as the repetitive nature of the movie’s structure reveals itself that one begins to grows antsy, with the surprisingly uneventful midsection devoted almost entirely to an increasingly tedious series of training scenes and fight sequences. By the time the unexpectedly thrilling finale rolls around, however, Kung Fu Panda has undoubtedly established itself as an amiable piece of work whose positives generally outweigh its negatives (if nothing else, the filmmakers should be commended for their refusal to pepper the proceedings with crass jokes and pop-culture references).

**1/2 out of ****