See if this plot sounds familiar: an animated film features a loveable oddball, something of an outcast in their society but a good person at heart, who just wants to prove themselves and do their own thing. Enter: a) an evil bad guy, b) an insurmountable obstacle, c) uncaring parents/elders/friends, d) impotent other heroes, e) all of the above. Eventually, he wins the day, gets accolades, is accepted by those who previously shunned him, and maybe even gets a platonic relationship with a cutesy creature of the opposite sex.
What movie am I describing? Thirty seconds.
Time's up. What's your answer? Mulan? Bambi? Hercules? The Hunchback of Notre Dame? Chicken Little? Finding Nemo? Shrek? Surf's Up? Wall-E? Ratatouille? Happy Feet? Shark Tale? SpongeBob SquarePants: The Movie? Kung-Fu Panda?
Well, if your answer was any or all of the above: You're right!
This whole shenanigan is simply to illustrate the dearth of originality present in Hollywood animation today - be it Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, Fox, whoever or what-have-you. There are occasional exceptions to this rule - Madagascar and Hoodwinked come to mind right away - but to say that most of today's animated films are trawling the depths of cliche would be a generous (not to mention overly verbose) statement. Quite frankly, I am sick to death of these films preaching the trite and cheesy message that you can achieve anything if only you believe in yourself. For once, I'd love to see a Pixar movie that preached rigid conformity and going along with the flow. That, at least, would be original!
Which brings to Kung-Fu Panda. Given the recent piles of mediocrity which have recently come out of the Dreamworks factory, I was surprised by the very positive reviews this film received. Perhaps it had something to make it stand apart from the aforementioned counter-parts?
Well, yes and no. Kung-Fu Panda has a good many positive attributes which deserve praise, but it overall fails to transcend its extremely hackneyed story. However, it manages to get more laughs than drek like Happily N'Ever After and Surf's Up, so that's definitely a big plus.
I won't spend over much time raking over plot details, since the generals have been covered. Po (Jack Black) is a lazy slacker panda who idolizes the Furious Five - a team of martial artists who are being trained by Shifu (Dustin Hoffman - yes, Dustin Hoffman is a karate master). Po seems doomed to life as a restauranteur with his eccentric duck father (the always-welcome James Hong), until he accidentally is appointed the hollowed Dragon Warrior by the senile old guru Ooguay (Randall Duk Kim), even though Po is a hapless failure. Unfortunately, Shifu's apprentice-turned-bad Tailan (Ian McShane) escapes from prison and sets out to destroy his former mentor. I think you can take the story from here.
What does the movie have in its favor? It's generally inoffensive fare, fortunately lacking in gross-out and toilet humor, which is a nice thing in modern animation. The animation is quite striking, filled with pleasing Asian stylization (which would be intriguing if most of the cast weren't white Hollywood celebs), and the action scenes are impressively rendered. There are quite a few jokes which work, mostly due to Jack Black, who has lots of fun with his loser-turned-savior character. The voice acting is nice; Black gives his usual hyperkinetic performance (which works as well animated as it does in his best live-action work), and with a cast consisting of Dustin Hoffman, David Cross, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, Jackie Chan, Michael Clarke Duncan, Seth Rogen, and Ian McShane (to name just a few), it would be hard to miss completely. So, it's a good enough movie, for both the entertainment-starved youngster and the less choosy parent, and at just over 80 minutes it at least doesn't run the risk of overstaying its welcome.
Still, as entertaining as this film generally is, it doesn't change the basic problem. I still haven't seen a great American animated film since Finding Nemo, or at least the first half of The Incredibles. Maybe moving beyond the bone-headedly simplistic zero-to-hero plot would be a good idea? Huh? Nah, why not stick with what works (in bringing in the kiddies)? Not like three year olds really care about plot anyway, but other people watch these films too. I guess I can say Kung-Fu Panda is an above-average spin on a terribly formulaic storyline, and let's leave it at that.
Rating: 7/10 - Recommended
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