Thursday, October 16, 2008

Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting...



Coming Soon to DVD Movie Review
Kung Fu Panda

Starring:
Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Randall Duk Kim, James Hong, Dan Fogler, Michael Clarke Duncan, Wayne Knight
Director:
Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
Running Time:
92 min.
Rating:
PG for sequences of martial arts action.



DreamWorks is known for animated entertainment that attracts both youngsters and their parents. Kung Fu Panda certainly had a little something for everyone.
Kung Fu Panda follows the adventures of a portly panda named Po (Jack Black) as he attempts to find his destiny as the legendary Dragon Warrior.



Po is the unlikely child of a duck (James Hong), and he longs to escape his "destiny" as a great soup chef. With an opportunity to meet his heroes the Furious Five (he has all the action figures), he attempts to skip out on his duties in order to attend the naming of the Dragon Warrior. His father makes Po take a soup cart to the palace, which sits atop a tremendous number of stone steps.



In a funny sequence, Po ends up face-first on the floor of the courtyard with the enigmatic ancient turtle Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) decreeing that Po, and not Tigress (Angelina Jolie) is the new Dragon Warrior.



The Furious Five turn against him which ultimately forces Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) to teach Po how to become a true kung fu master.



The film features the vocal talents of a number of well-known actors and actresses. Jack Black takes the lead with Po. Dustin Hoffman gives a strong performance as Shifu, Ian McShane lends his voice to Tai Lung, and Jackie Chan gave Monkey his voice, Seth Rogen speaks for Mantis, Lucy Liu hissed as Viper and David Cross plays Crane, and Angelina Jolie is hard to recognize audibly as Tigress.



The underlying story of seeking inner peace and finding the Dragon Warrior in each of us provides a bit of meat to chew on in an otherwise light film.


My eight year old son thoroughly enjoyed the film at a free showing at my college campus and is anxiously awaiting the DVD release for another opportunity to enjoy the movie.


To be released November 9, 2008 on DVD and Blu-Ray
It is a marvelous, mommy-ful life!

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