REVIEW: Kung Fu Panda (PG)

Dreamworks may have got close to Pixar with the Shrek series, but a so-so third instalment of the ogre franchise only served to highlight the latter studio’s consistency. With Shrek Goes Fourth (!) a few years away, Dreamworks are attempting to start a new series with another loveable oaf - this time, a Kung Fu Panda.

Po (Jack Black) is a Kung Fu-obsessed Panda who dreams of one day being one of the ‘furious five’, a team of animals who protect The Valley of Peace. However, Po is fat, clumsy and doesn’t know any Kung Fu. He is thrown into the limelight, however, when he is chosen as the ‘Dragon Warrior’, a saviour chosen by fate to defeat the evil Tai Lung (Ian McShane). Many of the ‘furious five’ are aghast that this amateur is the chosen one, not least Tigress (Angelina Jolie), who believed she would be the one. However, it is up to Kung Fu master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) to turn Po from flabby Panda to Kung Fu Panda before Tai Lung arrives and destroys them all.

Story-wise, it’s a basic ‘unlikely hero’ plot, not unlike the original Shrek. The film’s great strength is to keep things simple, allowing time to concentrate on the characters. There is, as you would expect, an abundance of humour which is all well-written and will raise a few laughs even from the grown ups. The action sequences are actually extraordinarily well done - the choreography is superb, only with any blood or gore omitted for the little ‘uns.

They may as well have called this ‘Kung Fu Jack Black’, as Po is simply the portly comedian in animal form. Over-exposure to Black over the past few years means you either love him or loathe him, but the restraints of family comedy prevent him from going to wild, and he proves a great central figure. Hoffman portrays perhaps the most complex red panda ever to grace the silver screen, filling his character with self-doubt and anxiety. As with Wanted, Jolie delivers an absent, bored performance, and the role would have been better filled by someone with a more distinctive voice. No such trouble with McShane, who channels The Jungle Book’s Shere Khan for a delightfully over-the-top performance.

A summer release may have been a bad choice for Kung Fu Panda, given the insatiable buzz surrounding-you guessed it- Pixar’s Wall*E. This is far from the heights of Shrek, but a funny, enjoyable movie in the mould of something like Madagascar, and for those seeking a bit of school holiday activity, this will do nicely.

Kung Fu Panda is released July 4.