Hype and expectation have made the wraps on Kung Fu Panda impossible to live up to. I'm not saying this isn't a good film, you could do a heck of a lot worse, but it isn't in the ball park of the Pixar films and the best animation film of the year Horton Hears A Who!
The problem with Kung Fu Panda is that it's all been done before, story wise, and having a fat panda as the lead isn't novel enough to carry you through.
Jack Black certainly relishes the role of Po, a kung fu fanatic who dreams of being the most revered fighter in the Valley Of Peace.
He is awoken from his dream by his father, inexplicably a duck, who runs a noodle shop in town. He then heads off to see the announcement of the new Dragon Warrior and through his bumbling is named as that warrior.
Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) has trained five hopeful warriors - Tigress, Monkey, Viper, Crane and Mantis - as proteges to fight his estranged adopted son Tai Lung who longed to be the Dragon Warrior but was denied and turned evil.
It all sounds so familiar and while there are few truly original stories out there this one doesn't get its head above that comfortable water.
The main problem I had is that everything happened so quickly. It's two-thirds of the way through the movie before Po is trained and the way he defeats Tai Lung (and that's not a spoiler because you don't seriously think he's going to lose do you) is so laughable it's not even that funny.
I know it sounds like I'm bagging Kung Fu Panda quite a lot. It's not a bad film but Pixar don't have much to worry about at this point (until I bring myself to see Wall E which looks truly awful). This is no Ratatouille, no Toy Story, no Cars.
A 7 out of 10.
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