Kung Fu Panda

I just saw Kung Fu Panda for the first time today. I can't believe that I haven't seen it until now! It's great and I highly recommend it, especially for families.

Po the (fat) Panda doesn't want to work in his father's noodle shop; instead, he dreams of joining the Furious Five kung fu masters. By a strange and hilariously funny accident, he becomes the Dragon Warrior, the only one who can defeat TaiLung, an evil kung fu master enraged at not becoming the all-powerful Dragon Warrior. Thrown in among all the comedy and a couple thwarted expectations that add to it are some little tidbits of life wisdom. I'm not going to tell you what that wisdom is because I think you should see the movie.

I was a bit nervous with Jack Black being in the movie, but it wasn't crude at all with very little body humor, and Dustin Hoffman and Angelina Jolie also add their vocal talents. The main characters were developed well, and the kung fu was based on actual moves (think Dreamworks animal version of Forbidden Kingdom, which was also good movie). The plot was fairly predictable, but the humor and backstory was worth it. The only thing that could have made this movie better was lots of Orville Redenbacher's butter popcorn and kids.