Kung Fu Panda

Skadoosh!

Gosh, that word covers so much, and it's hilarious (I couldn't resist). It'll probably be worn out by the end of the summer, but I think that it would be a good thing for kids to run around playing games about unlikely heroes.

Speaking of 'unlikely', I was not very optimistic about my chances of liking the movie when I went into the theater. I went more to accompany someone who is into martial arts (and to have another Angelina Jolie movie stub to add to my peg-board), but I was surprised to find myself enjoying it. I even giggled a few times, and I did not expect that either (It's not that it's hard to amuse me, but if something can make me laugh out loud, it's a good thing).
Instead of a movie that was over-stereotypical to even the untutored (that would be me), I thought it jumped through the usual hoops of "believing in oneself", 'teamwork', 'perseverance' and even 'the importance of paying attention to your teachers, even if they are telling you what you don't want to hear' with more agility than usual.

I found the fight scenes pretty astounding, for an animated film. The fun thing about animation is that a character can do just about anything (I am envious of the outrageous hang-time the characters managed), but animators don't always make sure that the motions are believable, particularly for kids' movies. Like I said before, I don't know much about martial arts, but I really bought the fight sequences (provided a dash of suspending disbelief to allow bouncing, for instance). If you have a more educated eye, please feel free to comment.

The whole movie was well-made (as one could only hope), neither wasting too much time on exposition or denouement, nor rushing the storyline. I particularly liked the various styles for the opening sequence, the main plot and the end credits. I was warned to stay until the end of them, but I don't think I've ever had so much fun watching them go by. The background art was intriguing and kind of educational. It did bug me, however, that I could not clearly see the symbols for each animal; I actually pay attention to that stuff and try to learn them. The scenes painted for background were cute and lasted the entire time; not even the Toy Story movies have bothered to do the same.

I think I could even stand to have this movie playing on the continuous loop that all kids adore, and that's saying quite a bit. (The same could not be said for the trailer--you know, that one that has been playing for the better part of a year?!)