Kung Fu Panda

When I heard that Jack Black was going to star in an animated Dreamworks production populated only by animal characters playing a martial arts wielding panda, my initial reaction was, "What the Fu?" But as the brilliantly rendered characters appeared all over the Internet, followed by clips and blips of animated sequences (and Jack Black-esque comedy), my curiosity was peaked. By the time the theatre darkened at show time, I was giddy as a schoolboy with anticipation.

Po and the furious 5Po is a panda. Not only that, he's a panda who's in the family business of selling noodles to hungry customers. And even more absurd, he's a Panda with a stork for a father (James Wong). Jack Black, playing Po, captures the wild-eyed hero-worship that infects all of us at one time or another, dreaming of joining up with his fantasy world's version of super stars, The Furious Five. His action figures sit precipitously on the window sill of his small shack above the little noodle shop in a town below the great temple where Kung Fu is practiced by his heroes.

With Po the panda, as an unlikely hero, we all know what's coming: Somehow, someway, at sometime, Po will become a Kung Fu master, trained by an ancient master (Dustin Hoffman), and will vanquish a powerful villain. (Oops! Did I forget to say Spoiler Warning ahead? Pretend you didn't hear that last part.)