So can Jack Black do Kung Fu? Based on the movie
Kung Fu Panda, the answer is yes.
I really had no idea if I was going to like this film. As a young boy, I grew up with Bruce Lee and the The Shaw Brothers. I knew that it was going to play at the IMAX and I knew that I had to see it.
THIS WILL BE A SPOILER ALERT REVIEW. IF YOU DO NOT THE FILM SPOILED FOR YOU THEN PLEASE STOP READING THIS REVIEW.
I saw a lot of Kung-Fu film growing up in the 70's and 80's. I heard that Dreamworks was working on an animated 3D film about a Kung-Fu Panda. I was thinking that this will either be good or this will be a huge disaster. Well, I did not like the film. I loved it.
The film opens up as A Panda (Jack Black) has gone to war to save the innocents and he soon has the "Awesome 5" join him and they are going to fight an epic battle. There is only one problem, Its all a dream. You then see the panda wake up and go to his father (A Crane) and work in his noodle store. I loved the little joke about ownership and the "noodle dream"
We are then shown Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) have a premonition that the Evil warrior Tai Lung (Ian McShane), the former protege of his own protege, Shifu,(Dustin Hoffman) a muskrat, will escape from prison, and return to destroy their valley. Oogway orders a formal ceremony to fulfill a prophecy of a mighty Dragon Warrior who can defeat him. To everyone, that is obviously one of the Furious Five, a quintet of supremely skilled martial artists trained by Shifu. Should be picked. So when Po the Panda is selected the story begins and I loved it.
It reminded me about all of the Kung-Fu films that I have seen in the past and I knew that they were going to give it a little twist. It was usually the one who you never expected to be the hero to save the day. What I loved what how Master Oogway said good-bye and gave his little advice to Shifu. You can see Shifu has a task but how do you train a panda?
What was funny was when he realized the it was food that could make the Panda become the warrior and it sure sounded stupid, but it works and it was great.
Then near the end of the film, you see the final battle between good and evil. It took a lot from the Shaw past films. It was a great action scene and it well worth seeing a few times, to see if you really saw all that this part has to offer.
END SPOILER ALERT...............................................................................................................
The film works and was a nice tribute to the past Kung-Fu films. The only complaint I have about the film was that Korean Singer "Rain" sang Kung-Fu Fighting during the end credits. His version was horrible and never needs to be heard, ever again.
Please see the film on the IMAX Screen and it will be worth it.
Grade A
How I saw it. Yongsan IMAX
Opens In Korea. June 5, 2008
Extra scene at the end. Yes
Tai Lung: What are you going to do, sit on me?
Po: Don't tempt me.