Tops at the Box office this week, beating out Zohan, was the Dreamworks animated film, Kung Fu Panda!

 

 

Dir(s): Mark Osborne, John Stevenson  Stars:  Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman

 

Synopsis:  Po the Panda is the laziest animal in the Valley of Peace, but unwittingly becomes the chosen one when enemies threaten their way of life.

 

One of the problems with these family CGI movies is that they are such a cash cow that the studios know they can pump out the worst piece of garbage imaginable, and still rake in the dough-ray-me.  Usually, Pixar takes more time and care with their releases, resulting in much higher quality work than Dreamworks animation.

 

That being said --- Kung Fu Panda registers as an above average Dreamworks cartoon.  It has a tight running time of 88 minutes, which you know I dig.  The animation and design are both fun, and well done and some of the actions sequences are electric.

 

However, note that I said Kung Fu Panda was a better than average DREAMWORKS animated movie.  That was sort of a backhanded compliment.  As much fun as Kung Fu Panda is, like many of the other flicks in the Dreamworks animated catalogue, they haven't scored a home run here.  The movie is very formulaic and they might as well have personally sent a gang of toughs to your house to beat you over the head with their "believe in yourself" message.  Yes, it's a good message, but even in a kids movie, the message should be subtle enough that you feel it, without having it stated outright.  All that is sloppy writing, which was my point --- they pump them out without paying that much attention to how effective it really is as a movie.  I don't think Pixar would do that in a million years.

The bottom line?  Kids under 12 will love this movie.  Adults will be able to sit through it and should find some of it amusing.  But it will be forgotten completely when Pixar releases WALL-E on June 27th. 

 

3 Dorks out of 5 on the Geek-o-Meter!