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Reviews Counted:160
Fresh:142
Rotten:18
Average Rating:7.2/10
Consensus: Kung Fu Panda has a familiar message, but the pleasing mix of humor, swift martial arts action, and colorful animation makes for winning Summer entertainment.
Theatrical Release:04-07-2008
Synopsis: "Kung Fu Panda" features Jack Black as Po the Panda, a lowly waiter in a noodle restaurant, who is a kung fu fanatic but whose shape doesn't exactly lend itself to kung fu fighting. In fact, Po's... [More]
Starring: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan
Director: Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
Sticking to a tried-and-true formula (hapless underdog discovers he's the Chosen One) still proves effective when it's done with a snappy pace, eye-popping animation and a cast of game comedic vocal talents headed by Jack Black.
Outside of Japanese anime - and maybe Pixar's The Incredibles - I can't think of another animated feature packed with this much exhilarating, ingenious action.
A parade of pain dominates Kung Fu Panda, which forgoes the rigors of character development for lazy, bone-crunching mayhem.
A nice little adventure that will keep the kiddies entertained for an hour and a half. Mom and dad will find some nice moments as well.
As summer movies get bigger and bigger, they often make us, the audience, feel smaller and smaller. The bright Kung Fu Panda is a simple and lighthearted exception.
Jack Black stars in appealing kid-friendly comedy.
Just about all animated movies teach you to Believe in Yourself, but the image of a face-stuffing panda-turned-yowling Bruce Lee dervish is as unlikely, and touching, an advertisement for that message as we've seen in quite some time.
Another misfit-makes-good movie with nifty visuals but a sodden script.
By all means, gather up the little ones and take them to this perfectly pleasant, very good-looking, modestly funny, dispiritingly unoriginal variant on the nerd-with-a-dream recipe.
I'm no fan of casting big movie stars as voices in animated films, but Black and Hoffman have great fun taking their characters from exasperated adversaries to bedgrudging comrades.
This is a solid family film material, although one suspects the children will get a little more out of it than their parents.
I had a great time.
Jack Black inhabits the animated panda called Po with so much of his signature whimsy that audiences get a double dose of Black's comic persona.
Oh heck, this is my favorite film of the year so far -- A ! Action, depth, fun, comedy, profound messages and it's visually gorgeous.
The movie's crackpot message--'To make something special, you just have to believe it's special'--may best be proven by the existence of this funny, unpretentious, more than bear-able crowd-pleaser.
Even though Panda is one of the last animated flicks that Dreamworks won’t be making in 3D it’s still very easy on the eyes and it should help to keep the studio in competition this summer with the juggernaut that is Pixar.
The colorful locale and battles, not the message, are the thing in this hybrid of family fare and martial arts in which Jack Black is too cute as the chubby misfit-hero but it's Dustin Hoffman and Ian McShane who steal the show with their ironic delivery
Kung Fu Panda may be on the higher edge of the middle rank of computer-animated films, but it'll still provide your kids with a fairly respectable mix of action, amazement and amusement.
Though aimed primarily at youngsters, KF Panda embraces humor that plays well across age groups and nationalities.
Top CriticA nice looking but heavily formulaic DreamWorks animation entry.
Top Critic
May 14, 2009:
Stevenson Goes from Panda to Minotaur 
"The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break," Steven Sherrill's 2000 novel about a minotaur who works as a cook in a Midwestern diner, will get a live-action/CGI adaptation courtesy... More...
May 10, 2009:
Cannes 2009: RT's 10 Most Anticipated Movies
The Cannes Film Festival will screen nearly 100 films as part of its Official Selection and associated sidebars when it kicks off next week in the Southern France town. The... More...
January 31, 2009:
Kung Fu Panda Dominates 36th Annie Awards
Kung Fu Panda dominated the 36th Annual Annie Awards, the most prestigious awards ceremony for feature and television animation. Wall-E was shut out from every award it was... More...
January 08, 2009:
Broadcast Film Critics Name Critics' Choice Winners
The 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards were given on January 8, 2009, to honor the finest achievements in 2008 filmmaking. A list of nominees follows below, with winners in bold: More...
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