Kung Fu Panda (2008)

What's a panda to do when his dreams of kung-fu awesomeness awake to the cold reality of noodle-making? Clumsy, overweight Po (Jack Black) dreams of becoming a kung fu master like China's revered "furious five," but instead seems destined to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather in the restaurant business. When great leader Oogway has a vision that the imprisoned kung fu warrior Tai Lung (Ian McShane) will soon escape, he declares it time to choose China's dragon warrior--one kung fu master deemed worthy of possessing the dragon's scroll and its secret to limitless power. Po and all the townspeople rush to the Jade Palace atop the highest mountain to witness the contest between Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogan), Crane (David Cross) and Viper (Lucy Liu), but Po is locked outside the palace. After a miracle of sorts, Po lands inside the palace gates, where he is chosen as the dragon warrior and placed under the tutelage of the decidedly non-plussed master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman). An unconventional student to say the least, hilarity reigns as Shifu tries desperately to make Po into some semblance of a kung fu warrior. Can Po possibly fulfill his destiny as dragon warrior, or was Oogway's final decision a critical mistake? A film rich with hilarious moments, superior animation, and an important message about believing in oneself and the power that comes from within, Kung Fu Panda is great entertainment that will have the whole family laughing and begging for more. (Ages 3 and older) --Tami Horiuchi




Stills from Kung Fu Panda (Click for larger image)

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DreamWorks delivers on family friendly animated feature

DreamWorks seems to have struck gold with this nice family friendly film. Top-notch animation, a humorous performance that isn't too silly and a great story about finding the Dragon Master from within shine through on the disc-based version of this film (at least it shines very nicely on the Blu-ray disc).

As some have noted the Blu-ray package unfortunately doesn't include all of the material of the DVD package, but it doesn't mean those with Blu-ray players shouldn't grab this excellent disc. The animation comes through extremely well and the level of detail in this Blu-ray rivals that of a disc I would previously have called reference quality (the Disney movie about a rat named Remy ;-)).

Don't fear investing in this disc as it's sure to be a treasured addition to your own collection. November 16, 2008

In my opinion, this was average.

I like almost all the good movies that come out, and bought this blu ray just because of the Amazon reviews. Needless to say, I wasn't all that impressed. There were some partially funny moments and the animation looked amazing, especially towards the end, but overall it was just kinda not that entertaining in my opinion. That's all. November 15, 2008

A brilliant animated movie!

In China, a lazy and fat yet lovable Panda named Po (Voiced by Jack Black) is a daydreamer who dreams of being a warrior and joining with the famed Furious Five. Of course it's all pipedreams for him as he works with his unsusual dad (Voiced by James Hong) who serves noodles, but one day as the great masters ChiFu (Voiced by Dustin Hoffman) and Oogway (Voiced by Randull Duk Kim) wants to choose who the Dragon Warrior is but when he accidently gets chosen by Oogway he is believed to be the chosen one to fight against an escaped criminal named TaiLung (Ian Mcshane) who's very powerful and strong. Shifu with the furious five known as Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Viper (Lucy Liu), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Crane (David Cross), and Mantis (Seth Rogen) seem to dislike Po as they don't think he's the true Dragon Warrior but according to Oogway they must train him from clumsy fat-oaf to savior to the village.

Very entertaining, hilarious and heartwarming animated martial arts comedy from Dreamworks that is their greatest animated movie since "Shrek 1 & 2" or "Over The Hedge". This is the first time for Dreamworks not to use pop culture references or modern music (except at the end credits) but focuses on straight storytelling with good timed humor and great animation to go with it. I love how the CGI is realistic to go with some imaginative traditional animated dream sequences and ending credits that would remind viewers of "Ninja Scroll" and "Samurai Jack". Han Zimmer's music score is outstanding yet very Asian and the film also uses heart to go along with it including a nice hidden message about what a secret can be.

This blu-Ray is mindblowingly awesome with it's brilliant picture and sound quality that will knock your socks off. The extras include two Blu-Ray exclusives like The Animator's Corner with interviews with storyboards and BD-Live fun features, Trivia Track, Featurettes, audio commentary, Kung-Fu Fighting Music Video, How to Use Chopsticks featurette, Food Network Exclusive: Alton Brown at Mr. Ping's Noodle House, Interviews with the cast, Save the Pandas foundation spot, Learn how to Draw Po featurette and a game. I recommended this movie to the whole family, adults and kids alike as this is crowd pleasing entertainment. November 14, 2008

Funniest animated movie in years!

I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. I just rented the Blu-ray and watched with my family and everyone absolutely loved this movie! Very highly recommended and the Hi-def picture and sound are reference quality. November 14, 2008

Kung Fu Panda

Wow!!! It sure is a great funny movie!
I think that Jack Black makes a good panda.

So get it on blu-ray today. November 13, 2008

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