Kung Fu Panda (DVD)

Animated comedy martial arts fable, with Jack Black voicing an overweight panda who becomes a warrior to protect the lands from a formidable foe
In the Valley of Peace, Po the Panda (Jack Black) dreams of being a martial arts warrior. The prologue to Kung Fu Panda is a beautifully animated, stylised 2D dream sequence about Po - "Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose legendary skills were the stuff of legend". Only Black could get away with such lines. In reality though, Po is seemingly destined to take over the noodle business run by his father (Hong), who insists, "We are noodle folk. Broth runs through our veins." Po's only connection with the real martial artists is a fanboy's encyclopaedic knowledge of their moves and deeds.

Everything changes when the venerable tortoise master Oogway (Kim) selects Po, seemingly by accident, to be the "Dragon Warrior", a fabled martial artist who can protect the Valley from the dreaded return of the fearsome Tai Lung (McShane). Oogway's protégé at the Jade Palace, Shifu (Hoffman) and his five highly skilled students - Tigress (Jolie), Monkey (Chan), Mantis (Rogen), Viper (Liu), and Crane (Cross), aka "the Furious Five" - are understandably bewildered, nay miffed at this decision. They resolve to humiliate Po into giving up and leaving the Palace. Po knows full well he's useless, but he's always wanted to be more than just "me", so good-humouredly persists. Meanwhile, Tai Lung has broken out of prison. He believes it's his destiny to be the Dragon Warrior, despite Oogway's decision to the contrary, so he heads back to wreak destruction and claim the mystical "Dragon Scroll".

There's not much in the way of Shrek-style knowing humour here, beyond a fond affection for the kind of mystical mumbo jumbo to be found in many old martial arts movies. Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, the writers who get the story credit here, previously played around with this kind of comedy homage in Bulletproof Monk, but this film is better realised, picking up on elements of Stephen Chow's comedy martial arts movies (Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle).

Its storyline of a nobody given the chance to fulfil his impossible dreams is as hoary as it comes, but the whole endeavour is realised with a highly likeable verve. The cast of characters are like the CGI descendents of The Jungle Book's anthropomorphised animals; they're distinctive, well-rounded and doubtless destined for ranges of much-loved toys and games.

Black lifts Po out of the realm of cliché, while Dustin Hoffman and Ian McShane have a lot of fun bringing their characters to life - especially McShane, who is spot on as the aggrieved snow leopard who has some serious father issues. It's such fun, even the tackiness of the inevitable message about self-belief ("To make something special, you just have to believe that it's special") is made tolerable.
Verdict
Just what you need from a family film - Kung Fu Panda is visually striking, exciting, likeable and, most importantly, funny.