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My first impression of this movie titled Kung Fu Panda (2008), honestly speaking, was not an illustrious one. In my mind, I imagined an animated film laden with adolescent humour, ‘cutesie’ characters and with a plot as thin as air, targeted mainly at the young. Watching the show has certainly proved how wrong I was. Although it was no mega-blockbuster, Kung Fu Panda (2008) was a pot full of laughs and enjoyable entertainment for everyone in the family.

The star of the show is, of course, ‘Kung Fu Panda’ himself – an obese and melancholic panda named Po leading a mundane life of selling noodles, voiced by funnyman Jack Black. This panda is in love with kung-fu, and he dreams about learning kung-fu and becoming like the local martial arts heroes The Furious Five. The Furious Five are composed of the Tigress, Crane, Monkey, Snake and Mantis; they are the revered martial arts exponents tutored by the widely respected Masters Shifu and Wugui.

The sudden reappearance of Tai Lung the evil snow-leopard, who was Master Shifu’s previous apprentice who went rogue, forced Master Shifu and Master Wugui to choose a legendary Dragon Warrior from the masses. Through a series of freak but hilarious circumstances, Po was selected by Master Wugui. This came as an offending shock to the fraternity as Po was clumsy, lazy and had no aptitude for kung-fu at all, and it was an especially difficult blow for Tigress as it was widely believed she would be the Chosen One. With the selection, began the arduous task of training and imparting skills to Po. As the time ticked away, Po began to pick up kung-fu and even began to impress Master Shifu and the Five. Eventually, Tai Lung reached the city and so, begins the showdown between Po and the evil Tai Lung.

This show is worth the watch. Why? The first thing is that this show is simply funny. Granted, this is a kid’s show, you will not find intellectual punchlines that will blow you away. However, this flick will keep you smiling or giggling away for the better part of an hour, especially at Po’s antics during his training. Some scenes had me doubling over in laughter, like the time when Po was dueling Master Shifu for a dumpling. Another good reason to catch Kung Fu Panda is that it is visually arresting. Po is irresistibly cute while the other characters like Tai Lung and Tigress are so artfully created that it exudes an aura of authority, fear and respect. Furthermore, this is a kung-fu flick and naturally you can expect attractive fight scenes. Although it is computer-generated, the fight scenes are explosive and beautifully choreographed. Each fight was more exciting and pulse-racing than the one before.

It would be unfair to say that Kung Fu Panda (2008) is devoid of a plot or storyline. It does, albeit a very predictable and boring one. However, we do have to bear in mind that this is a kid’s show and we cannot expect a plot too complicated, and it is true that the merits more than make up for this in the visual department. The one qualm I have is that the other characters seem under-developed. The entire crew of superstars voicing the Five seemed under-utilized. Jackie Chan played the goofy but good-natured Monkey but he could not have spoken for than ten lines in the whole show. The movie revolved too much on just Po.

This movie will not blind you by its ‘awesome-ness’ but it is definitely worth the money for your ticket.

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