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"Kung Fu Panda" is the new school of animation up there with "Finding Nemo", "Toy Soldier" and "Shrek". The art work is dazzling and the interaction of the creatures equals the art work.
The only quibble I have with animated films today is that they have to get into deeper stories, more than the loser becoming a hero, dealing with subjects that affect adults.
I have not been, or am I, a fan of Jack Black. I have only seen him in 2 or 3 movies and he has either been miscast ("King Kong") or been obscene, crude and/or rude. I really enjoyed him in this as he seemed to fit the character and his voice was very versatile. There were 2 sort of crude bits but they were very quick. The pander and Black's voice are very animated!
The big surprise to me, and it was a good one as I am a BIG fan of his and lately he has been getting very hammy and making fair to bad movies, was Dustin Hoffman. He is superb in the role as Mister Shifu. Hoffman really throws his voice and himself into the vocal role.
I, also, am not that familiar with Angelina Jolie as far as movies go. I think I have seen her in two movies but have seen her more in pictures in papers and magazines. She really is the only one I found fault with in the movie as she just seemed to be voicing the role as a tigress instead of being one as the other characters are. Not being familiar with her voice I thought she would be the less distracting actor in the film but since she didn't seem to fit the animated tigress or sound like one was distracting it itself.
Another standout, which wasn't surprising, was Ian McShane as the villain. His voice, the animation and the character are all in sync.
Hoffman, McShane and Black sell this movie and Hoffman sells the thought, "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift: That's why6 it is called 'the present."
I've been saying that for years!!!
