KUNG FU PANDA [2008] review

I’ll be the first to admit I’m a cinema snob, so to speak, so it’s is extremely rare that I ever watch a movie like KUNG FU PANDA, let alone pay to see it in a theater (especially at Tokyo prices of ¥1,800 {$18}).  However, there is a brand new movie theater in Shinjuku that was supposed to be pretty nice.  And I knew the people I was seeing the movie with would really enjoy it, so I acquiesced.  This is also the first Jack Black movie I’ve ever seen that didn’t have KING KONG in it or a lot of elitist music dialogue.  

To summarize, this movie is just one long fat joke based on an overused story of a son wanting more than the same line of work and/or life as his father.  I laughed exactly once, when one character said, “I wish my mouth were bigger,” in regard to wanting to be able to eat more delicious noodle soup at a time than its current small mouth allows.  

I am not a fan at all of CG animation, and PANDA did nothing to remedy that.  The only watchable CG movies are Pixar films.  I don’t know what they do differently, but there is just much more life to the characters and images they put on screen.  I saw no real soul in any PANDA character.  The characters’ eyes were dead and simplistic, as one friend I saw the movie with pointed out.  I would of much rather of the movie use the same animation style as the opening scene and the ending credits.

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