Film Review: Kung Fu Panda

Kung Fu Panda is the cutest, truly hilarious film I have watched in a while. Po, the Panda is destined to be a noodle soup vendor while his inner calling nudges him into becoming a kung fu master. He is obese, "cannot see his toes, let alone touch them", and is totally out of breath climbing a few stairs.

He reveres the Big Five, tigress, monkey, snake, crane and mantis, as the be all and end all of Kung Fu. However, in a surprise turn of events, when it is time to nominate the new Dragon Warrior, our roly-poly Panda gets to be "It"!

Therein begins the gaffes, the laughs, the wit and the wisdom. The ancient turtle master blesses the Panda and attains samadhi. The next Guru, Master Shifu, needs a "solid" reminder about the essence of what he teaches. Of course, our friend, Po, becomes the instrument to teach the Master while he undergoes training himself.

Master Shifu recognizes the powerful attraction of food where the Panda is concerned and literally gets him to jump hoops with the "dumpling" at the end of the stick (chopsticks!LOL!). Getting Po trained are some of the most hilarious and endearing sequences in the film. Each one of us can connect with the myriad human emotions of self-doubt, ability, self-worth, fear of failure and hope of success and so on. The ultimate secret is in the dragon scroll- not to be missed!

The ultimate showdown between the highly talented and trained Tai Lung, our villain and our slumbering panda reminds me of some funny fight sequences from Hindi and Tamil movies where the bad guys get tickled and accidentally get hit etc.

A wonderful summer entertainer for the entire family. I am not a great Kung Fu fan, but the narrative and color of the animation balanced with some lovely fluid fighting scenes makes it a visual treat. All said and done, there is certainly a magic about sitting in a dark cinema hall, with the smell of popcorn wafting in the cool, closed air and watching the film unfold on a huge screen and sharing laughs with perfect strangers.