One of the biggest hits of the summer, Kung Fu Panda, has arrived on Blu-ray. Was it simply a case of box-office drought, or is it truly a great movie and how does it fair on Blu-ray. I am happy to say it is a satisfying movie and looks and sounds amazing on Blu-ray.
The Movie
Kung Fu Panda is a movie about following your dreams and discovering the inner strength inside of you. This large premise is wrapped around an equally large star, the Panda Po, voiced by Jack Black.
Po is a large, overweight and clumsy Panda working in his adoptive fathers noodle shop. His father simply wants him to be a noodle cook but Po wants to learn Kung Fu like his heroes the Furious Five. The Furious Five is trained by Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and are masters in the art of Kung Fu.
When the ancient Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) announces that the dreaded Tai Lung (Ian McShane) will escape from prison, Master Shifu starts a tournament to have the Dragon Warrior revealed; this warrior will be given the power to defeat Tai Lung. The Furious Five, led by master Tigress (Angelina Jolie) all compete, but Po is dropped in the middle of the arena by chance and is chosen as the Dragon Warrior.
Everyone is outraged, especially Master Shifu, and Po is left to try his best to learn Kung Fu despite all the odds. Animated family films being what they are Po and Master Shifu come to an understanding and they work together to discover his inner potential.
Kung Fu Panda is a movie with a lot of charm and is very fun to watch. Jack Black is pitch perfect as Po and surprisingly Dustin Hoffman is an effective voice for a Kung Fu master. The look of the film is truly wonderful with the humanoid animal creatures looking very much like their animal representation, but also believable as fighters and characters.
The CG animation in this movie is wonderful and the animation is the best I have seen from Dreamworks. There are many little things they get right like remembering damage or little background effects. The intro scene and menu animations use an equally beautiful if different 2D animation style that I would also have liked to see the entire film use.
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