It may be an obvious statement to make but DreamWorks Animation Studios isn’t Pixar. It’s no secret that they just simply and plainly haven’t put out anything that equals the masters of the animation world, and nor do I expect them to do so in the future. However their latest flick Kung Fu Panda is a very welcome animated affair; the best the studio has put out in years and one that should entertain young and old alike. Well, for the most part anyway.
Kung Fu Panda tells the story of Po; a big, greedy, lazy and loveable panda who’s passion in life is for kung fu, which isn’t the most useful of things while working in his father’s noodle shop. Unwillingly and very accidentally he is chosen to fulfill an ancient prophecy of becoming the Dragon Warrior. He then gets to carry out his dream by working along side his idols The Furious Five and his new kung fu skills soon get called into action when the threat of a much unwelcome old friend of the village looms after they escape from prison.
While it would be an exaggeration to say that every intended sight gag and joke hits the nail on the head there’s still enough that does work for it to feel satisfying to the viewer. The film fulfills its promise of slapstick humour throughout most of it, with the funniest scenes being when our lovable hero gets beaten up and slammed all over the place by a host of different characters and inanimate objects. It leans towards the more childish of humour more than it doesn’t but who's to going to blame it for that? This is, for the most part, definitely a children’s film and thus a lot of the jokes will have the eyes of the adults rolling. However there’s also a fair few jokes in there for them too, such as when the script makes plays on certain words or phrases that would leave even the brightest of children scratching their heads.
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