KUNG FU PANDA

Director: Mark Osborne & John Stevenson
Stars: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross
Year: 2008
Rating: PG

One of 2008's best films opens with the dream of an overweight, clumsy, adorable - but not altogether bright - panda name Po (voiced flawlessly by Jack Black), who is enjoying his vision of being the kung fu master who save his small village in China from destruction ...

Until Po awakens, and has to get up for work in the noodle shop run by his father, Mr. Ping (a duck - or bird of some kind - voiced by veteran film, stage and television actor James Hong). It's never explained how a bird father got a panda son (though it is almost touched on) in the film, but that's unimportant; the two characters are very much father and son in the film, with Po doing his best to please his proud dad ... all the while harboring his own dreams of greatness - of becoming a kung fu master like the world-renowned Furious Five.

But those dreams seem far away, as Po serves his noodles to grateful customers ... until word comes down from the Jade Palace that the great spiritual leader Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) is finally ready to choose the new Dragon Warrior. As the villagers begin their long climb up the grand staircase to the palace, eager to watch the ceremony (for he or she who becomes the Dragon Warrior also gets access to the secrets held within the dragon scroll), Po finds himself stuck at the noodle shop - until his father decides to send him up to the palace with a portable noodle-making stand, in order to get some business from the gathered crowd.

Po's girth makes the climb a tough one, and even when leaving the noodle cart behind he still finds himself just a hair too late in arriving at the palace; the double gates are locked when he arrives. Several failed (and very hilarious) attempts to get in lead Po to literally falling into the center of the action out of mid-air ... just in time for Oogway, to the crowd's astonishment, to declare none other than Po as the new Dragon Warrior.

A decision that totally hocks off Oogway's second-in-command, the diminutive teacher Shinfu (Dustin Hoffman, also brilliant here in a gruff, husky voice) - a kung fu master himself who has been training the Furious Five in order for one of them to be name Dragon Warrior. The Furious Five - Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Viper (Lucy Liu), Mantis (Seth Rogen), and Crane (David Cross) - are also shocked and dismayed at the choosing of the fat, ungainly Po by Oogway as their new leader. Fearing his master has made a grave mistake, Shinfu and the Furious Five set out to show Po just what it would take for him to become a kung fu master - putting the disadvantaged panda through a series of training sessions designed to make him give up his quest right away.

But late one evening, Master Oogway gives Shinfu the news that he's had a vision - a vision of the great and evil Tai Lung (Ian McShane) escaping from his faraway prison. Tai Lung, you see, is a tiger once thought to be the new Dragon Warrior. Trained by Shinfu from the time he was a cub, Tai Lung worked hard at becoming a master of kung fu his entire life, determined to be given the title of Dragon Warrior. But when the time came, Oogway saw darkness in Tai Lung and refused him the title. Shinfu, even in his disappointment, had to trust and believe in his master Oogway's decision - but the verdict sent Tai Lung into a rage, and he tore through the land committing crimes and tearing apart villages until he had to be imprisoned for his crimes. When Shinfu hears of Oogway's vision that Tai Lung will escape, he immediately dispatches a carrier bird Zeng (Michael Clarke Duncan) to the far-off prison, to warn the guard and warden that extra security is needed for mighty Tai Lung.

But when the warning is disregarded and Tai Lung does indeed flee the prison, Tigress and the rest of the Furious Five set out to meet him head on, before he can make it to the Jade Palace ... even as Shinfu does his best to try and train the hapless and helpless Po - the Dragon Warrior, whom Tai Lung is gunning for - in the intricate art of kung fu.

What a funny, warm, and charming film - one that has many funny moments, but also delivers some breathtaking martial arts fight sequences and one-of-a-kind animation ... not to mention one of the best messages you could ever hope to find in an animated movie: believe in yourself. While this isn't exactly a new theme in film, the beauty of this movie is that it makes the point that Po doesn't have to change himself in order to achieve his dream; by the end of the tale he's still the loveable, overweight, clumsy, kindhearted goof he started out the film as ... even as he's evolved as a character, learning to work hard and get his heart's desire without having to change who he is at heart. The actors voicing the Furious Five, while in very minor supporting voice roles themselves, only add to the rich and varied layers of texture that all the actors give to this brilliant film - all backing up Jack Black at his most silly and huggable self ever as Po, a modern-day everyman (or everypanda) that can still be a hero while being himself. What a terrific, funny, and charming film - one that should be up there with Wall-E come Oscar time. ****1/2 - Reel Awesome-Reel Must-See