The voice of Jack Black dominates this amusing and highly entertaining animated pastiche of martial arts films from Enter The Dragon to The Karate Kid. Our protagonist is a bumbling panda called Po, who is the type of flawed lead character that Black has made his own in films such as School of Rock and Nacho Libre.

Action starts in traditional 2-D cartoon with a sequence about a legendary warrior Panda who, in the best traditions of fighting movies, would challenge and beat anyone at the drop of a hat. Then Po wakes from his dream and we enter a CGI world where there is nothing strange in a Goose being the father of a Panda (a family connection that leads to a funny joke inspired by Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker).

Po works for his dad in a noodle restaurant and is crazy about kung fu legends. When news breaks that the legendary Dragon Warrior is going to be chosen after a 1000 year wait he takes his huge girth up an almighty hill to see who of the legendary Furious Five, trained by the guru Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), will be chosen.



The five are made up of animals named after famous martial arts moves: Tigress (Angelina Jolie); Mantis (Seth Rogen); Monkey (Jackie Chan); Crane (David Cross) and Viper (Lucy Liu). Everyone, not least Po, is shocked when the inventor of kung fu Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) states that Po is the Dragon Master. Master Shifu and The Furious Five are bemused and angry at the decision and do everything they can to get Po to quit kung fu school. The stakes are high as snow-leopard Tai Lung (Ian McShane), a former student of Shifu, has escaped from prison and vowed to destroy the village.

From the moment the clumsy panda starts having kung fu lessons the action never ceases. Fans of Black will love the humourous combination of fast talking wise cracks and clumsy behaviour. It's also a major plus that we don't see Jack Black go through his trademark facial expressions and annoying raised eyebrow.

The main focus is on Po's relationship with Master Shifu and how they learn to trust each other and overcome doubts about their own abilities. There is some realism in the fighting and despite their ingenious feats, there is nothing that these animals do that hasn't been seen in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. More could have been made of the talents of The Furious Five, however it's a small gripe in a film that's destined to delight younger audiences in particular.