Hands down the most visually striking of DreamWorks Animation's releases, this lively CGI comedy is tailor-made for Jack Black.
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09/10/08
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Kung Fu Panda (2008)
75
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:32
Fresh:24
Rotten:8
Average Rating:6.7/10
Consensus: Kung Fu Panda has a familiar message, but the pleasing mix of humor, swift martial arts action, and colorful animation makes for winning Summer entertainment.
Theatrical Release:Jun 6, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $215,395,021
Synopsis: "Kung Fu Panda" features Jack Black as Po the Panda, a lowly waiter in a noodle restaurant, who is a kung fu fanatic but whose shape doesn't exactly lend itself to kung fu fighting. In fact, Po's... [More]
Starring: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan
Director: Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
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Reviews for Kung Fu Panda
Top CriticThe aphorisms creak. The plot's an open book. But all of those clichés are part of the joke in this ebullient ursine coming-of-age tale about a humble panda destined for greatness.
07/18/08
Top CriticThe action tends to blur into a whirlwind of slapstick chaos.
06/10/08
Top CriticThe film settles into a succession of ritual spoofs of the kung fu genre, and peddles the sort of cloying preachments about self-esteem and human potential -- panda potential -- that little kids hear all the time on TV.
06/06/08
Top CriticEverything that happens in this dull tale of Po, a paunchy panda who becomes a zealous kung fu fighter, is telegraphed well in advance.
06/06/08
Top CriticNeither as original as Ratatouille nor as funny as Shrek.
06/06/08
Top CriticA master [course] in cunning visual art and ultra-satisfying entertainment.
06/06/08
Top CriticKung Fu Panda gets across important and inevitable plot information in ways that are novel and unexpected. Things simply don't happen the way they usually happen in animated stories.
06/06/08
Top CriticA relatively harmless bit of animated fun.
06/06/08
Top CriticThe animation is dazzling, so lovingly detailed you can make out individual hairs on the titular beastie, and full of bright Chinese images.
06/06/08
Top CriticThis is an unashamedly old-fashioned children's movie, and a predictable message is part of the mission. But that's okay; what the movie lacks in surprises, it makes up for in whimsical fun
06/06/08
Top CriticThe nicest surprise about Kung Fu Panda is that it's so much better than the goofy-cutesy title would lead you to expect.
06/06/08
Top CriticThe message -- believe in yourself even when all evidence suggests you shouldn't -- is annoyingly familiar and frankly overdue for a serious debunking, but it's not about to happen here.
06/06/08
Top CriticVery much a Hollywood production -- formulaic, made for marketing and never quite as inspired as it could have been.
06/06/08
Top CriticWith loads of laugh lines, Kung Fu Panda plays with the ying- yang tension of sincerity and irreverance. And it never shirks a popcorn tenet: kernels of wisdom must be tasty.
06/06/08
Top CriticThe kung fu scenes overflow with crisp, thrilling and funny moments that whiz by in the 88-minute run time.
06/06/08
Top CriticEverything about Kung Fu Panda is a little better, a little sharper, a little funnier than the animated run of the mill. It's one of the few comedies of 2008 that knows what it's doing.
06/06/08
Top CriticKung Fu Panda illustrates the dilemma CGI movies find themselves in: They're suspended on a rickety bridge between product and moviemaking, and the boards of our interest are beginning to rot away.
06/06/08
Top CriticIt's elegantly drawn, the action sequences are packed with energy, and it's short enough that older viewers will be forgiving. For the kids, of course, all this stuff is much of a muchness, and here they go again.
06/06/08
Top CriticIt's a howl and amazement for anyone under 12. As is often the way with middling kids' movies, parents who grow tired of the film are treated to a satisfying consolation prize: watching their children have fun.
06/06/08
Top CriticLatest News for Kung Fu Panda
May 14, 2009:
Stevenson Goes from Panda to Minotaur 
"The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break," Steven Sherrill's 2000 novel about a minotaur who works as a cook in a Midwestern diner, will get a live-action/CGI adaptation courtesy... More...
May 10, 2009:
Cannes 2009: RT's 10 Most Anticipated Movies
The Cannes Film Festival will screen nearly 100 films as part of its Official Selection and associated sidebars when it kicks off next week in the Southern France town. The... More...
January 31, 2009:
Kung Fu Panda Dominates 36th Annie Awards
Kung Fu Panda dominated the 36th Annual Annie Awards, the most prestigious awards ceremony for feature and television animation. Wall-E was shut out from every award it was... More...
January 08, 2009:
Broadcast Film Critics Name Critics' Choice Winners
The 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards were given on January 8, 2009, to honor the finest achievements in 2008 filmmaking. A list of nominees follows below, with winners in bold: More...
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