ROTTEN TOMATOES: Jack Black Doubted Kung Fu Panda

Jack Black Doubted Kung Fu Panda

Tenacious D to cover Carl Douglas as promotion?

by Fred Topel | January 18, 2008

Now that Kung Fu Panda spots are running at AMC theaters, Jack Black has gotten to see that people like his latest character. He wasn't sure at first and almost turned down the animated movie.

"I remember at the time when they were like, 'Will you do this?'" Black recalled. "I was like, 'I don't like the idea, I don't think it's going to be good, but alright let's do it.' And then I did it and was like, 'That was good. That was funny.' I'm glad that you've heard people like it. That's good. I have not heard any trickle down from that."

Now that final animation is being shown, Black feels good about his panda alter ego. "Strong. Solid. Well built. I've seen like, I'd say 60% of it done. The animation is still being tweaked. I'm going to do a little more vocal work tomorrow actually."

Viewers will recognize Black's voice as he's not putting on any funny accent, and they may even see some of his own kung fu moves. "In the last cartoon I did my character [Shark Tale's Lenny] had an accent. In this one, no. I get really physical because they have cameras there, but they just use it as reference, not as motion capture."

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(1-15 of 15 posts) | Reply

Ruckas356 writes:
on Jan 18 2008 01:54 AM

sounds like it could be funny and fun to watch after i break out wesly pipes and billy bong thorton and get stoned like people in the bible.

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Matanuki writes:
on Jan 18 2008 02:52 AM

Saw the trailer. Looks funny. Good animation. I want this film to be good. The kung fu theme, I admit, makes me biased in its favor. But, hey, whatever. :-)

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ll10201981 writes:
on Jan 18 2008 03:15 AM

GOING TO SEE IT FOR SURE

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Gimy writes:
on Jan 18 2008 05:29 AM

nice product placement with AMC theaters. i saw it at a REGAL theater...uhm. saw the preview last month or the month before that...looks pretty cute. you can't really go wrong with a kung fu theme...or a panda. pick cute animal, and physical comedy. unfortunately it doesn't look as crisp(much like Sharktale) as other kiddy movies though. while watching it i just expected to laugh my 2ss off and then laughs were just mild chuckles. almost like Shrek 3, the execution of the action scenes just seemed a bit off and toned down. hopefully thats because its not complete

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Matanuki writes:
on Jan 18 2008 05:50 AM

Hey guys, don't you just love how on the new and improved RT, every other page asks to log on?

(Reply to this)

Gimy writes:
on Jan 18 2008 06:07 AM

matanuki...thats on you bra, i haven't been asked once to log on.

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TombstoneLawDog writes:
on Jan 18 2008 06:47 AM

Actually, It's not on him- I was just asked to log in again, on this link and on the Crank2 page.

Can't WAIT until they knock the kinks out of this...

As for this movie- feh. I like JB in moderation. Can't say I'm too enthused about a movie where he was like thismightsuckokI'lldoit

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Matanuki writes:
on Jan 18 2008 07:17 AM

Hey guys, don't you just love how on the new and improved RT, every other page asks you to log in? ;-)

(Reply to this)

Matanuki writes:
on Jan 18 2008 07:18 AM

Damnit, another glitch! It hid my comment. And now I got virtually the same post on here twice. lol. Lovin' the new set up, guys.

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Slipperypick writes:
on Jan 18 2008 07:31 AM

In reply to this comment (#1486992)
I haven't had to log in more than once.

I have a feeling Kung Fu Panda is going to be about as good as Madagascar. Which is to say, not very good. The cast is great and the animation looks good, but if the Star has doubts about how good it is... Well there's probably a good reason for that. Jack Black knows funny and his gut told him that it wasn't.
We'll see.

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Bane Of Anubis writes:
on Jan 18 2008 07:41 AM

In reply to this comment (#1486992)
Maybe only users w/ T's in their names have to log in multiple times :)

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Gimy writes:
on Jan 18 2008 08:37 AM

it just keeps my name up all the time, quite frankly i can't remember my password. but i've had almost no trouble cept with the links where it keeps sending me back to the main page.

i agree wit Slippick, when an actor initially thinks "this sucks"...its never really a good sign. Madagascar(a flick that did NOT need a sequel, but is getting one) is a great initial comparison. it looks good at first but while watching it you could see its just a rip off of other recent kids movies. seriously, black voice playing a zebra. uhm...i liked it better when it was a DONKEY played by Eddie Murphy. usually one movie comes out and rips off another. Nemo-Sharktale-the Reef. happy feet/surfs up. Flushed away/ratatuoille. i don't see any other kung fu, nor panda movies...so that should be one good sign

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Matanuki writes:
on Jan 18 2008 01:52 PM

In reply to this comment (#1487285)
Hey what the hell is wrong with a "black voice" doing a zebra?.. On the real though, you make a good point about the rip offs. But sometimes it's just what storytelling has always been. Which is innovation, either a good or bad example of it. I actually thought Madagascar was pretty good. And I thought Ratatuoille was and is far superior to Flushed Away. As for Jack Black, I consider him a hit or miss kinda guy. And I think we all can agree that even some of the greatest films started out as dumb sounding ideas. It's all in the execution.

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dextermorganfan writes:
on Jan 19 2008 10:47 AM

I love how Jack thought "this is no good" but then said "alright lets do it anyway", what a SELL-OUT, Hollywood is crazy.

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alarson37 writes:
on Jan 20 2008 09:35 AM

From my knowledge (which is admittedly not complete but what the heck, I'll talk anyway), it's not always that easy to tell in advance what will be the good and what will be the bad movies. Movies become what they are over the long term process of writing, casting, filming (animation in this case), editing and so forth. I can think of many movies where the concept sounded absolutely horrible, yet the movie ended up being really good, as I'm sure anyone reading this could do as well. Sometimes, even if something dosen't sound like the best idea ever, something about it makes you decide to go forward.

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