Kung Fu Panda: Critic Reviews

Just about all animated movies teach you to Believe in Yourself, but the image of a face-stuffing panda-turned-yowling Bruce Lee dervish is as unlikely, and touching, an advertisement for that message as we've seen in quite some time.

At once fuzzy-wuzzy and industrial strength, the tacky-sounding Kung Fu Panda is high concept with a heart.

This Panda delivers a cuddle more than a thump.

Everything that happens in this dull tale of Po, a paunchy panda who becomes a zealous kung fu fighter, is telegraphed well in advance.

This computer-animated DreamWorks film is infectious and inspiring, despite one's best efforts to resist its charms.

Kung 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.

This 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

The 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.

The aphorisms creak. The plot's an open book. But all of those cliches are part of the joke in this ebullient ursine coming-of-age tale about a humble panda destined for greatness.

The kung fu scenes overflow with crisp, thrilling and funny moments that whiz by in the 88-minute run time.

With 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.

It'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.

Everything 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.

Hands down the most visually striking of DreamWorks Animation's releases, this lively CGI comedy is tailor-made for Jack Black.

While its storyline might seem familiar (in fact, very familiar if you've seen the recent live-action Jackie Chan/Jet Li hit, The Forbidden Kingdom), there's enough invention and irreverence to make the film feel fresh.

The nicest surprise about Kung Fu Panda is that it's so much better than the goofy-cutesy title would lead you to expect.

Very much a Hollywood production -- formulaic, made for marketing and never quite as inspired as it could have been.

Kung Fu Panda isn't the kind of movie that will make you gasp with surprise as it moves toward its believe-in-yourself destination. But it is the kind of movie that will make you enjoy the journey.

A nice looking but heavily formulaic DreamWorks animation entry.

The animation is dazzling, so lovingly detailed you can make out individual hairs on the titular beastie, and full of bright Chinese images.

A gift in a summer that threatens to be seriously short of quality kid entertainment.

Neither as original as Ratatouille nor as funny as Shrek.

This is the best PG film I've seen in ... well, forever.

It'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.

This is a solid family film material, although one suspects the children will get a little more out of it than their parents.