Kung Fu Panda (2008) Movie Review

Director: Mark Osborne, John Stevenson

Writers: Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger

Starring: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Ian McShane

Kung Fu Panda is easily my favourite animated movie series that has ever existed. It’s brilliant fun and you can tell that the animators just went mental with the choreography. The movie tells the tale of the true underdog story of a panda who just wants to learn Kung Fu. He encounters adversity and a diverse cast of Kung Fu characters and has to face the ex-communicated snow leopard Tai Lung (Ian McShane).

The reason I love this movie so much is that it has such a brilliant aesthetic. The use of colour throughout is incredible. You go from the vibrant colours of the Chinese valley straight to the dark blues and blacks of the overly secure prison. It instantly sets the mood of each scene you are thrust into along with being great to look at. It becomes extremely clear towards the end when the Hall of Warriors goes from a shining gold to a dull grey to fit the mood.

The title of the movie should inform you that there is a lot of fighting within the movie and it is some of the best I have ever seen. The fact that the movie is animated allows the fights the be really fast-paced and physics-defying while still retaining the fluidity and kineticism required to make a great fight scene. You can see the power put behind each move. This is made apparent when the spherical panda places his large posterior upon the unsuspecting mug of his enemy. The shot slows down and the facial features get squashed and elongated like a water balloon being crushed by a cinder block.

While the movie is aesthetically fantastic, the characters seriously lack development. Specifically Ian McShane’s depressingly generic villain; Tai Lung. His motivations are simple even for a children’s movie and everything he does is predictable and uninteresting. All of his action sequences are memorably impressive, particularly the prison escape scene. The cinematography within that scene is actually incredible as well. However, there was a lot of potential that has been missed. The existing Kung Fu protagonists are also rather forgettable. This is likely born from the fact that there are five of them. You expect Jackie Chan to have more than five lines. (On the positive side, Seth Rogen’s Mantis is pretty funny throughout).

This isn’t quite my favourite animated film but it is certainly close to that esteemed title. The fights are truly mind-boggling and the visuals stick in your mind like a controversial brand of mind control. While not completely weighed down by the forgettable characters, they change a near-perfect movie into merely a fantastic one.

Recommendation Status: Unmissable

Please feel free to leave a comment on either the movie or the review. Say if you liked or disliked the movie. I'm interested to find out what you think!

Frozen (2013) Movie Review

Directors: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Writers: Jennifer Lee, Hans Christian Andersen
Starring: Kristen Bell, Josh Gad, Idina Menzel
Story: Fearless optimist Anna teams up with Kristoff in an epic journey, encountering Everest-like conditions, and a hilarious snowman named Olaf in a race to find Anna's sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom in eternal winter.

The amount of fame this movie received is nothing short of outstanding but can Frozen make good on its promise and bring the hype?

Overall, I feel that this movie was mediocre. It's definitely leaning further in the direction of me liking it than disliking it but it was no apex of modern cinema. I feel like I would have enjoyed this movie far more if everyone and their mothers wasn’t talking about constantly.

My biggest complaint with the movie is the ending. This really refers to the whole movie but is in part caused by the ending. It felt a lot smaller than it really should have been. The potential this movie brought built the plot up and ultimately led to nothing. It felt like they were going to go on a massive adventure across this mysterious and potentially incredible world that the movie created. There’s probably going to be a sequel anyway judging by the fact they could probably buy a small country with the amount of profit from this movie.

On the positive side however, the main characters (while rather predictable) were fantastic to watch. Not only were the songs brilliant but also you could really relate to the characters even though one of them was basically Iceman from X-Men. The acting was about as good as it gets without seeing the actor’s real face.

The animation was great as well. You can really witness how 3D animation is evolving through time. This movie is filled with incredible body language that simply couldn’t be found in earlier 3D animations like Toy Story. While it still resides firmly in the uncanny valley, it is a delight to look at. I think that the animator may have had some sort of crush on the colour blue while making the movie though. (Which is still brilliant).

Frozen is an absolutely amazing movie to stare at for its entire run-time and it features songs that would make your mama say ‘hot diggity, that’s a toe tappin’ tune. It really needed to reach its potential far better and just be bigger. I give Frozen a 7/10