Everybody Was Kung Fu Animating - ****1/2

Shark Tale was brewed in lukewarm waters and Shrek had enough meat in it for two sequels, but the world was yet to see a truly original, digitally sophisticated entertainer from Dreamworks Animation.

That film has arrived, and it is called Kung Fu Panda.

It's an underdog story, predominantly, with predictable finger wagging at those who underestimate the power of the unconventional hero. But what makes this movie such a brilliant piece of work is the fact that it takes both kung fu and underdogness very seriously, without the film becoming a drag. The film does poke some healthy fun at Zen philosophies that are so integral to the genre, but does so without being irreverent.

In a peaceful valley in China, Po (Jack Black) the panda secretly dreams of becoming a kung fu master while working in his goose father's noodle restaurant. Master Oorgway, a tortoise and head of the kung fu school at the top of a rather formidable mountain, has a premonition that the evil snow leopard Tai Ling, a former student of Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), will escape from prison and come to the mountain to steal the mysterious and sacred Dragon Scroll. Everyone assumes that one of the Furious Five (also Shifu's students), comprising the Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu), Monkey (Jackie Chan) and Crane (David Cross), will be chosen for the scroll. However, because of some unusual slapstick circumstances, Po gets chosen instead, much to the chagrin of both Shifu and the Five.

How Po manages to win their hearts, trains to fight Tai Lung and tries to become worthy of the Dragon Scroll forms the rest of the story, and what a laugh riot it proves to be. Black is brilliant as the overweight, but determined Po, whose wide-eyed fascination for kung fu allows him to endure his teacher's and friends' dismissal and insults. There are moments where the film very convincingly raises doubts regarding Po's ability to succeed at this daunting task, and even arouses a mild fear as Tai Lung draws nearer to his goal, and seems unstoppable because of his skill and strength. These aspects form fantastic ground for the final, highly inspired, original and entertaining battle between Po and Lung, that becomes the final plank in the bridge this film builds between animation and kung fu.

Dreamworks has shown its ability to create memorable characters in the past, but none have been as much in character as Kung Fu Panda. If this is a sign of things to come from Dreamworks, Pixar finally has a really strong contender.