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| POSTED Sunday , June 08, 2008 02:48:24 PM |
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Took the brood to see Kung Fu Panda today as a way of escaping the heat while our swimming pool was being refilled.
The film was by far, the best animated film by Dreamworks that doesn't have "Shrek" in the title. Now that isn't saying too much given such underwhelming films as Antz, Prince of Egypt and Bee Movie.
That said, it was a very fun film. No, you aren't going to walk out with a tear in your eye and a smile in your heart like with a Pixar film, but you do leave with a giggle in your belly. And on a day where the temperature hit 98 degrees and the kids were screaming for their pool, I'll take a few giggles.
And boy do you get some giggles.
Jack Black is a riot, as you would expect. But the supporting cast of characters, the "Fearless Five", or whatever they call themselves, are great as well.
You get the obligatory Clark Griswold-esque prat falls and the expected references for pop culture (the crane exlusively uses the crane technique and you get nods to Enter the Dragon and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon). But you also get a lot of fun word play and the sort of expressional comedy last seen in a Tex Avery short.
You also get some great action sequences. When the villain escapes from prison, he rips through the soldiers like a hot knife through butter. While not as chilling as when Sha-nu destroys an entire village in Mulan, this villain (a tiger) has a nice mix of Shere-Kahn's regal confidence (from the Jungle Book) and the Beast's (from Beauty and the Beast) uncontrollable rage. In short, he makes a great psychopath and you actually feel a little for him because all he ever wanted was the unconditional love of his surragate father.
So while the film isn't quite an "A", it certainly kicks the crap out of a B+.
February 3, 1959
The Day The Music Died |
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| REPLIED Sunday , June 08, 2008 03:40:21 PM |
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| REPLIED Sunday , June 08, 2008 04:03:19 PM |
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| REPLIED Sunday , June 08, 2008 11:56:07 PM |
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