exactumondo. wait, i just thought of this. maybe this guy is kidding. maybe its so bad, he thought it might be funny to make a joke.
Haven’t been that impressed with what I’ve seen from Kung Fu Panda. While it’s not animation, I’m more interested in Kit Kittredge than KFP.
I’m actually looking forward to seeing Kung Fu Panda. The first trailer I saw of it was a little off-putting at first, but it wasn’t until I saw the one particular trailer (the longer one that finally came away from hype of the kung fu styles and actually told some of the story) that I began to get interested. A spent a few minutes today surfing the movie’s website, and it actually looks like Dreamworks put some effort into this one.
My inital reasons for wanting to see it has been that’s it’s animated (honestly, it just looks like it’ll be a fun movie either way), and I wanted to see what they made out of this new Jack Black character. Jack’s always made me laugh, his character was a sweetheart in The Holiday, and, to be honest, I love his character from Shark Tale. Just the look of Jack’s character from KFP makes me laugh - it looks just like him. 
I know how important story is to a movie, don’t get me wrong. But sometimes I wind up really loving certain animated movies purely for the fun of watching it, which a suppose comes from good characters and design if nothing else. Either way, I’m willing to see the movie once it’s out. For anyone who’s willing to give it a try themselves, Yahoo! Movies just released an extended clip from the movie. Take a look at it - they do tend to exaggerate with some stuff, I admit, but it made me smile. 
You be the judge.
[url]http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/kungfupanda.html?showVideo=1[/url]
Ah-haha! His (panda’s) facial expression at the beginning of the ordeal was so funny! (I know you did not just eat MY dumpling!)
I totally agree with CGIC, I’m looking forward to this movie.
Me too. It looks funny and the characters look adorable.
I’m up in the air about that one. I’ve seen one trailer of it, and already I can tell there are a ton of inaccuracies in that dont go along with the books. As usual, they’ve changed almost everything but the names of the characters
For some inexplainable reason, my sister’s boyfriend and my brother couldn’t stop laughing hysterically when the commercial came on when we saw Narnia. They looked so funny laughing hysterical that they got me laughing. xD I dunno what was so funny about it … either it’s a guy thing or they had too much sugar. 
It looks like a movie I’d see on DVD, and that’s only if my friend who sells them will let me take a pre-viewed one just to watch it once and give it back. 
I’d like to see it but I don’t think I’d like to keep it.
ya. i hate when they do that. like the molly one, in the books she doesn’t get to be miss victory, but i guess they decided that would be too depressing for the movie.
Ebert and Roeper (Phillips and Roeper) just did an early review of KFP, and it was the most glowing review I’ve heard from them since Ratatouille, going as far as saying it will have “a place in DVD collections alongside Pixar classics.” I have enough faith in them that I expect great things at this point.
It’s worth remembering that reviews tend to make movies look dopey, especially given the key demographic of this particular movie.
Finally, while Dreamworks is (rightly) lambasted for shameless trotting out movies of dubious quality for the Shrek franchise, as well as some other earlier subpar work, there have been glints of hope (I personally enjoyed Over the Hedge quite a bit), so while I understand the competitive spirit and all that, KFP looks like a quality film, and I am all for more quality CG features.
Kung Fu Panda does show promise, and it’s unfortunate that it will be competing against Wall-E at the box office, which means I will not be seeing Kung Fu Panda in theaters. That said, I remember hearing about Kung Fu Panda several years ago, so obviously Dreamworks has confidence in this concept.
Two words: Dustin Hoffman. drools
I probably won’t see it in theatres, but with the positive reviews it has been receiving so far, I may be convinced to watch it eventually. As long as the comedy isn’t too similar to that of Madagascar… oh man, that movie was terrible.
I’ve seriously been doing my homework, and what I’ve seen footage-wise already looks fantastic. And Dustin Hoffman’s character has unexpectedly become a favorite character for me - he’s a bit of a firecracker. They’ve done really well with him. Plus, it looks like - compared to Madagascar - they’ve really made something better out of this one.
I know I’m gushing; let’s just say I have a good feeling about Kung Fu Panda.
Out of my love for the penguins, I must stand up for Madagascar. Come on, it wasn’t that bad! Allow me to remind of you Shark Tale and Shrek the Third. 
I agree with CGIC and A - Hoffman’s character looks like a winner.
I just got back from seeing it. Well done DreamWorks! I was extremely impressed with the scope of this movie. Most impressive character design since Surf’s Up and the most beautiful environments since Ratatouille. It was great such cinematography in CG flick. And it was great to see DW step up.
The first minutes had me twitching in fits of excessive glee. [spoil]The animation was reminiscent of Samurai Jack, but new technologies and techniques have the characters less stiff and scene flowing better. (I will admit, however, that a lot of SJ’s beauty was in the style of animation they used.)[/spoil]
The fight scenes were extremely well choreographed, especially for an animated movie. The score wasn’t anything epic, but I still liked it. Beautiful and flowing. Plus, c’mon, it’s my beloved Zimmer.
I will say that my favorite part about this movie is the phenomenal character design. I marveled at it the whole movie.
I can’t compare it to ay Pixar movie, and that’s the way it should be. This is a DW movie that stands up well on it own. Creative and original.
Madagascar was OK, but nothing I would buy on DVD. If it didn’t have the penguins and lemurs it would’ve been a total bust. As for Shark Tale and Shrek the Third, must agree with you on that one, they are Dreamworks at their worst. What really makes it bad is both movies had great premises and actors but they failed on every level (Will Smith, Martin Scorsese, and Robert De Niro should’ve made for a much better movie but they had that annoying Jack Black character).
As for Hoffman’s character in KFP, he was alright, but reminded me way too much of Yoda.
I won’t write a long review of Kung Fu Panda like I did with Horton Hears a Who because I feel its just a waste of my time so I give you a sum of my thoughts. As always, I don’t give scores.
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Traditional animation at the beginning and end credits done by James Baxter Animation (the same guys who did the animation for Enchanted) is awesome and very much in the vein of Samurai Jack. Much better and less childish than the ones in Horton (not to mention much more appropriate considering the story).
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Story is good but very simplistic and felt like you’ve seen it before (what do you expect with a movie paying homage to almost every Kung Fu movie ever made).
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Animation is very good. Fight scenes are well choreographed and worth the price of admission alone. The whole art is very stylized and beautifully done. Not nearly as wacky as Horton but still pretty crazy.
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The movie is a serious Kung Fu movie with plenty of action but has a whole comedic overtone to it (think Kung Fu Hustle).
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Voice acting is great. Jack Black does redeem himself for that annoying shark in Shark Tale and Dustin Hoffman was great as usual (is their anything he can’t do). This being an animated movie taking place in China, of course the greatest chinese voice ever, actor James Hong is in this. Lots of money wasted on celebrity voices that play no big part in the movie and would’ve been better off just being a nobody (was it me or did Jackie Chan only have one or two lines in the whole movie?). Also, stop using Seth Rogen’s voice in animated movies. It just doesn’t work at all and I can never get into his character (that or your just not utilizing him right). I loved him in Superbad and Knocked Up and I’m sure I’ll love Pineapple Express but I can’t stand his voice on an animated character (it just takes me out of the movie). To just think Horton, Panda, and Monsters vs. Aliens all have him in them…ugh (the next animation inside joke after Adam West?).
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The music was good, nothing stand out, but just think Mulan (without any catchy rhythms).
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My final thoughts, great movie! Pixar quality? No, but above average Dreamworks quality. I’d rank it up there with their finest (Shrek 1&2 and all of their traditionally animated films).
Seeing this brings me hope for the future of Dreamworks after the travesty that is Shrek the Third made me loose all respect. Just how Iron Man and the good reviews so far for The Incredible Hulk have brought hope back to the Marvel Comics movies after X-Men and Spider-Man destroyed their franchises with the dreaded third movies. Now if Bolt is as good as good as Lasseter and some animators claim it is, I may have restored faith in Disney Animation.
What a great time to be alive!!!
I just read that somewhere today after missing which studio did it during the credits. I should have know by the level of animation, not to mention how happy it made me while watching it. Seriously though, I’ve had the biggest “professional crush” on that man for forever. Or at least since 2002 (Spirit:SotC). Glory be, what I’d give to intern at that studio.
^Yeah, JBA is right now the best in the traditional animation biz (at least until Disney builds themselves back up). Its not so much new tech that made it look less stiff than Samurai Jack but the higher budget with no foreign animation and an excessive use of overlap (something I think Samurai Jack stylistically limited itself on).
Very true - if it weren’t for the penguins and King Julian, the movie would’ve been severly below par. As for Shark Tale, even with Smith and De Niro (and even if you removed Black from the equation), that movie was doomed from the beginning. Too much of a Finding Nemo rip off.
Happy to hear so many people are liking KFP - now I just have to go see it! 
Just got back from Kung Fu Panda…And I was pleasantly surprised! This is one of the few movies that I’ll be picking up on DVD later this year. I might even see it again in theaters. When you get the chance, watch it! It ranks right up there with most of the Pixar movies (Although, not equal to them )
I haven’t seen Kung Fu Panda yet, but I just hope the general audience/critics don’t cut Dreamworks too much slack just because it’s one of their better movies in recent years… The really should have been making those quality movies all along. 