My sister and I just got back from seeing it last night…
My gosh. I… I almost don’t know what to say. It was beautiful!! Absolutely… beautiful! I have a new fandom now. Heck, I want to see it again!
I’m going to write a lengthy review on my deviantArt page instead of here, as I am short on time at the moment, but I will say that DreamWorks finally hit the nail on the head after all these years…
rachel - Good point. Kung Fu Panda proves that DreamWorks, although rather lax as far as their hold on story has gone for the past millenium, does have what it takes to produce a decent plot-line, engaging characters, and a sound base without having to rely on the “fancy-shmanshy-ness” of CG animation and colorful settings. Why they chose to clean up their act for once is beyond me. Perhaps their reputation finally caught up with them? (heh)
I personally was completely surprised! I had low expectations going in, but came out extremely satisfied. I really enjoyed how they mixed 2D and 3D elements seamlessly.
My only slight gripe is the lack of character development with the secondary characters. [spoil]Monkey, Viper, and Mantis barely had any camera time, and Crane only had that one scene when Po walks into his room by accident. Also, I don’t think we saw enough of Tigress’s backstory[/spoil]. Also, the verbal jokes I thought were a bit stale, but some of the physical humor was absolutely hilarious. [spoil]I particularly enjoyed the scene when Po and Master Shifu battled over the dumpling[/spoil].
I agree with Mitch, this is a huge step forward for Dreamworks after their three Shreks (two too many, in my opinion). I’m actually excited for the Madagascar sequel, even though I wasn’t a huge fan of the original. The trailer is promising, though.
OK everyone, to check out an article on the 2D animated sequences and to view a clip of the 2D animation seen during the credits, click the link below:
No need to be worried about spoilers. A company called Shine Studios designed and headed all the 2D sequences while James Baxter Animation was in charge of animating it.
I thought it was refreshing to see, kind-of like the 2D credits sequences that Pixar uses.
PS: The clip shows the full credits, including the hidden ending, for any of you who missed it that was shown that is after the credits!
Yeah, but that isn’t a very good measure of the film’s quality because even if the movie wasn’t that great (like Madagascar), it would have still made good opening weekend numbers.
rachel - You do have a good point, there. Given, I haven’t seen the film (Kung Fu Panda) yet, and probably never will (okay, I shouldn’t say “never”, but not for a good long while), but you’re right. I guess I focus too much on box office revenue for my own good…
I agree with rachelcakes1985 that opening weekend is never a good indicator. Just looks at Spider-man 3, it broke records with its opening but when word got around that it sucked people didn’t go. Which is why more than half of Spider-man 3’s take was earned in the first 3 days before word got out on how bad it was.
IMO Kung Fu Panda was great and hopefully word will spread that Dreamworks finally made something good after the disaster that is Shrek the Turd and maybe some old fans will return. Maybe Dreamworks will see fans have been starved for something good (or not considering how much Shrek the Turd earned).
Support this film so Dreamworks will continue quality film-making (which is going to be hard with Madagascar 2 as their next project).
Oh come now. Madagascar would have been terrible if it weren’t for the penguins and lemurs… in my quite humble opinion!
And, in all honesty, I did think that they went just a bit overboard with the sudden two second slow motion scenes in Kung Fu Panda. Those moments are like putting sugar in coffee. Too much and it gets too sweet, yet too little and the coffee is too bitter. Yet just the right amount and you get perfect moderation.
But… I guess some people like overly-sweet coffee. And some like coffee black…
Wow, what a terrible metaphor!
Anyways, here’s something interesting to debate. I was watching Fox News (only because I think its overt right-wingedness is funny, no offense to any conservatives on the board), and someone claiming to be an obesity expert blasted the film for having Po [spoil]eat when he is upset[/spoil] and [spoil]using food as motivation to climb walls, preform kung fu attacks, etc.[/spoil]. I think that’s absolutely ridiculous. If anything, Po should have been praised by her, considering that the hero instead of a lean muscular guy was an overweight panda! What do you think?
Just saw KFP, so I can finally click this topic again
Same thoughts as many others here; very impressive, truly enjoyable.
I’ll say it again though, it’s easy to cite low-water-mark films like Shrek 3 and Shark Tale (yet to see, so this is based on hearsay), but remember, the first two Shrek films and Over the Hedge were good. DW/PDI is a capable group, this just confirms it. Color choices were awesome, and, as many have said, the fight sequences really worked wonderfully. I didn’t see Pixar level texturing/photorealism much, but I’ll chalk that up to stylistic choices, as I consider the more angular mod style of Madagascar (which had a sequel preview-meh). Nobody has mentioned that David Cross did V/O (as Crane) and IMO did a really good job with it.
So, as good as Ratatouille? Nope. At the level of Pixar films in general? In a different way, Absolutely. Like Brad says, it’s not a genre, we should consider them each in their own right.
It’s a great year for CG, with this from DW, Horton from BS, and the inevitably awesome Wall-E from our guys.
P.S. I stayed for the whole end sequence, and it was beautiful.
P.P.S. There was a preview for a new CG star wars before the start, and it looks dismal. I may well be ambushed by the fandom, but visually, it reminded me of some Brazilian Pixar knockoffs I won’t mention. Just me?
I was lucky enough to see Kung Fu Panda (friends with a family member of someone who works at Dreamworks), and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it and Pixar better watch their back.
It’s pretty much up to the standard of the first Shrek. My Dreamworks film now lists like this
Shrek
KFP
Madagascar
OtH
bleh
bleh
bleh
I was pleasantly surprised with Kung Fu Panda. And believe me, I really tried hard to hate this movie. (haha!) No, I was just very reluctant to see it but I just got back from the theater and I loved it.
I hope some day soon I can honestly say “I can’t compare this Dreamworks movie to this Pixar film. They’re both just so good.” I know I probably have a long wait ahead of me, but someday, someday I hope I can say that.
In any case Kung Fu Panda is a very fun story that never feels overbearing or out of context. I haven’t liked a Dreamworks film this much since Shrek and finally it feels like the Dreamworks that once made some of my favorite movies like The Road to El Dorado.
No matter how much you think you don’t want to see this movie, GO SEE IT ANYWAY! I guarantee you will at least have fun.
