Kung Fu Panda

Noelle, Rachel, and I trekked over to the Oakridge Mall Friday night to see the much awaited (by me anyway) debut of Kung Fu Panda. The protagonist, Po the Panda, is voiced by Jack Black. Po is cook who dreams of being a martial artist like his heroes. Through a moderately implausible series of events, Po is identified as the Dragon Warrior who will save Peaceful Valley from The Bad Guy who is destined to return to seek his revenge against the dojo and his old master. The animation some of the best I've seen from PDI (they did Over the Hedge and the Shrek movies, among others). In particular, the martial arts scenes are really, really cool. I thought this was going to be a comedy since Black is playing the lead, but I found the action story much more involving. I.e. it makes a decent kung fu movie, as well as an animated kung fu movie.