I saw Kung-Fu Panda last night and I regret not seeing it while it was still in theatres. It’s easily the most entertaining animated movie I’ve seen in 2008. My brother said something like this about it: “Kung-Fu Panda is an animated film about a panda who loves Kung-Fu and has to learn it in a hurry to save his village from his master’s nemesis. I recommend it for kids and adults. The story is simple but engaging, with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. The action scenes are incredible, intense, fast, and fun — it could make you dizzy. The animation is well done. I took my seven-year-old daughter who laughed out loud at parts, as I did (although different parts). She wasn’t scared during the intense, dark scenes. We both recommended it.”
If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen all there is worth seeing in this movie. Any 3 minutes of Flight of the Conchords has 10 times more laughs than Tropic Thunder. Normally I’d stay clear of anything with Ben Stiller’s name on it (he wrote and directed this one), but I heard good things about Robert Downey Jr. playing a black guy that made me think, “Okay, maybe it’s alright.” But it’s not. I admit I laughed out loud maybe 3 times after some of Downey’s lines, but the rest of it was like every other Ben Stiller so-called comedy: a waste of time. He doesn’t make me laugh.
I’ll probably watch Michel Gondry’s next movie without reading any reviews first, because even when he’s made a ho-hum movie like Be Kind Rewind, it’s still more interesting than 90% of the movies that play at my local multiplex throughout the year. That said, I’m disappointed to say I wasn’t too engaged by this one. Jack Black’s magnetized brain erases all the tapes in a video store. He and his buddy set out to re-shoot all the movies onto the original VHS tapes, which are then rented out to customers. The tapes are a big hit and business starts to boom. It’s good-natured wackiness — and I love the idea of it — but it’s more suited for a short film, not a feature. (The Be Kind Rewind website looks like fun.)