And...it's mediocre. It goes by all the kung fu movie rules (bridge sequence, unexpected hero with hidden talent, master has to die in order to get student to learn...no, it's not what you think and is not a spoiler, Jackie Chan is involved somehow, etc.), actually making fun of a few, and...well...it just doesn't really deliver. There's about 10 minutes of good kung fu fighting in this movie, I'd say, including one absolutely awesome rope bridge sequence and a pretty good prision scene, plus the final confrontation (which was the worst of the movie's three major fights).
However...the movie just TRIES to be funny. The entire intro is Jack Black praising his character in that stupid way where he says "awesome" every other word and does a stupid monologue. Then there's the oblivious father, who makes a decently funny joke (Our noodle shop was inherited by my father from his father from his friend who he won it from in a game of majhong), then just keeps trying and fails.
The characters, sans three, are given little to no depth, and other than the main three (Panda, his master, the villan), we never really get to experience any of them to their fullest.
I give it a 5 out of 10. If you really like seeing fuzzy animals duel to the death, go ahead. Otherwise, you can just skidoosh right by this.
I actually very much enjoyed this movie. My family, a few friends, and I went to see it and we were ROFL by the end of it. The movie's comedy was very succesfull, and had the whole theater laughing so hard we couldn't here the next lines (Such as when Mantis hit the facial nerve on Po right after Tigeress said Po was taking the whole Dragon Warrior thing as a joke). The animation was amazing as well. I love the style, and they put alot of detail into the furriness of the charactars. Ways of expression such as ears, tails, ect were used much more than previous animal movies such as Madagascar (I hated the jerky animation in that movie D: ).
The characters really came alive, and the fighting scenes were very cool. I am still very disappointed with the final showdown, but the prison and bridge fights were very well thought out. They really stressed the gracefulness of the characters, which is a personal appreciation (I adore characters who are graceful and strong). Overall, This movie definitely deserved a 9/10. The final fight scene could've been way better(come on, against Master whatitsface he creamed him, but lost against the panda in the most pathetic way... ), but It is definitely a movie the whole family can enjoy.
Yeah. It's been announced like, a year ago, along with Shrek 4&5, and a Puss in Boots spinoff of Shrek. Also, they say they want Madagascar to go in the footsteps of Shrek. *coughcough:shitty:coughcough*
