Kung Fu Panda.  “Oh, I figured it out on my own.  Ske-doosh.”  4.0 out of 5.0.

Dreamworks Animation is one of the two leading animation studios in Hollywood.  Dreamworks’ major competitor (and undisputed King of Cash Cartoons), Pixar Animation (now part of the Disney Corporation), will be releasing their latest family box-office return piñata, Wall-E, later this month, which is almost sure to earn rave reviews from critics in the footsteps of its predecessors Ratatouille (2007), Cars (2006) and The Incredibles (2004), and will probably earn Oscar nominations in several technical categories, mostly involving sound editing and mixing, and depending on how great the reception, a nod for Best Original Screenplay.  Pixar seems like the kind of evil, demented corporation that millions of innocent consumers and Steve Jobs love dearly (they’re not that evil, actually; just way too lucky).  Pixar is the prodigy child in the family of animated film; smart, talented, and most importantly, loaded like Dick Cheney’s 12-guage.  You can’t help but love Pixar, really; my undisputed favorite animated film of all time is Toy Story (1995).

        If Pixar is the slightly-autistic genius child, conducting complex symphonies on their Fisher Price keyboard, then Dreamworks Animation is the smart-alecky middle child with a newly-learned swear ready at hand and a bent arm and fist always at the ready to let fly into the groin of the next poor schmuck who calls them “little fella.”  Okay, maybe not so much, but in any case Dreamworks Animation, the studio which brought us everything from hilarious masterpieces like Shrek (2001) to confused potential knockouts like Bee-Movie (2007), is the less appreciated one of the bunch.  Invariably, Dreamworks is equipped with a slew of all-star voices ready to sync to their creations, but their consistency is questionable; Dreamworks has made greats, duds, and everything in between in the last decade.  When word of a new animated feature was to be released, it was not only played fairly low, but was met with a mild reaction from critics which Lewis Black might apply to the Reagan Administration, i.e. “What the hell are they doing now?!”  (Sorry to those of you who approved of Ronald Regan as President, all sixteen of you; the Gipper rests in peace).

        However, now that Kung Fu Panda has arrived, it seems that Dreamworks has come up with a solid piece of entertainment once more; their most satisfying, in fact, since the second Shrek feature back in 2004.  The film is the tale of Po (voice of Jack Black), an overweight giant panda with the insatiable appetite of a stoner in late spring (for those of you who got that, you’re either too old to be watching cartoons or too young to be reading my reviews) for both munchies and kung-fu action, creating the most relatable character for fat guys between the ages of 8 and 16 since Jerry O’Connell in Stand By Me (1986).  Po wants to be a part of martial arts, if not at least a member of the audience, but finds himself serving noodles at the local tournaments with his father (a goose voiced by James Hong...don’t ask).  However, when Po tries to pull a stunt to rocket his large figure into a crowd of spectators during a tournament, he is accidentally selected by the local kung-fu master (a tortoise voiced by Randall Duk Kim) as the prophesized Dragon Warrior, and is placed in the care of Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman as a red panda).  At first, both Po and Shifu are reluctant to follow through with the possibly senile master’s decision, as are the other kung-fu masters, also known as the Furious Five, comprised of Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Crane (David Cross of Mr. Show), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Mantis (Seth Rogen, in what could be the best voice casting part in the history of animation).  However, when a dangerous former protégé named Tai Lung (Ian McShane) escapes from his prison and seeks to destroy the kung-fu masters and the village they protect, Po, the prophesized Dragon Warrior, becomes their only hope of salvation.

        The film’s animated production design, as I call it, is for the most part eye-catching and pleasing to watch; the animators present us with a three-dimensional vision of rural China inspired by watercolor prints and shadow-puppetry, with landscapes dotted with blossoming cherry trees and impressive indoor training rooms with dangerous spiked, fire-spewing instruments of PG-rated death and dismemberment, resembling the much-underappreciated animated series Samurai Jack.  The action sequences are well-choreographed, both for enjoyable action and slapstick comedy, and the characters are fairly well-designed (with the exception of Tigress, whom I thought would have been much more aesthetically pleasing if she had maybe a couple less strait lines, if not to help please the flow of the film, then to at least suit voice actress Angelina Jolie’s, uh, vocal personality).  However, aside from its visuals, the film has a decent script, with plenty of silly bits to please not only kids of all ages, but parents as well; the production wisely avoids kiddy fodder and delivers some natural humor; slapstick and smarmy remarks from Dustin Hoffman’s character get some great laughs.  However, the funniest parts of the film come from Jack Black’s Po, whose charming personality and excitement and physical girth both evoke the actor himself and help to flesh out the “fish-out-of-water” comedy which the film relies on so much.

        Overall, Kung Fu Panda is a solid hit for Dreamworks Animation, and their best outing since the original Shrek back in 2001.  While Panda definitely won’t be one of the big animated features this year and probably won’t be remembered by anyone over the age of eight after October (sort of like last year’s Surf’s Up, which stole an Oscar nod from The Simpsons Movie despite being far inferior), it’s still a good piece of cartoon fun.  It’s bound to please it’s target audience and age group, but will also pleasantly surprise and entertain parents and older siblings.  Because after all, who doesn’t love a little bit of kung fu?  Rated PG