Looking Out To Sea

If you find yourself with the chance, see Kung Fu Panda. It’s a Dreamworks CGI story about a panda in historical China that wants to be a kung fu warrior, but instead is the assistant cook and bus boy in his father’s noodle shop.

It’s got a bunch of great voice actors (including an Englishman as the bad guy — see if you can work out who it is without looking) and Jack Black is pretty perfect as the kung fu wannabe and star-struck fanatic.

We saw it in a room full of young kids, so it’s probably a PG at most (for the scary moments with the evil apprentice that went over to the dark side). So it might not be showing any time after 4pm at the moment. But it’s still worth seeing as an adult. There are a few excellent filmic references to other, more adult stuff. I particularly enjoyed the prison sequence, which reminded me a lot of The Chronicles of Riddick (of all things!).

The film is probably steeped in references to older kung fu movies. So if you’re a fan of that genre you’ll probably get even more out of it. My brother saw it not long ago in China, where it’s apparently a huge hit. And you know, can one billion people be wrong?