Kung Fu Panda is a great animated film, albeit slightly predictable. If the film seems familiar, bear in mind these are the same people behind Shrek.
Kung Fu Panda is about a panda who dreams big, but is in fact lazy, fat and has an otherworldly love of food. The panda is Jack Black up to the weird shorts he wears. His father, a stork (I don't know how THAT works out, nor is it ever explained) is a village renowned noodle shop owner who dreams that his 
son will someday take over his business. It seems in this animal world all the creatures blissfully exist ignoring the food chain and whether or not tigers and leopards would live in the same environment but I digress... Po has other ideas however as he dreams, literally, of being part of the elite five who are trained on the upper mountain of the secrets of kung fu.
In his rampant desire to meet them, he goes to a festival where they will pick the chosen one, by a turtle master. Of course, on a supposed fluke they end up picking Po. Go figure. His master must teach him the most basic and deepest secrets of kung fu before the fearsome enemy arrives who used to be ( of course) a scorned apprentice who seeks after a long sought after key to the kingdom: the Dragon Scroll. It turns out however, that the dragon scroll is no secret after all but merely a reminder that greatness lies in believing you are great.
While the film is entertaining it's hardly a classic compared to Shrek or Toy Story. The problem lies in that there is little time to flesh out some of the secondary characters. We never find out whether Master Tigress is ever to make amends with the fact that her master never really loved her as much as her nemesis (and the fact that she's female doesn't help either). While there is limited screen time for his father and the other secondary characters, we are unable to feel so empathetic towards the panda's plight.
Maryam DiMauro
Filmsi
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