Kung Fu Panda Trailer

Enthusiastic, big and a little clumsy, Po is the biggest fan of Kung Fu around...which doesn't exactly come in handy while working every day in his family's noodle shop. Unexpectedly chosen to fulfill an ancient prophecy, Po's dreams become reality when he joins the world of Kung Fu and studies alongside his idols, the legendary Furious Five -- Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Viper and Monkey -- under the leadership of their guru, Master Shifu. But before they know it, the vengeful and treacherous snow leopard Tai Lung is headed their way, and it's up to Po to defend everyone from the oncoming threat. Can he turn his dreams of becoming a Kung Fu master into reality? Po puts his heart - and his girth - into the task, and the unlikely hero ultimately finds that his greatest weaknesses turn out to be his greatest strengths.

Kung Fu Panda took four years to make, and the production team spent years researching Chinese art and king fu movies in order to achieve the right ambiance.

On top of that, the animators all took a six hour kung fu lesson so they could animate the characters moves more accurately.

Each of the furious five; Crane, Mantis, Tigress, Viper and Monkey, have their own martial arts styles based on how that animal moves.

Dustin Hoffman's contract included a clause that let him re-record his dialogue as many times as he wished if he was not happy with it.

Jack Black lends his voice to Po, a panda who wishes to become a kung fu master. That's all very well and noble, except for the fact that Po is really not good at kung fu. At all. And he's really, really lazy.
It falls to kung fu master, Shifu to train Po. A daunting task lies ahead, but with the help of the furious five, a talented and deadly bunch of trained fighters, Shifu might just succeed.

Dreamworks have been consistently improving with their animated features and Kung Fu Panda is perhaps their best offering to date. They've played it well; funny, likable and relatable characters, plus an all-star voice cast, combine to make this a decent and enjoyable movie. Dustin Hoffman is great as the voice of Shifu and Jack Black is...well, he's Jack Black. The rest of the furious five are all great too; Angelina Jolie as Tigress, Lucy Liu as Viper, Seth Rogen as Mantis, David Cross as Crane, and the incomparable Jackie Chan as Monkey.

It's not a perfect film, but the trailer here does a fairly accurate job of setting the scene and tone one can expect. It's fun, light-hearted and young kids especially will love it. The character's likability has ensured sequels, making Kung Fu Panda now a part of a very successful franchise. Dreamworks will always fall short if compared to Disney and Pixar (in my opinion) but they're certainly giving the larger studios a fair bit of competition.