I am not a big fan of Dreamworks' non-Aardman movies after Shrek. They used too many jokes, pop-culture references etc. instead of serving real story with real characters. The only exception is, I think, Over the Hedge, which, while not really Pixar-standard, is one where they didn't overuse pop-culture references but gave us lovable characters and a good story. I think Kung Fu Panda is closer to Over the Hedge than other Dreamworks-movies. Actually I didn't find real pop-culture references (while there may be a lot of references to martial arts movies - I lack knowledge of them - there is nothing that does not fit to the story and the characters) at all. Slapstick is very childish in the movie; I can understand that, they wanted to sell it to the little ones too. But other than that, and most of the time, it is a beautifully-animated kung-fu movie with great scenery that is more for adults and kung-fu movie lovers than for children. They even give time for character building, although it is only for the Panda and the two masters; others are really one-dimensional (they even don't really have too much screen time for more). The story is nothing new, but maybe that's not something you would expect from a Kung-fu movie. All in all, the movie is much more fun and sensitive but with less jokes than its ads suggest. i did like it even if I didn't love it - maybe you should be a kung-fu fan for the latter.
Review of Kung Fu Panda
