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I find myself in the cinema on Friday afternoon, with both my two boys, a friend and her two boys. Ages range from almost 4 to just 12.It’s the opening day, schools finally out and I rush out to get the tickets an hour before the showing to hopefully avoid the rush! On arrival, we divide up, one adult getting popcorn etc and the other getting our seats. We have this all finely tuned, only thing was, the cinema was empty!Once we had munched through half the popcorn and spilled our drinks, and the film got going, glancing across the theatre I see that it’s nearly half full. The story is basically about a simple panda, Po, who works in his Dad’s noodle shop, and daydreams of Kung Fu and fighting along side the 5 champions of the Kung Fu world.These champions are Master Tigress (Angelina Jolie ), Master Viper (Lucy Lui), Master Crane, (David cross), Master Monkey (Jackie chan) and a Master Mantis (Seth Rogan).The 5 Champions are brought together, there is be an announcement about who is become THE Dragon Warrior. We are in the main arena: The Wise old turtle, Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) is about to announce the name of the Dragon Warrior is interrupted from making the announcement. Po crash lands into the middle of the arena. I won’t tell you the lead up, but it’s really funny!!! The bad guy, Tai lung, (Ian McShane) is amazing; the sounds he makes really vibrate in you. He is the quintessential good guy goes bad! After a very exciting and clever escape from the meanest and most secure prison ever, Tai Lung is coming after the Dragon Warrior.Without giving away too much, loads of really great fight scenes, and sound effects follow. There is a scroll with hidden powers and some really great one liners.The graphics are stunning. The hair on the panda is just so believable you really think you know how it would feel, should you reach out and touch it. I would say that there were a few short moments when our nearly 4 year old was a bit scared, but the loud sound effects were mostly to blame.There is obviously violence, it’s a Kung Fu movie, but this is all really fast action, and its in a cute cartoon style and really nicely done. The voice of Po is done by Jack Black and his personality really shines in this character.All the kids roared with laughter at some of the great lines he has in the film. The Master, Shifu, whose voice is done by Dustin Hoffman is excellent, very much the trainer of the “Best of the best.” This is a heartwarming tale, with the obligatory good message behind it all, a visual feast with some really great action scenes.
Overall it is a perfect kids film for the summer, but be warned, all our guys came out Kung Fu chopping and kicking every imaginary bad guy and some not so imaginary too!!
