Dreamworks was founded by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen in 1994 and was an ambitious attempt to form a new Hollywood studio.
Their new animated arm was to become their prime asset and their first animated release in 1998 was called Antz.
Antz had major competition at the box office with Pixar's A Bug's Life being released around the same time and it did not make as much money as had been hoped.
The Prince Of Egypt quickly followed and performed slightly better at the international box office.
In 2001 Shrek became a worldwide hit but the studio made a huge loss ($125m dollars) on Sinbad.
After some poorly received animated titles, and the disappointing Shrek 3, Dreamworks returns to box office form with Kung Fu Panda which is a funny mix of cliches from old martial arts movies and contemporary films.
Kung Fu Panda took many years to make and is one of Dreamworks biggest box office hits and ensures the studio's animation section will survive for years to come.
Dreamworks is making it's next animated film in 3D, the sequel to this film which is out in 2011 and called Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom Of Doom is also going to be released in 3D.
Film Plot
Po the Panda works in his "fathers" restaurant but secretly yearns to learn martial arts and unwittingly by pure chance one day becomes the chosen one when the evil leopard Tai Lung escapes from prison and heads back home for revenge and so Po must fulfill his destiny and save his village and their way of life.
Positives
This animated film uses CGI (Computer Graphics) and the level of detail on display is astounding and the film is both funny, touching and action packed and even those who would not normally watch an animated film will enjoy this spectacular movie.
The characters in this film are truly memorable and you care what happens to them. The dialogue they are given is first class and the voice acting by all is engaging.
The image quality is mostly superb with very high detail levels and simply gorgeous CGI animated backgrounds but check the negatives below for some minor issues.
Sound quality will blow you away with enveloping discrete sound actively engaged in every one of your speakers. Its a reference quality exciting sound mix.
During the second half of this movie the bass really kicks into first gear and if your system can handle it you will be pinned to that couch enjoying every single second of the action as your subwoofer gets a real workout.
I consider the sound mix on this film to be the best i have heard on any animated movie to date.
The music score is also superb and you even get Jack Black singing over the end credits although that might be a negative to some.
I was very surprised to find multi Oscar winning actor Dustin Hoffman as the voice of Master Shifu and the character reminded me of Yoda from the Star Wars films. He did a superb job and had some funny lines.
Pixar raised their game for CGI animation with the release of Wall*E. In my opinion this film is better and raises the bar even higher.
A superb script helps make this one of the best films of 2008 and Dreamworks finest film.
Negatives
I would have liked a slipcase cover with the Blu Ray edition i bought.
There is some minor ringing throughout the film but it was only an issue in a handful of scenes and even then most people will probably not notice it.
Some may find the green message a bit much and far too predictable considering how often it is featured in the news these days.
Final Thoughts
I really was not expecting to be this entertained or for the animation to look so beautiful and move so fluidly and the voice acting helped seal what is a terrific and fabulous movie that is suitable for all ages.
The level of voice talent in these type of movies just gets better with each new release.
Many Hollywood actors have their own families and want to get involved in productions they can let their youngsters watch.
Animated films pay just as well as traditional live action films so there is no stumbling block in hiring the very best or most popular actors for the job.
The minor ringing seen on this release is probably the result of a low pass filter which enables easier encoding of the material.
I personally did not find it to be too much of an annoyance but it is noticeable on several scenes and because of this i feel the image quality can not be considered reference and the film is placed on the minor issues list.
The intellectuals will say Wall*E is a better film than this but i found Kung Fu Panda to be more entertaining and to me that makes it the better film, it must also be said that both films are vastly different from one another so perhaps it's like comparing apples to oranges.
It was a great decision to make this in a scope aspect ratio of 2.35:1, it is not often we get scope animated movies and this one benefits in having a wider canvass to work with than normal.
I highly recommend everyone seek this out and i look forward to the sequel.
Technical Disc Specifications
Releasing Studio – Dreamworks Animation SKG
Film Running Time – 88 Minutes
Disc Format – BD-50
Encoding AVC (MPEG-4)
Film Aspect Ratio – 2.35:1
Blu Ray Resolution – 1080p/24
Audio Format – English Dolby True HD 5.1
Starring the voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, Ian McShane, Seth Rogen and Jackie Chan
Directed by Mark Osborne and John Stevenson
This is a region free release
Film Entertainment Rating 9/10
Transfer Quality Rating 8.8/10
Sound Mix Rating 9.8/10