Kung-Fu Panda - Review (Spoiler Free)

 Kung-Fu Panda - Review (Spoiler Free)

Originally written on february 2023

You can tell this is a movie filled with lots of ideas the makers were excited for and that resulted in an amazingly paced film, the plot progression is very polished, truly it does feel like its non stop fun. The film nurtured from all of this, if feels like there's nearly zero filler to speak of because there's so much the movie is excited to show you, and it all does it a very accessible and easy to get into way. The world is filled with character. is a rich experience that offers action and an interesting story.

I mostly like this subversion of the ideal chosen one figure, i like the comedy, the themes and the character development that came out of it, even though it contains a healthy dose of underlying fatphobia, specially the comedy, of which i think there is maybe a bit too much, the film relies physical comedy pokes aimed at fat people for a quick laugh, i found it a bit tiring after a while.

Most kids' movies would wish its characters were as likable and memorable as this one, the voice acting and artístic design came together to make this possible, one thing my eyes kept getting drawn at how much attention was paid to each facial expression. And of course the voice performance, which I thought was great, is the cherry on top that allows me to forget the celebrity playing the character and fully enjoy the display of such textured persona they have put up on screen. I believe master shifu's anxious yet wise demeanor is something forever burned into my mind. Its a star-powered cast, but they tried to not make it seem as only a strategy to sell more tickets, it feels they were chosen with the goal of making the movie better in mind, of you getting to hear past the voice of the celebrity playing them and actually create a character, Something i wish modern studio animated movies had not mostly dropped. Even if, unfortunately, not every character is even given enough screen time, development or even lines for them to become memorable. The furious five feel more like background characters also used for some occasional quick gag.

The soundtrack was fantástic. I loved the use of leitmotifs, i tought it was appropriate and well used without feeling like the leitmotif notes were all the soundtrack has.

Its also an awesome action movie. The fight sequences were so great. Wasn't expecting that. There were a lot and so fun to watch. And cartoony yet not really held back. You can feel the weight in every punch and the choreography was better than I would expect from a kids movie.

Its quite the unusual combination with it being an animated-action-movie. I wish there were more like it. It also movéd some Emotional strings in me. The themes of accepting oneself despite it all hit close at home.

Everything was rich, its as inspired by a movie as it can while still being intended to be an ultra mainstream blockbuster.

Overall i wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did. It was a movie from my childhood that really did survived me watching it on the present time. And I think I appreciate it even more now than I ever did as a kid.

7.5/10

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