The film’s less than exciting supporting characters don’t do much damage to what is just a flat out enjoyable, exciting, and funny movie geared for a wide range of ages. That’s when I wondered why the barely understandable Jackie Chan was given voice work. In fact, other than Cross’ distinctive voice, I didn’t realize who was voicing them until after the movie was over and the credits rolled. Although they are voiced by fairly big names (Angelina Jolie as Tigress, Jackie Chan as Monkey, Seth Rogen as Mantis, Lucy Liu as Viper, and David Cross as Crane), the characters don’t really distinguish themselves. With Kung Fu Panda’s heavy emphasis on action and Black’s humor, there’s bound to be something that gets the short shrift. Somehow, and you knew this was coming, he is chosen by Oogway to become the Dragon Warrior and fight the ferocious baddie, Tai Lung (Ian McShane.) When the local martial arts masters, Oogway the Turtle (Randall Duk Kim) and Shifu the Some Kind of Animal (Dustin Hoffman), decide that it is time for the Dragon Warrior to be chosen from among the Five, Po climbs the temple steps (in a funny recurring bit about his lack of physical stamina) to see the festivities. Like most fan-boys though, Po is both fat and lacking in any actual ability in the thing he loves. Po dreams of nothing but being a kick-ass kung fu warrior like his heroes, the “Furious Five.” He’s the ultimate fan-boy with an action figure collection of his animal heroes and an encyclopedic knowledge of all things related to kung fu and the Five. You wouldn’t know if from the way the characters talk or look, but, trust me, it’s China. I know this because at several points in the movie, Po mentions that they all live in China. Black is the schlepy Po, who works at his father’s (James Wong) noodle stand in the Valley of Peace.
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