Kung Fu Fighting Panda

Kung Fu Panda is the latest offering from the animation wing at Dreamworks studios, who in the past brought us the likes of "Shrek" and last year's "Bee Movie." "Panda" steers clear of the pop-culture references that permeated those other animated tales in favor of a more traditional story this time around with a lovable flawed character at it's center. Jack Black's Po, a Kung Fu loving Panda in the Valley of Peace, is part Curly Howard, Spanky McFarland and Elmer Fudd all wrapped up in a fuzzy Panda Bear costume, albeit a digital one. The animation is at times breathtaking, coupled with a sweeping music score by John Powell and Hans Zimmer, but at the core of the film lies a touching and funny performance by it's star, Black. Jack Black is no stranger to animation, having voiced Lenny in 2004's "Shark Tale," but he's grown as an actor since then and his Po stirs both pathos and belly-laughs (quite literally). Po works in his father's noodle shop, Mr. Ping (voiced by the prolific Asian actor James Hong) but all the while dreams of his heroes "the furious five," a collection of Kung Fu warriors voiced by the likes of Angelina Jolie and Jackie Chan to name a few. After a hilarious hi jinks accident, Po is mistakenly chosen as the "Dragon Warrior," and is enlisted to battle the film's bad guy, the dreaded Tai Lung. A fallen hero in the body of a white tiger with an axe to grind, Tai Lung is voiced ferociously by English actor, Ian McShane. Po of course has no formal martial arts training, but with the help of Dustin Hoffman's Shifu, a "Jedi-like" master, Po is trained in the ways of the great warriors. Po's journey is a touching one. He doubts himself at first as does master Shifu, but when Po's stop-at-nothing penchant for finding food is discovered, the old master finds the key to training this most unlikely of warriors. The martial arts fighting sequences are often reminiscent of the old Warner Brother's cartoons, where no one gets hurt when falling great distances and suffering such violent brawling, but it's all for laughs and completely harmless. And laughs are frequent and genuine thanks to Po's narcissism and self-doubt and just being so darn lovable. Black finds funny little asides that are animated quite realistically by a team of animators listed at the films end who all deserve credit for the final performance. The relationship between Hoffman's Shifu, Hong's Mr. Ping and Po respectfully, is completely believable and often touching. Po is completely honest in his own way, and his constant efforts to please make him all the more likable. With fine direction by animators-turned directors, John Stevenson and Mark Osborne, Panda paints a broad portrait in beautiful wide-screen of an ancient Chinese world inhabited entirely by animals prevalent in Asian culture. Even it's closing credits are beautifuly animated all to the sounds of 1974s "Kung Fu Fighting," sung here by Cee-Lo Green and Jack Black. Written by a team of writers with backgrounds in TVs "King of the Hill" and martial arts films like "Bulletproof Monk," it's story may seem simplistic and not one hundred percent original, but it takes you in hook, line and sinker thanks to charming and credible performances by it's stars. I found myself laughing hardily throughout right along with the dozens of kids-of-all-ages who also found it's title character irresistible.

Indy's Long Awaited Return

In the summer of 1981, Raiders of the Lost Ark took movie theaters across America by storm. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg had delivered a roller coaster ride of an adventure movie, deeply inspired by the Saturday morning movie serials of the 1930s and 40s. With it's massive success at the box office there was no surprise that a sequel would soon follow and in 1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released and quickly disappointed fans of the first film. What Temple of Doom got wrong was a more slapstick style script with a muddled plotline too bizarre to follow, and the fate of any further sequels was in question. And then five years later in 1989, Spielberg and Lucas surprised us all by getting the film franchise back-on-track with what was then thought to be it's final episode. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade had forgone the silliness of the Temple of Doom and brought back a more recognizable villain in the form of the Third Reich, who along with the addition of Sean Connery to it's cast made for a great movie adventure. So now, nineteen years later, Lucas and Spielberg have decided to squeeze another offering out of the franchise by releasing Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull this past Memorial Day weekend. It's a project that has been rumored and talked about for several years now, with everyone from Frank Darabont to M. Night Shyamalan taking a crack at the Crystal Skull script. In the end screenwriter David Koepp who worked previously on Spielberg's remake of War of the Worlds, won the task of writing the script based on Lucas' original story and what ends up on the screen is a literal mish-mash of all three previous films.
Harrison Ford reprised his role as Indiana Jones who now in his sixties moves a little slower than in previous adventures. Ford has great fun exploring the older Dr. Jones and the effect age has on his ability to go up against forces of evil, this time represented by the Russian Communist party of the 1950s. During the film's opening, the sound of Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog" can be heard blasting over a car's radio, thus setting the film apart from it's earlier 1930s and 40s-themed films respectfully. When costar Shia LaBeouf shows up as a young 1950s greaser, his entrance is a complete homage to Marlon Brando's famed entrance in 1953's The Wild One. LaBeouf wears the exact same style hat, shirt and leather jacket as did Brando in the now iconic image from that decade. Spielberg has a lot of fun with the cold war of the fifties, following the opening chase at the Area 51 air force base, a humorous although unbelievable escape from an atomic bomb test in the Nevada desert soon follows. Shades of the silliness abound in the Temple of Doom film, make appearances throughout Crystal Skull, but never enough to completely destroy the adventure as some feel it did in that second sequel. Spielberg throws in some nice homage’s to the earlier films by paying tribute to both Connery's elder Jones character as well as the late Denholm Elliott's befuddled Marcus Brody. Even Karen Allen returns as Marion Ravenwood, Indy's love interest from the first Raiders film, back this time to explain the existence of the Shia LeBeouf character! Allen has a few light scenes with Ford, but fails to capture the same feistiness she brought to the role back in 1981. It was nice to hear John Williams' Marion's Theme played once again although briefly in the film's score. At the heart of the film's story is the adventure brought about by the search for the Crystal Skull and it's relationship to an ancient culture that may have it's roots in other-worldly influences. And unlike the strong mythologies rooted in the first and third films, this muddled mess of an ancient Amazon culture somehow relating to inter-dimensional beings just doesn't payoff. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the strong influence of the Nazi's grasp for power by way of the Lost Ark of the Covenant or again in Last Crusade's search for the Holy Grail offered far-greater tension and believability to an already unbelievable genre.

Steven Spielberg Movies

Spaghetti Western Meets Martial Arts

In “The Forbidden Kingdom,” martial arts stars Jackie Chan and Jet Li come together for the first time onscreen in this latest offering from animator-turned-director, Rob Minkoff. In this mythical tale, an American teen obsessed with Hong Kong cinema travels back in time to ancient China on a quest to free an imprisoned king with the help of three martial arts warriors. The film is a visual feast for adolescent fans of martial arts and modern video games no doubt, but for older audiences, “Kingdom” will at times seem inspired by everything from “The Wizard of Oz” to Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West.” The film begins with an inventive opening title sequence where classic martial arts film posters are interwoven with the film’s credits. We then find Michael Angarano as JASON a young Boston teen rummaging through a Chinatown pawnshop run by it’s ancient caretaker, Old Hop. In what is an obvious set-up of an “Oz“-like wrap-around story soon becomes a moment reminiscent of the first few minutes of 1984’s “Gremlins.” During a street fight with local thugs, Jason is somehow transported back in time to ancient China. He soon hooks up with drunken warrior Lu Yan played with great charm by the now 54 year-old Jackie Chan. Chan’s character seems very much inspired by Jason Robards’ Cheyenne, the coffee drinking gunslinger in Leone’s 1968 “Once Upon a Time in the West.” Only Chan’s Lu Yan has an addiction to wine rather than java this time around. As Lu Yan and Jason travel they meet up with Golden Sparrow, a Pipa (Chinese guitar) playing warrior who fills in for Charles Bronson’s Harmonica from the aforementioned “Once Upon a Time in the West.” By the time they are joined by Jet Li’s Silent Monk character, the “Oz”-inspired journey begins. The warriors then set out to find the castle of the Jade Warlord (think Henry Fonda’s assassin gang leader Frank again inspired by “Once Upon a Time in the West”) in hopes of freeing the imprisoned Monkey-King also played by Li. If all of this sounds too much to handle in one film, it is; but thanks to the charm of most of it’s performers their journey is somewhat entertaining if not tolerable most of the time. Chan’s self-proclaimed admiration for Buster Keaton is on display here, as he easily handles the lighter moments as well as he does his martial arts skills. His English is the best of all the Asian actors onscreen, where as others have trouble delivering understandable dialogue. My suspicions of the Sergio Leone inspired spaghetti western aspects to the story were confirmed when even the musical score at times reflected the distant electric guitar motif made famous by Ennio Morricone in 68’s “Once Upon a Time in The West.” Maybe my affection for that classic 60s western shows my age a bit too much, for I’m sure to the younger audiences the comparisons to “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “The Karate Kid” are more evident. But when preparing this review I soon discovered that the film’s screenwriter, John Fusco’s next project is a remake of the classic 1954 Japanese film, “The Seven Samurai.” How fitting! That film of course would later be re-made in 1960 as “The Magnificent Seven.” I guess all things mythical and adventurous stem from a few select ideas used time and time again. Whether it’s a journey to far off lands or warriors joining forces in noble quests, every generation seems to find something original about these time honored tales. But as in the case of “The Forbidden Kingdom”, the result is muddled at best.

Jackie Chan Movies

Jet Li Movies

Sergio Leone Movies