"Kung Fu Panda" was amazing! No hyperbole, no bullshit, but "Kung Fu Panda" is easily as good as the *great* Pixar movies (Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo).

The animation was beautiful. You really get some great vistas of China and other locales. The characters were animated perfectly as well.

The voice acting was top-knotch. Everyone brought their a-game, with no one putting in a sub-par performance. Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman were particularly good. Jack Black can be a bit hit and miss with his roles, but I felt he was perfect for this role. I'm not sure if it was the script he had or if they allowed a little improvisations throughout, but the movie was legitimately funny throughout. The other voice actors didn't have a whole lot to do, but they all did what they could with the material they were given. Seth Rogen, David Cross, Lucy Liu, Jackie Chan, Ian McShane, and Angelina Jolie each had at least one scene where they got to show off their stuff.

The action scenes were outstanding and really stood out. I was a little worried that the kung-fu fighting scenes wouldn't translate well to an animated format, but they were really well choreographed. I'd be interested to see if they had professional choreographers come in and help the animators. Part of what makes Kung Fu scenes so amazing for me is seeing people do things that other normal people can't do. So I was a little worried that the animation format would take away that excitement. It didn't. In fact, the fighting scenes in this movie are equally as good as anything that I've seen in numerous of my favorite action movies.

But beyond all the basics, "Kung Fu Panda" told a wonderful story. There were no cheesy pop culture references. There weren't any muggings for the camera. It was all just solid story-telling. And yes, as I mentioned above, the story-telling was equally as good as the *great* Pixar movies.

I highly recommend anyone seeing it.

- Matt