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Blu-Ray Review:

Kung Fu Panda

 

By Jason Gillard

*Screen shots are not from the Blu-Ray source.

    

Movie

I never got to see Kung Fu Panda in the theaters, and I am kicking myself that I didn't.  Kung Fu Panda is about a Panda names Po, voiced by Jack Black, who is a huge fan of Kung Fu.  He has action figures of the Furious Five, which is an elite Kung Fu group.  Unfortunately, Po is a big fat Panda and he works with his father running a noodle restaurant, so he figures he will be stuck their for the rest of his life.  One day he sees a poster announcing that they are going to choose the Dragon Warrior, so he heads to Jade Palace to see who they are going to choose.  Jade Palace is high up in the mountains and Po's dad wants him to take the noodle cart and sell noodles to the crowd.  After Po decided there is no way he will be able to drag this cart, let alone himself, up all these stairs,he leaves the cart and heads up to the palace only to find he has been locked out.  After many tries to get in, he manges to get over the walls by tying tons of fireworks to a chair.  After hitting the ground he notices that Master Oogwa appears to be pointing at him.  Could Po be the Dragon Warrior?  This movie is fantastic, the animation is probably some of the best I have seen and it's colourful and bright.  There is a lot of humor in this film and the casting is perfect.  Jack Black does an excellent job and so does Dustin Hoffman as Po's master named Shifu.  My daughter is 4 and she has never sat through a feature length movie until this one.  Kung Fu Panda ranks up near the top as one of the best movies of the year.  I even liked it better than Wall-E which is definitely saying something.  If you haven't seen this film I urge you to give it a try.

9 out of 10
 
   

Video

Since this is a direct transfer, the image here is pristine.  There is a lot of colour in this film and the 1080p transfer brings that colour out and films your room in rich greens, blues and oranges.  There is no grain or edge enhancement here.  The black levels are also solid.  Detail is amazing as well.  In one of the first few scenes in the noodle bar you can see everything from the grain in the wood to the steel in the knife.  There is a lot of Japanese Animay influenced scenes in the movie and they come across incredibly well.  At the beginning of the movie, it's in 2d and also looks quite incredible.  Getting back to the detail brought out by this impressive transfer, everything has that real quality to it, and you will be able to see every hair on Po's body in stunning detail.  Overall this transfer is certainly reference quality. 

9 out of 10
   
 

Audio

The audio is also stellar.  Ever kick, punch, and chop is heard with stunning clarity from the Dolby 5.1 TrueHD lossless track.  The surrounds are very active putting you in the middle of the action.  The bass is also really powerful and comes across hard when needed.   The dialogue also comes across very clear and does not get lost in the other sounds that dominate the soundtrack.  If you want to get a taste of how well this track comes across head to chapter 10 and listen to Tai Lung's escape.  This chapter shows the gamut of what is available throughout the entire film, amazing directional effect and deep bass.  Overall this is a sonic experience that should not be missed.

10 out of 10
   

Extras

Here is what you get in the way of extras:

• Commentary: Commentary with Filmmakers
• Commentary: Picture-in-Picture Commentary Track
• Featurette: The Tech of Kung Fu Panda HD
• Featurette: The Sounds Of Kung Fu Panda HD
• Featurette: KFP Sound Machine
• Music Videos: "Kung Fu Fighting" Music Video
• Featurette: Learn the Panda Dance
• Featurette: Do You Kung Fu?
• Featurette: Mr. Ping’s Noodle Factory
• Featurette: Chopsticks
• Featurette: Inside the Chinese Zodiac
• Featurette: Animals of Kung Fu Panda
• Featurette: A Day in the Life: Shaolin Monks in Training
• Featurette: KFP Shuffle
• Featurette: The World of Panda: A Look at China’s National Mascot HD
• Other: HP How to Video
• Other: KFP/Mad 2 Activision Game Trailer
• Other: Set-Top Game: Panda Kicking Gallery HD
• Other: Learn To Draw HD
• Other: DreamWorks Animation Video JukeBox HD

The Blu-ray is loaded with features and even though a lot of them are aimed at kids, there is still some quality features here.  I really liked "The Sounds of Kung Fu" which goes into how they created the wonderful sounds for the movie.  I also enjoyed the Picture-in-Picture commentary track because it's a great way of learning about how the film is made without having to watch all the features.  A lot of the features as I mentioned are aimed at the kids and most of these didn't interest me.  Some examples I could give were "Do you Kung Fu" which teaches viewers how to do basic Kung Fu styles.  I mean seriously, could you see me trying to do the crane in front of the TV...I don't think so. 

8.5 out of 10
 
 
 

Overall

Overall this movie is one of my favorites of this year.  The Blu-ray disc comes with a brilliant transfer, reference quality audio, and a lot of features for kids and adults.  I can't recommend this release highly enough!  A must buy!

9 out of 10

Highly Recommended.

Kung Fu Panda Blu-ray is available now from Amazon.com