If there's one thing the battle between upstarts Pixar and DreamWorks and the old-school Disney has wrought, it's a dose of welcome competition to mainstream animation. (The fact that Disney now owns Pixar is unfortunate). Up to the time of Disney's renaissance in the late 1980's, that was the only game in town. The result of Disney's dominance of children's entertainment supplied the cultural consciousness with lots of retrograde princesses, mottled history, talking animals, and irritatingly anthemic songs. Disney set the bar, and for the most part, the usurpers haven't really rocked the boat, but thankfully, there are fewer songs.

Until Pixar's WALL-E hits screens later this summer, the field is wide open for Kung Fu Panda, and it should do a respectable job of amusing kids and not leaving parents bleary-eyed at the end of the film. The plot boasts no surprises: Po (voiced by Jack Black) is a fat, clumsy panda that works in his family's noodle shop. High up on the nearby Jade Mountain is Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), training his Furious Five to be prepared in the event the imprisoned Tai Lung (Ian McShane) ever returns to the valley seeking vengeance. When the old master, Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) foresees the day of Tai Lung's return, he decides the time has come to find the Dragon Warrior, the chosen one that will read the sacred Dragon Scroll, defeat Tai Lung, and bring peace to the area for good. Sound familiar? It is. Not only is the film like many, many kung fu epics of the past, it adheres to the underdog-makes-good formula of contemporary kids' animation.

Kung Fu Panda isn't nearly as witty (or forced) as Shrek, or as surprisingly subversive as Ratatouille, but it does manage its own kind of tweaking comedy that hovers in the distance for those who choose to look for it. The film opens with a subtle gag as Po fantasizes about his own non-existent myth: "Legend tells of a legendary warrior whose kung fu skills were the stuff of legend," Po intones seriously, in what could be one of the sharpest dissections of the often over-blown kung fu quest film ever. That the Furious Five are actually a tiger, mantis, crane, monkey, and snake adds to the gentle joking, without ever tripping into condescension toward a beloved genre. Directors John Stevenson and Mark Osborne are clearly fans of The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.

Writing partners Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger (King of the Hill) have crafted a standard story of family and community devotion and the true nature of bravery. The Furious Five is, well, furious that none of them was chosen as the Dragon Warrior, but they, and Po, all learn something when they are forced into some navel-gazing. It's all very stock and slightly underwritten.

Animation lives and dies on its art and its voice performances, and Kung Fu Panda's greatest asset is its simple, rich aesthetic packed with vivid colors. The detail often found in 3D may be absent, but Panda makes up for it with painterly artwork, soft lines, and warm tones. It's a bit of a throwback, actually, as long-time storyboard artist Stevenson (Madagascar) and Osborne (SpongeBob SquarePants) opt for a visual style that is almost cel-retro in its execution. Flashes of abstraction (the opening dream sequence) only serve to underscore the warmth of "reality". Though the action becomes too frantic at times (a common tick with modern animation), it walks the fine line between gimmicky and sharp: Watch out for the training sequence that hinges on dumplings.

The key to strong voice work is recognizability after the fact; the moment when the closing credits roll and viewers say, "Oh! It was him!" - and there are two of those here. Hoffman's bitter, slightly exasperated Shifu is a wonder of auditory acting, and could be one of Hoffman's best recent performances. His Shifu is suitably weary, apprehensive, and dedicated, and it comes through loud and clear. Hoffman hits the right beats and somehow maintains a light, humorous timbre throughout. Conversely, McShane's (the astoundingly foul-mouthed Al Swearengen on Deadwood) performance is a tease, a hint at what might have been had he been given a more fully fleshed-out role. As it stands, his rough-hewn baritone and superior drawl are a treat for the ears.

Which leaves Black as Po. Without the trademark flailing and mugging that can grate on the nerves, Black's performance as the self-doubting panda is pitch perfect. Black has it in him to honestly act, and he does so here. He stammers and sighs in the right spots and infuses Po with an empathetic insecurity that crosses genres as well as formats. Depending on your tolerance for anthropomorphization, Kung Fu Panda is a charmer that sneaks up on you.

Kung Fu Panda opens in Hong Kong on June 28.

(HK Edition 06/26/2008 page4)