.CSMEDY/ANIMATION KUNG FU PANDA (PG) 91 min 000
In the words of Carl Douglas’ 1974 disco hit: ‘Everybody is kung fu fighting.’ Everybody, that is, apart from overweight panda Po (voiced by Jack Black). He dreams about joining his heroes, the Fierce Five, in butt-kicking adventures, but his job in his dad’s noodle restaurant seems to be all the excitement he is destined for. Then, one day, out of the blue, the food crazy panda is proclaimed the Dragon Warrior and must train alongside his heroes: Mantis (Seth Rogen), Crane (David Cross), Wper (Lucy Lui), Monkey (Jackie Chan) and Tigress (Angelina Jolie). When the valley of peace is threatened with the return of bad kung fu master, Tai Lung (Ian McShane), Po must put down the cookies and step up to the challenge.
Kung Fu Panda is Dreamworks-does-manga
50 THE LIST 3—1 7 Jul 2008
animation, overlaid with an Eastern version of the fated
place-in-the-universe style philosophy originally trademarked in The Lion King. The studio has pulled out all the stops from their colouring and animation palette, but nothing quite lives up to the kick-start, 2D dream sequence that features Black’s Tenacious D- style over the top rant. Black is perfect as Po but the other big billed names (Jolie, Chan, Lui) are just that, interchangeable names delivering underwhelming characterised sound bites. Technically and aesthetically Kung Fu Panda has obviously been made with love - kung fu fans will recognise pastiches of old Shaw Brothers and King Hu features already pastiched by Tarantino (like the compulsive training montage, and the rebellious student’s journey of respect). But all the respect in the world will not provide the touch of Zen that this flawed comedy so lacks.
(Georgina Wilson-Powell)
I General release from Fri 4 Jul.
DRAMA THE VISITOR (15) 106min 0000
both convincing and reassuring.
(Paul Dale) I Selected release from Fri 4 Jul.
DRAMA
SAVAGE GRACE
(18) 97mins COO
Sixteen years on from his debut. the New Queer Cinema-defining Swoon.
Tom Kalin finally makes a return with
his sophomore feature. a flawed but nevertheless fascinating examination
of dysfunction among the American
aristocracy. Based on the true-life account by Natalie Robins and Steven ML Aronson. Savage Grace stars Julianne Moore as Barbara, a middle class social climber who marries Brooks Baekeland (Stephen Dillane). heir to the Bakelite plastics fortune. Spanning 26 years and several countries. the film begins in New York in 1947. where it‘s already evident that Barbara‘s social inferiority to her husband has led to an unfulfilling relationship. Instead. she pours all her love onto their young son, Tony (Barney Clark). suffocating him to a disturbing degree. As the story unfolds. and husband and wife become estranged. mother and son (now played by Eddie Redmayne) grow ever closer as they hop between European hotspots in a manner that would make Tom Ripley jealous. Creating a hermetically-sealed universe to encase this Oedipal dynamic. Kalin allows the story to drift into twisted territory in the final third. It's uncomfortable viewing — and not always satisfying, with dialogue feeling stilted and performances artificial. Yet there's something compelling about these individuals — with Moore returning to the son of risk-taking she became known for in the days of Boogie Nights. And guaranteed. you will not forget the jaw-dropping finale. (James Mottram). I Selected release from Fri 7 7 Jul.
Ageing widower and economics professor Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins) is a grouch. He spends his days giving his students a hard time. When he is sent to Manhattan to present a dull paper, a series of misunderstandings lead him to meet Syrian drummer Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and his Senegalese girlfriend Zainab (Danai Gurira). It is a friendship that is to change Vale in surprising ways.
With his follow up to The Station Agent. writer and director Thomas McCarthy's contrives to take the most unpromising and cliche’ smeared elements — pious rich white guy. an epiphany. kindly immigrants. African funk music and faceless bureaucracy — and turn it in to tear jerk gold.
Beautifully performed by all involved The Visitor is a sentimental and fairly contrived drama that. like Tarek. manages to access a hypnotic rhythm that is
Shot through with a soft focus ennui borrowed from Hal Ashby and more recently Sean Penn (as director) The Visitor is really just another tale from the city about a grief stricken stiff who recovers through connection. Kieslowski, whose Three Colours: Blue really set the template for this kind of thing. would have done it differently. But then he knew little of insurgenCy hysteria or Fela Kuti.