Fridae

Pand-ering perhaps to the newly-rich and powerful Chinese market, DreamWorks Animation (of Shrek fame) has come up with a somewhat cute kung fu cartoon that's meant to appeal to both Asian and Western audiences.

Set in ancient China, the story revolves around a roly-poly panda named Po (voice of Jack Black) who's always dreamt of becoming a kung fu master. He gets to live that dream when a wise sage of a turtle (voice of Randall Duk Kim) anoints him as the new "Dragon Warrior" who will protect the villagers from evil tormentors.

Master Shifu (voice of Dustin Hoffman), a kung fu master, is asked to turn the food-loving, pot-bellied panda into a lean fighting machine. But only time will tell whether Po can be as good as Master Shifu's other five apprentices � Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Viper (Lucy Liu), Crane (David Cross) and Mantis (Seth Rogen).

And only time will tell whether Po can beat the ferocious snow leopard, Tai Lung (Ian McShane), who has come to the village to settle an old score...

Directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne, this cartoon strikes us as being neither here nor there. On the one hand, it does pay homage to the great Chinese kung fu genre with its elaborate fight sequences � reminiscent of hundreds of kung fu movies. The wonderful visuals also pay tribute to Chinese landscape art and illustrations.

However, having goofy Hollywood actor Jack Black clowning around and making distinctly American fratboy jokes simply jar with the overall Chinese-influenced production design. The script, written by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, ultimately concludes with the old "Believe in yourself" theme which, we swear, has appeared in at least 5,000 other movies.

Kung Fu Panda is likely to split audiences' opinions right down the middle. Many Westerners, we think, will find it funny and adorable. Many Asians, we suspect, might not find anything really new or refreshing in it.