Sunday, January 25, 2009

Kung Fu Panda, or How Everything I Know I Learnt from Animation






Everything I Know, I Learnt from Animation
(2008 Academy Award Nominee) Kung Fu Panda

Other than the maxim "There is no secret ingredient" the greatest thing Kung Fu Panda taught me was to marvel at Dustin Hoffman's thespian skills. Sure we all know his apex was in the 1980s what with Kramer vs Kramer, Rain Man and Tootsie, but lately? Supporting roles haven't really showcased his work, and his leading men have been MIA except for that Magorium film - anyone watch it? So, with this and Last Chance Harvey Dustin shows us why he's one of the best. Especially since the rest of the voicework in this film (Angelina I'm talking to you!) seems so phoned-in.

He does comedy. Really working the slapstick and the snarkiness:

He goes all sad and down when his friend dies:

He works the intimidation factor even though he's a) tiny and b) a red panda.

He even does his own stunts!

But more importantly (cause y'know that since Shakespeare's time they loved this), he gets a death scene and nails it:

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