Okay, so I broke down last weekend and bought my son a Happy Meal (something I had been really good abut NOT buying because after spending $1million on Happy Meals I finally wised up and realized all he wanted was the toy) and he gets this Kung Fu Panda toy and he starts saying he saw the “commercial” on t.v. and he wants to see the movie.
So, we go as a family last night (in shock and awe that my husband agreed to attend) and almost $50 later we were seated to watch the feature presentation of Kung Fu Panda. It started off interestingly enough like a flat cartoon (like I used to watch as a kid- without all the 3-D wizardry) but it was just the main character, Po having a dream.
I found the movie to be funny and very clever. Dustin Hoffman is awesome as Master Shifu, he sounds like an ancient Asian sage. As a fan of martial arts movies I thought the creators did a good job of representing the genre. However I was shocked that some parts were so dark, serious and real. I realized that maybe it was a bit much for our son, who has only been 4 for a little over three months, when my husband and I both look down at him in the middle seat and he looked a little. . .um…petrified. His eyes were twice the size and he had suddenly gone mute. We asked if he was scared and he shook his head, “no” but he admitted later that he was a little scared.
The fighting scene when Tai Lung breaks out of prison is very cool but also pretty violent and it kinda came out of nowhere so, I think it totally took my son off guard. Although he likes to “play” karate, jump off the stairs, wrestle, and run into walls he’s really a softy at heart and he doesn’t like it when people (or animals) get hurt for real. So, I had to assure him repeatedly that it was all just pretend. I thought he was going to have nightmares for days but it turns he wasn’t as traumatized as I thought because he fell into a deep coma like sleep and didn’t wake up at all throughout the night.
So, a word of caution to anyone making plans to see it, beware that there are some parts that might startle or frighten young kids.
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