Finally saw Kung-fu Panda in Clonakilty. No, wait a minute - that sentence makes it appear that I was desperate to visit Clonakilty's cinema in particular whereas in fact I only included that detail to make me seem more wordly and cosmopolitan. Which is desperate; who ever is going to find Clonakilty either wordly or cosmopolitan? It wasn't a bad cinema though - I was impressed by the fact that they only sold salted pop corn. Is this an Irish thing? Here's a pic:
I took my eldest daughter (4) and neice (6) despite my wife's concerns about content. This was what Parent Previews had to say:
Although this film contains only mild name-calling and some brief rude humor, it is jam packed with depictions of martial arts action. The animated animals kick, punch and tumble their way through one encounter after another. Characters are also choked, burned, hit with spikes and pushed down a flight of stairs. Soldiers use weapons such as swords, chains and arrows. One character is stuck with needles during an acupuncture session. Fireworks and other explosions involving characters are portrayed.
Sounds great doen't it! In fact I was a little disappointed: it certainly wasn't as funny as I'd hoped although there 2 or 3 laugh out loud moments. My niece kept up a constant barrage of questions which I found impossible to to answer. My favourite came about 5 minutes into the film - she asked, "What happens at the very end?" Actually what happens is fairly predictable and I probably could have made a pretty accurate guess. When it was all over I asked my 4 year old daughter if she fancied learning kung fu:
"What? Like Kung fu Panda?"
"Yes"
"OK, but I don't think mummy would like it."
The animation was excellent (as you'd expect these days) and the big name voice actors were up to snuff. I particularly enjoyed Ian McShane's villain.
I'm really looking forward to some more 'grown up' fair and am dsiappointed to have missed The Visitor at The Curzon Film Club. Doh!
