I was able to see Kung Fu Panda yesterday in the big theatre, the Grande Theatre Lumiere, and could actually follow the action from the nosebleed section of the balcony, which I didn’t expect. It’s a decent comedy that kept the audience chuckling, but there were only a few good jokes and most of the characters were unbelievably flat. The story line of a self-conscious panda who gets a weight loss training makeover was strangely reminiscent of many reality show plotlines, and did nothing to differentiate itself from them. The trite messages about believing in yourself sounded recycled, and were just barely redeemed by the slapstick and quality of the animation, which I’m guessing is what caused the enthusiastic applause after the screening. It couldn’t have been anything else.
The panda (Jack Black), Master Mantis (Seth Rogen) and Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) were the only three characters with any definable traits. Lucy Liu and Angelina Jolie did the best they could with the horribly stale and colourless dialogue they were given, and Jackie Chan, who played the monkey, was funny when he voiced the few lines he had. Jack Black showed off his ability to make audiences laugh under any circumstances, even a direly predictable script, and his voice and his animated character worked well together.
The traditional animation in the opening dream sequence was quite impressive, and reached the level of phantasmagorical anime that the directors, Mark Osborne and John Stevenson, seemed to be striving for. The fight scenes were very well done, and showed off Dreamwork’s animation skills well - the scenes with the wisdom/emotional-eating tree were particularly realistic and mystical, and could have come out of a Pixar film.
I couldn’t make the press conference because I was playing paparazzo instead; I managed to get my self a spot in a palm tree outside the steps where the cast exited the conference and got into their cars. There were about 25 other photographers there, and they were much nicer than the ones that pushed me out of my spot at the wifi café. Then again, the man that took up half my spot behind the palm probably didn’t snap at me because I didn’t reprimand him for it, so I don’t know – when a foot can make the difference between five and ten thousand dollars, people get mean. While we were waiting, I overheard one photographer telling another about how he used to dream of being an art photographer, but found the only way to make a living was by snapping pictures of celebrities.
How you know if a star is going to turn up
Making me feel ashamed of my camera
Where's Dustin?
I’m ashamed to say that I had to mutilate the palm tree a bit to get a clear shot, but I tried to straighten it out as best I could once the actors had whizzed off. Dustin Hoffman stayed the longest, and a full minute striking different poses, but Angelina just went straight to her car, which is fine because she’s very pregnant and can get away with pretty much whatever she likes. Jack Black did a few kung fu moves before leaving, but none of them stayed for very long. As usual, I was completely intimidated by the foot and a half long lenses the other photographers were showing off. I definitely prefer press conferences to just snapping pictures, I didn’t find the paparazzi experience very satisfying. Paparazzo is off my list of future career paths as of yesterday, not that it was ever really on there in the first place.
Thanks
Angie and Jack arrive
I’m about to try to stake out the conference room like I did on Tuesday. Cannes is definitely in full swing now, with thousands of people on the Croisette every day, so I don’t know whether I’ll be able to get a spot. We’ll see.
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