Kung Fu Panda (2008)

I wasn't keen on seeing "Kung Fu Panda." The previews made it look like a bad "Kill Bill" spoof, and I'm dead tired of the animated spoof genre. So, I was stunned to love this Jack Black-voiced animated film about a hefty Panda who finds his kung fu fantasies coming true. The plot is simple: Chinese Panda Po (Black) diligently but unhappily works in his father's noodle shop until he is inexplicably tapped as the Dragon Warrior by the town's kung fu mystic guru. Tasked with training Po to fight a greatly feared enemy are Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and the Furious Five (Angelina Jolie, Davis Cross, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen and Lucy Liu).Black, by the way, seems perfect for animated films. He has an outsized persona that can grow bewildering on screen, but behind a microphone and with a Panda taking the place of his body, he's never been more ... human. B+