Screen Rant » kung fu panda

‘Kung Fu Panda 2′ Trailer #2 Gets Epic

Chris Schrader — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 21:15:14 +0000

In 2008, Kung Fu Panda became a monstrous critical and commercial success for DreamWorks. Not only was it the studio’s largest opening for a non-sequel film, it also went on to become the highest-grossing animated film of the year.

Kung Fu Panda 2 was basically inevitable and in a few short months, fans will be able to catch up with the Furious Five on their latest adventure.

The original Kung Fu Panda remains one of my favorite DreamWorks animated films and I’m pretty impressed with the way the sequel is shaping up so far. Hearing that Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) worked on the script essentially guaranteed that I’d have to check this out and I was also impressed to learn that Kung Fu Panda 2 is directed by Jennifer Yuh ...

Click to continue reading ‘Kung Fu Panda 2′ Trailer #2 Gets Epic

Early Buzz: ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ as Good as Kung Fu Panda?

Ross Miller — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:48:07 +0000

I’m sure many of you are of the same mind as me that Dreamworks Animation pales in comparison to the daddy of animation studios, Pixar. What Pixar does so well in terms of character development, legitimately funny gags (without relying on tired slapstick) and an actual good story (whether animated or not), Dreamworks Animation seems unable to emulate (sometimes they appear to not even try), and instead we get a flurry of un-funny pop culture references (a la Shrek the Third).

The latest from Dreamworks Animation is the admittedly fun-looking How to Train Your Dragon, which features the voice acting talents of Jay Baruchel (Tropic Thunder), Gerard Butler (“that bloke from 300,” as Ricky Gervais said at the Golden Globes the other night ) and America Farrera (Ugly Betty), amongst others. ...

Click to continue reading Early Buzz: ‘How To Train Your Dragon’ as Good as Kung Fu Panda?

Golden Globe Nominations: Little Love For The Dark Knight

Kofi Outlaw — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:35:24 +0000

The 2009 Golden Globe Nominations have been officially announced and it looks like The Dark Knight has been almost totally snubbed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

That’s right folks, The Dark Knight received just one nomination: a Best Supporting Actor nod for Heath Ledger’s groundbreaking (and freaky) turn as The Joker. No Best Director nomination for Chris Nolan; no Best Screenplay nomination for Chris and Jonathan Nolan; no Best Original Score nomination (although Dark Knight composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard are both nominated in that category for work on two other films).

So, want to see which films stole the slots that rightfully belong to TDK? Check out the list of the 2009 Golden Globe Nominees in film:

BEST DRAMA
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Revolutionary Road
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

ACTOR (DRAMA)
Leonardo DiCaprio ...

Click to continue reading Golden Globe Nominations: Little Love For The Dark Knight

Screen Rant Guests On The Cinema Blend Podcast

Vic Holtreman — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 03:59:29 +0000

I know that people have asked why we don’t have a regular podcast here at Screen Rant. I made an attempt about a year ago to do a weekly podcast before we had a great stable of writers, and I found it extremely difficult to do alone.

So what about now, you ask? Now it’s an issue of time, or rather not enough of it, plus trying to coordinate a time that most of us can get together when we are located across the country (with Niall in the UK!).

However this week Cinemablend was nice enough to invite me to join their regular weekly podcast “The Weekly Blend” and it was a lot of fun. Rafe, Margaret and Tim over there are all very cool and fun to chat with about our favorite topic: movies.

I thought it went ...

Click to continue reading Screen Rant Guests On The Cinema Blend Podcast

Review: Kung Fu Panda

Vic Holtreman — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 04:27:51 +0000

Short version: Kung Fu Panda is arguably the best animated movie Dreamworks has produced so far.

Sure, the commercials and the trailer are pretty funny, but is the actual movie any good?

Oh, yes.

Kung Fu Panda is the closest that Dreamworks has managed to get to the quality and feel of a Pixar film, and that’s a good thing. Although it’s rated PG like previous offerings from the studio like the Shrek series, here we’re missing the sharp edge and subtle “adult” humor.

Does it hurt the movie? Absolutely not.

This movie put a smile on my face right from the first thing that appeared on the big screen: a stylized version of the usual Dreamworks logo sequence that blends and leads right into the opening of the movie. The opening itself is “awesome” (see the movie and you’ll get ...

Click to continue reading Review: Kung Fu Panda

MTV Tropic Thunder Clip

Vic Holtreman — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:56:09 +0000

From the MTV Movie Awards (which I never bother watching… way too “hip” for me, thanks) comes this “viral” promotional clip for Tropic Thunder. It starts out great with Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr and Jack Black. They manage to pull both Iron Man and Kung Fu Panda into a promo piece for Stiller’s film pretty creatively.

However, to me this is an example of one of the problems with comedy these days: Not knowing when to quit. I thought it was really quite funny for about the first minute and a half, but then it goes on for about another 2-3 full minutes and it literally beats the point of the skit into the ground. Overkill IMHO.

Plus watching Stiller kowtow to a stereotypical bored, disconnected teenager annoyed the heck out of me. On the other hand I really ...

Click to continue reading MTV Tropic Thunder Clip