Home Video Duo: Kung Fu Panda & You Don’t Mess With The Zohan

Kung Fu Panda
Directed by Mark Osborne & John Stevenson
Released June 6, 2008

You Don’t Mess With The Zohan
Directed by Dennis Dugan
Released June 6, 2008

I’ve recently had the pleasure of watching two rather immature summer comedies on DVD which just happened to have been released in theatres on the same day. “Kung Fu Panda” is among this year’s nominees for Best Animated Film at the Golden Globes, along with “Wall-E” and “Bolt.” Jack Black’s comic sensibilities aren’t quite enough to make “Kung Fu Panda” a legitimately funny film, and it can’t escape its truthfully unexciting story. Previews made Po the panda (Black) look like a hilarious mess, but it’s an oft-repeated singular joke which gets stale quickly. Dustin Hoffman provides good voice acting for kung fu mentor Shifu, though he and some of the other supporting voices (Ian McShane, Angelina Jolie) can’t make the film funny enough. It’s an uninteresting and rather childish tale, which isn’t terribly surprising for an animated film. The recent surprises like “Finding Nemo,” “Cars,” “Ratatouille,” and “Wall-E” may perhaps have set the bar too high for mature animated films. Even “Bolt” was smarter than it should have been, which makes “Kung Fun Panda” more of a disappointment.

“You Don’t Mess With The Zohan,” on the other hand, is a pleasant surprise. Much of it is rather stupid, yet it has a very enjoyable tone. Adam Sandler’s Israeli Zohan is a lovable, ridiculous hero whose skills border on the impossible. Quite a bit of it is really funny, and only occasionally does it go too far (like when the Zohan puts people in a pretzel). The plot gets truly stupid near the end if of the movie, but generally it’s an entertaining experience with better-than-expected accents and immature but hilarious humor. Emmanuelle Chriqui (Sloan on “Entourage”) is an impressive Palestinian love interest for the Zohan, and the ensemble works shockingly well for an Adam Sandler film. It’s by no means a great movie, but it’s much more fun than might be expected. Additionally, this is an instance where the funny parts from the previews don’t necessarily represent the only funny parts in the movie. It’s easily comparable to a lesser version of “Pineapple Express” where the humor should be valued far above the story, and the resulting experience will be thoroughly enjoyable.

“Kung Fu Panda:” F
“You Don’t Mess With The Zohan:” C+