Like most animations, Kung Fu Panda is not completely free of clichés, but it certainly is original and funny enough to engender some good laughs.

Just imagine a panda bear, which known as one of the laziest animals in the world, doing some smooth kung fu moves…Could that be explained by the fact his father is a duck?

"Sometimes, I can't believe I'm actually your son," Po, the Kung Fu Panda, wonders when he has nothing else to do.

The Dreamworks animation tells the story of panda bear Po (Jack Black), who is disappointed that his aspirations in life are limited by his work in his father’s noodle restaurant, a job that a usual panda bear would certainly prefer to a kung fu career. But hey, our hero is no common panda! His incredible self-confidence makes him neglect the fact that he is fat and clumsy when he decides to become a fierce kung fu warrior.

His dream would have never come true if turtle Zen Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) hadn’t anointed him, to everyone’s surprise, “The Dragon Warrior,” a champion whose mission is to defend the valley from the wrath of Tai Lung (Ian McShane), a dangerous snow leopard. The community is shocked by the distracted Master’s decision, while Kung Fu master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), Oogway’s assistant, is totally annoyed.

Tai Lung appears to be a somewhat Luciferian figure, having impersonated, a long time ago, Shifu’s top student and son-like figure. Tai Lung had somehow ended up in a custom-built prison from where he managed to escape and is now expected to bring chaos upon the peaceful community in which Po lives.

In order to fight against the terrible leopard, Shifu has especially trained his top students, who together form “The Furious Five: Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Crane (David Cross). This team is supposed to help Po defeat the dangerous enemy. Well, nothing too original until now…It is not the first time we see an unlikely hero who manages to save the day, although nobody believes in him. This is, actually, the message of the movie: you should believe in yourself no matter what your limitations and weaknesses are and no matter what anybody else thinks about you. Doesn't it sound a liiitle familiar?

But it is not the victory itself that matters in this movie, but the way the hero achieves it. The elements that contribute to the story’s fun are Po’s appetite, which motivates him in everything he does (now isn’t this a good lesson to learn?), his clumsiness and his relationship with master Shinfu.

There’s quite a waste of stars in the movie, as the other characters, although voiced by famous actors, only have a dozen lines. It seems the filmmakers weren’t confident enough that people will rush into cinemas to see only a kung fu fighting panda, no matter how witty and funny the story is.

Jack Black said that Po was closer to his real personality than any of the roles he's done in the past, so he “poured” his soul “into this panda bear.” And if this is not a good reason to go and see the film, I don’t know what is.

“Kung Fu Panda” opened Friday nationwide. It is PG rated and lasts 95 minutes.