Perhaps the best thing about Kung Fu Panda is that it's an action comedy that doesn't skimp on the action. Dreamworks Animation's latest effort may stick out a little on the Red Carpet at Cannes -- where it's screening out of competition -- but it's certainly a well-made kid's film that earns high points for how directors John Stevenson and Mark Osborne clearly crafted and contemplated its look and feel with ambition and style. Anyone can make a computer-animated cartoon with fuzzy animals doing kung fu; you have to be at least a little inspired to make a computer-animated cartoon featuring fuzzy animals doing kung fu in widescreen Cinemascope. ...

Kung Fu Panda opens with a rousing, stylish action sequence, as a narrator (Jack Black, in full-on Tenacious D exposition mode) explains how "Legend tells of a legendary kung fu warrior whose kung fu skills were legendary. ..." But then, the heroic panda we've seen unleashing paws of power on the big screen ... wakes up; it was just a dream. Then Po the panda (Black), whose dreams of kung fu glory are the counterpoint to his unsatisfying life, gets ready for his day of helping his father Mr. Ping (James Wong) sell noodles to the people of the Valley of Peace.

When I was growing up I was a huge fan of martial arts movies and Kung Fu movies, in particular -- still am, actually. Maybe its because we didn't have cable and only got a few channels with the rabbit ears perched on top of our 20' television. Fortuately, two of the channels we did get were 5 and 13 from Los Angeles. Back in those days when -- believe it or not -- there were only three TV networks, channels 5 and 13 were independent and showed pretty much whatever they wanted. One of the things they showed frequently were martial arts movies.

In fact, channel 13 even had a weekly showcase for these movies called "Kung Fu Theater" complete with over-done sounds effects and out-of-sync dialog -- what many people refer to today as "chopsockey" cinema. During that time I watched many fun movies including The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Five Deadly Venoms and several films featuring the great Bruce Lee, including Game of Death and the classic Enter the Dragon. So, as a big fan of martial arts films and well-choreographed fight scenes with guys kicking the crap out of each other, I was pretty interested to see this Double Viking article featuring the top ten mano-a-mano fight scenes of all time.

Some of the fights they list in their top ten include Rocky vs Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, Neo vs Agent Smith in The Matrix and one of my personal favorites: Nada vs Frank in John Carpenter's They Live. While I do agree with most of the choices, I'm not entirely sure about the order. I might have placed Nada vs Frank higher on the list due to its shear brutality and the fact that both the actors, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Keith David, did their own fighting without the aid of stunt doubles. Still, a pretty good list and, with the included videos, a great way to see some terrific fights scenes. Enjoy.

What's your favorite movie fight scene?

It's been five long years since Albert and Allen Hughes gave us Hell -- From Hell that is -- and though they have been busy with television projects, it is time they got back to the big screen. Well, their next project has now been confirmed as the long-awaited adaptation of the TV-series Kung Fu. For those unfamiliar with the show (I admit, I've never seen one episode), it featured David Carradine as a Shaolin monk who is forced to flee China and ends up in the American wild west.

A script was written for the movie version by Howard Friedlander and Ed Spielman, both of whom worked on the show, but it will be rewritten by Cory Goodman, who also wrote the upcoming Andrew Douglas film Priest. There is no word on casting yet, though Carradine will have to be involved somehow, but Warner Bros. is planning for a 2008 release to coincide, and hopefully garner a promotional tie-in with, the Beijing Olympics.

Considering The Hughes Brothers had been trying to get this job for past two years, they hopefully know what to do with it. Though we don't know who the other filmmakers were who wanted the gigs, I have to wonder if Quentin Tarantino was interested, at least as a writer or producer. After all, he has paid homage to the series through dialogue (Pulp Fiction) and casting (Kill Bill's title character is played by Carradine).

The tie-in part of the story makes me wonder if Hollywood will be putting together any other martial arts films around the same time. We still haven't heard the full stories on the Bruce Lee biopic Martha wrote about last summer, or the mysterious Rob Cohen-directed, Bruce Lee-starring film that Erik mentioned last month. And maybe Kung Fu Hustle 2 is on hold for this very same reason. Okay, I doubt it. The Olympics and cinema may already be linked enough by the promotional videos being shot by Oliver Stone, Giuseppe Tornatore and Majid Majidi.

Any fans of the show care to chime in with your opinion?