This Weekend: Zohan vs. Kung-Fu Panda

In the battle of “family comedy” vs. “not-family comedy,” the former usually wins, since parents don’t take their kids to see Adam Sandler banging Mrs. Garrett. But they’re both fun movies worth seeing, so it’s up to you to decide which one is your cup of tea.

Kung-Fu Panda [watch the trailer]
You’ve seen the plot a lot in animated movies for kids - an unlikely doofus gets chosen for a great destiny and struggles to shape up for the task. But this movie manages to ‘zazz that up by wrapping it up in the trappings of martial arts movies, which are also big hits with young folks. Throw in the Jack Blackalanche - the only guy who could play the excitable fat guy with such passion and zeal, and you’ve got a recipe that works.

Po is the panda who works in a Chinese noodle shop with his father, who thinks noodles are his calling. Po loves the martial arts, though, and is obsessed with its practitioners. Until one day, through a freak set of goofball circumstances, he stumbles into being chosen as the Dragon Warrior of destiny, much to the befuddlement of both Po and the people that are supposed to train him. Master Shifu and his Furious Five (destined to become a band name in ten years) don’t believe this prophecy for a moment, but when word comes that the unstoppable fighter leopard Tai Lung (Ian McShane) has broken free from his maximum security prison to wreak his vengeance on Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), all bets are off, and Po has to shape up quick.

It’s a lot of fun. Black’s energy is what really makes this movie work, and you can feel his whole presence as Po rather than just his voice, and as usual, that enthusiasm of his is infectious. The Furious Five may well have been invented just to give them room to cast a bunch of celebrities to help sell the movie, but it’s hard to get a better group than Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross and Jackie Chan to be the people that look down their noses at Po and put even more obstacles in his path to destiny.

It’s kinetic, it’s action-packed, and it’s funny. Just wait for the “skidoosh.” It seals the deal.

Watch clips:
Po is the unlikely choice for the Dragon Warrior.
Master Shifu tries to scare Po away.
Po refuses to quit, despite the mounting evidence that he should.

You Don’t Mess With The Zohan [watch the trailer]
Adam Sandler is the last guy you’d think would make a movie about the Israeli/Palestinian tensions, but somebody’s got to figure out a way to get people to laugh about it instead of kill over it, so why not let the Sandman take a crack at it?

As the best Israeli secret agent that ever lived, Zohan has tired of his life of death and war, but feels ashamed of his desire to make everyone silky smooth in a salon. When his archenemy The Phantom (the always funny John Turturro) is on the loose again, Zohan takes advantage of the opportunity to fake his death and leave that life behind. Resurfacing in New York as Scrappy Coco with a stylin’ outdated haircut, he pursues work and eventually lands at a place run by a Palestinian named Dalia (Emmanuelle Chriqui). After initial struggles, he becomes a sensation, natch, thanks to all the “passion” he puts into his work. As is always the case with these stories, though, his past threatens to catch up with him and end his dream.

It’s funny. It’s not the mile-a-minute stupid-funny like Billy Madison was, but it’s as if the impossible has happened and Sandler has, dare we say it, matured. At least a little bit. It can’t be easy to balance earnest reflections on age-old ethnic hatred with jokes about pubic hair, but it manages to work well enough to make for an entertaining flick. Even Rob Schneider is pretty good as Salim, the twitchy, bitchy cab driver with a dream of revenge against the Zohan.

It’s fairly obvious that, with the double shot of Zohan and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Sandler’s trying to do the ’social responsibility’ thing the only way he can - by trying to teach some of his doofus frat boy fans a thing or two about the complexities of life, while wrapping it in the delicious candy coating of boner jokes. Time will tell if it works.