Once in a while, a movie is released, and you can tell from the get-go that this movie was made for the box-office. Kung Fu Panda is one of those movies.

The plot itself is gimmicky: a lovable, over-weight panda gets chosen to be the legendary Dragon Warrior. The cast is made for box-office: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, and Jackie Chan among other people.

There's no doubt that this movie will make millions of dollars, but after sitting through it with a few of my girlfriends, I wish I could make it earn eight dollars less.

The message was overly familiar, and alot of the scenes were cliche. But it wasn't a terrible movie by any means. In fact, mix of slapstick and visual humor, swift martial arts action and vibrant, energetic animation was pleasing.

The animation was excellent, and was probably DreamWorks' most visually enticing movie yet. If nothing else, the filmmakers should be congratulated for keeping the jokes clean and the pop-culture references to a minimum.

Maybe I'm just cheap.