WALL-E vs. KUNG-FU PANDA - Battle to the Death!

Saw both of these today.  And both are good movies.  KFP is the more enjoyable of the two, but WALL-E is the better movie, because of Pixar's continued emphasis on story.

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SPOILER SPACE

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KFP tells the story of Po, a panda who dreams of becoming a kung fu master.  All the other animals laugh at him -- he's a fat panda and can't possibly be The Dragon Warrior.  And in true kids' movie fashion, you can't judge a book by its cover and fattie turns out to be the only one who can stop an evil Leopard creature from kicking all kinds of ass.

Jack Black turns out not to be annoying, the martial arts action is inventive and highly visual, and the representation of the animal styles of kung fu with their respective animals is genius.  The weakness in the script is that, apart from a brief dream sequence at the beginning that establishes Jack Black's love of kung fu (and a couple of mentions to his father), we don't get much of a sense of who Po is or what he wants.  Much is made about how the other animals, including the master, don't think Po is the hero everyone is looking for.  And Po has a little breakdown where he talks about how he wanted to learn kung fu -- even at the expense of being berated by a man who hates him -- because it was so awkard being him he'd seize any chance to improve.  But we never see that.  The film misses a golden opportunity by telling, not showing.  Late in the movie, Po tells his father that sometimes he wonders if he's his son; this is played purely for laughs -- Po is a panda and his dad is a stork or something.  Instead, the film should've showed how Po doesn't fit in anywhere.  Give him some brothers or sisters, he's the only panda there.  He causes havoc in the noodle shop, knocking things over with his clumsiness and lack of attention.  Maybe he takes kung fu classes, but he's stuck in the beginner class with children, never advancing beyond yellow belt; and the kids there make fun of him too.  That way, when the turtle tells everyone Po's the Dragon Warrior who will save them, we know he's not -- he's a goofball who gets beaten up by kids and can't even make noodles properly.  That sets up his arc even better by demonstrating he doesn't belong anywhere; when he breaks down and says this later in the film, it's been established visually and dramatically, instead of coming through pure exposition.

WALL-E on the other hand, has an amazing script.  With very little dialogue, a character is established, given a goal (to find someone to love/hold hands with/dance with), meets his potential mate, who has a mission that interferes with them being together (her directive to find and protect plant life on the dying earth), and is opposed by a series of robot enemies and other obstacles.  Visually, the movie uses several excellent cues to reinforce the action, such as the glowing lines the robots and floating couches follow, the giant versions of WALL-E, and the use of red clothing to identify "awakened" humans from the slumbering consumer blue blobs.  They even introduce the Captain character halfway through the movie and manage to give him a complete arc.  The film also pulls off the hat trick of visually/dramatically representing WALL-E's amnesia and recovery with animation tics like the way WALL-E's eyes click and the gesture of holding hands.  By the time the film wraps up, we've seen two robots fall in love, hope return to a dying planet, and watched a story about the fall and rejuvenation of a generation ship, all thematically tied into a message about saving the environment and stopping mindless consumerism.  Not bad for a cartoon.

It's still not as fun as watching a panda do kung fu while trying to eat a bowl of dumplings, though.