I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Holiday specials are very much hit or miss. Merry Madagascar is remarkably good, the Ice Age special is OK. But this is horrible, but no redeeming features. The story is precisely the sort of crap you expect in the worst such specials --- Po learns a valuable lesson about the importance of family, blah blah --- with absolutely none of the surprise, subversion, or humor that one finds in the better such specials.The animation is likewise derivative, generic, with none of the originality of the movie.Saddest of all was the attempt to pretend that what we are watching is Christmas (as understood by East Coast America --- no snow in LA!) without ever actually saying the word; instead we get vague references to the "Winter Feast".

"Kung Fu Panda Holiday" was released back in 2010 as the second short film to the Panda franchise between the first and second feature film. It's very similar to the original movie, so if you liked that one, chance is good you'll enjoy this one too. The main characters are mostly included and the action is similar too in the grand picture. Here and there some fighting, occasionally some wisdom from Dustin Hoffman and of course quality animation from start to finish.Story-wise I was not really impressed though. The Christmas reference was basically limited to Panda asking himself whether to spend Christmas night with his fellow Kung Fu masters as he's obliged to or with his dear ones. The problem wasn't really that the outcome couldn't be more obvious (that's usually the case with holiday short films), but that the Christmas message got a bit lost in the action sequences and goofy fun parts. Although the ending was executed very nicely, it couldn't really make up for everything before. Maybe they should have limited it to 15 minutes max. It's an okay watch for the holidays and a fine way to reduce the waiting time till the third Kung Fu panda movie in 2015, but that's pretty much it.

I love, love, love this. The Kung Fu Panda holiday special is the only really good holiday special I've ever seen. I thought that it was extremely funny and extremely heart-warming. As always, great plot, great moral, great characters. Another perk was the rabbit chef who kept trying to fight Po to the death in order to reclaim his honor. I can't help but feel that without that rabbit the story would have sagged a bit. It's a truly beautiful short about how Po needs to choose between spending the Winter holiday with his Dad, and whether or not to fulfill his duties as the Dragon Warrior. Really touching. It may not be perfect, but it is nonetheless spectacular.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first Kung Fu Panda films, and while not as good it still had much to like about it. The story while having some nice heart-warming moments is rather predictable and isn't very surprising, and while the dialogue and jokes certainly aren't bad I personally found most of them only amusing in alternative to laugh-out-loud hilarious(like Merry Madagascar, Shrek the Halls and especially Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper). However the animation is simply spectacular with the colours so rich and the characters moving easily. The music is rousing, the characters are endearing especially Shifu though you do empathise with Po and the voice work from Jack Black, Dustin Hoffmann and Angelina Jolie is great. Overall, good holiday special, predictable and not always very funny but beautiful to watch. 7/10 Bethany Cox