I'm fond of cute, furry, and chubby things. A good example of my fondness is a panda. Imagine my joy when I learned that Dreamworks is doing Kung Fu Panda. The poster alone made me excited to catch it in the theatre.

Jack Black is awesome as Po the panda. Right after the Dreamworks logo was shown and Po was narrating the legend of the dragon warrior, I knew that it was going to be a wonderful movie. It turned out I was right.

As usual, it had almost all the ingredients I'm looking for in a movie; action, comedy, and a moral lesson or two. Dreamworks has a way of reaching out to a wide variety of people's taste. I admire them for pleasing people from all walks of life.

Kung Fu Panda is up there with Shrek, and other Dreamworks animation because they know how to engage their audience. They know what the audience wants and what the audience needs. I mean, Kung Fu Panda is not just about the good animation and the hilarious scenes, but it also imparts certain values like believing in oneself and not to judge others based on their physical appearance.

If Dreamworks continues doing these kinds of film, I'll keep watching.

My boyfriend has a “thing” for Cameron Diaz (he loves her nose, which I heard she was going to have fixed,) so we took in “The Holiday.” Very Christmasy without elves or Kronks or similar film emblems for the season, the film’s premise is intriguing. After parallel romantic disappointments, Kate Winslet (always beautiful and vulnerable and an actress of grand and versatile talent and Cameron Diaz (I get what my boyfriend sees in her, spunk, great comedic instincts and offbeat beauty) switch houses, cars, “everything”but thankfully (!) not identities. (That would have made it comic book silly and that just doesn’t work in a romantic comedy.

Amanda (Cameron Diaz) produces movie film trailers; Iris (Kate Winslet) covers weddings for a London newspaper. Overnight, they arrive at each other’s homes and the frothy fun begins. I wanted to love this movie, but I didn’t; I’m sorry…especially since I am the movie’s target demographic. Somehow, for me, it missed the mark, the L.A. to England vacation exchange is a fine hook, but while there is character growth and change, and the characters are well-drawn, it falls down and feels like unfizzy Diet Coke. It tries hard enough, and there are some great laughs and somewhat poignant moments, it comes off as a little less than comforting or like the warm cocoa of a movie one would expect from the trailers.

I don’t like to read reviews in which the reader is told too many specifics about the plot, figuring: how could it be possible to know every plot detail as it is about to be revealed; if you’re the type that wants advance notice, there are entire “spoiler” sites that will give you every detail about a film. Sue me, but I just don’t get that at all.

It’s the film equivalent of “chick lit,” which means it may be box office poison for men of any age, even though there are enough men to go around and more than the occasional moment with soundtrack producer Miles (Jack Black) who works for Cameron Diaz’s ex (Ed Burns) who appears in a single scene; Burns’s character, of course, is the reason Amanda seeks exile from L.A. but then she meets Iris’s brother Graham (Jude Law) in Surrey (which is Iris’s ‘hood)… and the result is a movie that is a bit sweet, very small and ultimately, sort of forgettable.

Everyone is loving this movie and I am usually the type to adore even a lousy made-for-tv romantic comedy, but it is so light, it is positively feathery; Kate Winslet was underutilized and Jack Black watered down his personality and lost a few pounds to be a believable love interest. Cameron Diaz and Jude Law, who, by sheer virtue of the script, had more screen time and a more developed story arc, were both “lovely” (as they say across the pond). Cameron Diaz is unafraid to laugh at herself, and she turns in a dynamic performance, and she is very well-developed as a very tightly wound control freak. I’m not sure Jude Law was ever more endearing, warm, vulnerable or believable as a good guy on film. Since Iris is such a loving character, her brother is equally kind and generous. And interestingly, I loved him in “Alfie” but that character is so intrinsically lonely and tragic in an everyman way, it was a great distraction to be allowed to really like him as an actor and a character in this film.

Oddly enough, in a romantic comedy, the very best relationship seemed to be Kate Winslet’s thoroughly platonic friendship with a legendary screenwriter, subtly played by Eli Wallach, who surrenders his walker and fragility thanks to Winslet’s nurturing. Watching their trust in each other grow, how they cross over into each other’s lives and become an unlikely but genuinely “believable” pair is heartfelt. I would have loved the movie to mean more, but I’ll give it more credit than it actually deserves. It is a testament to finding what you need in giving and in being open to everything life – and love…in its endlessly myriad forms…can offer.