After a decade spent inflicting some of the laziest, most cynical animated feature films ever made on family audiences, DreamWorks finally gets it right with Kung Fu Panda, a joyful underdog tale with shades of Rocky and a wide-eyed fan-boy reverence for the genre to which it pays homage.

Unlike the strident, imbecilic Shark Tale, the film isn’t a sensory assault of crude imagery and cruder gags; unlike the Shrek films, it doesn’t rely on ephemeral pop cultural references. Particularly heartening, given the dietary habits of the central character, is the fact that there is not a single fart joke in the whole movie.

Exuberantly voiced by Jack Black, Po is a martial arts panda in heart and spirit; in body he’s closer to the plump, doughy dumplings that float in the soup served in his family’s restaurant. Downstairs, his doting father dreams of the day when Po will take over the business; upstairs Po plays battle games with action figures of his favourite kung fu heroes, the Furious Five.

When it’s announced that the kung fu master Oogway (an infinitely wise turtle, voiced by Randall Duk Kim) will be choosing the legendary Dragon Warrior, Po is beside himself with excitement. But comfort-eating pandas are not built to climb the thousand stairs to the Shaolin Temple, and by the time he gets there the doors are barred.

Po’s ingenious solution catapults him not only into the fighting arena but into kung fu history. To the disbelief of the Furious Five and their guru, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), he is declared the Dragon Warrior. What follows is like training John Prescott to polevault in time for the Beijing Olympics.

It’s a slight story, but it’s charmingly executed. This is the most handsome animation that DreamWorks has produced, a detailed riot of willow-pattern kitsch blended with the stylised classical China of films such as Hero and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The soundtrack is evocative rather than obtrusive. But the highlights are the action sequences – hilariously exaggerated but approached with the loyalty and respect of the martial-arts buff.

My main quibble is the use of voice talent. The main characters are excellent, particularly Black, Hoffman, Angelina Jolie as Tigress and a lasciviously evil Ian McShane as the treacherous snow leopard Tai Lung. But Lucy Lui, Seth Rogen and Jackie Chan (playing the Furious Five members Snake, Mantis and Monkey respectively) get barely five lines between them.

PG, 92min

Editor's choice

• Are Glasvegas the new Oasis?
• Proms Podcast with Stephen Hough
• Vote for musical perfection