The kids and I took advantage of the midweek holiday to hit the movie theaters.

If you haven’t seen “Kung Fu Panda,” go. My 4-year-old loved it, my son rated it 9 out of 10 and I was still chuckling as we left the theater.

As we drove home afterward, my 12-year-old and I discussed “kids” movies, specifically why he tends to prefer Dreamworks movies over those released by other studios.

It was a pretty broad generalization – I mean, Dreamworks was responsible for “Bee Movie” – but I could see his point. He likes comedy, and movies like “Kung Fu Panda,” “Shrek” and even “Madagascar” manage to find a way to amuse viewers of all ages.

Why?

As we discussed the movies we ALL like, they all seemed to have one thing in common: butts.

Well, that’s the way my daughter simplified it.

I think it’s more because they have unlikely heroes who break the archetype because they have traits that we can relate to.

We like that the ogre gets the girl, and that the princess realizes that looks and social standing aren’t all that counts.

We like that the caged animals in “Madagascar” can’t deny their true natures. That’s something that transcends different cultures, because if you Google “Alex and Marty” (I was checking their names), you can find the scene where the lion bites the zebra in the butt on YouTube, dubbed into foreign languages, i.e., “Madagaskar – Alex biter Marty i baken.”

[youtube DSAzGaqj1qY&hl]

We like “Kung Fu Panda” because just the concept of a roly-poly panda doing kung fu amuses us.

It puts the impossible within reach.

That isn’t why the movie is successful, though.

In this case, the pacing was perfect. The moments that could have been corny took unpredictable twists. My son noted that they didn’t go for “cheap jokes,” but rather extended scenes that allow for more complicated humor that keeps you laughing even as they deftly move the plot along.

Mostly, though, it was just a fun family film that doesn’t play off the last successful kids’ movie.

The value to me, though, is it’s one of those movies where the entire family leaves in a good mood and when you’re trying to entertain a kindergartener and a middle schooler at the same time, those movies can be hard to come by.