Angelina Jolie in Cannes to promote movie

Angelina Jolie said her latest film, Kung Fu Panda 2, had some "pretty heavy lessons" for its young audience including her own children.

The star, who has six children with partner Brad Pitt, including three who are adopted, said she had taken them to see the animated film which continues the adventures of martial arts panda Po voiced by Jack Black.

Speaking at a press conference in Cannes, she said the fact the storyline deals with issues around adoption was not a problem.

She said: "I brought the children to see the movie and they loved it and laughed the whole time and I wondered whether they would ask me questions about it... birth mothers and orphanage and all that, these are happy words - they are very, very used to these discussions."

Jolie, who described herself as "a mom who is changing beds and colouring all night long", is in Cannes with her children and Pitt who appears in Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life which is in the running for the festival's coveted Palme d'Or.

She said: "It can be overwhelming but you also meet a lot of friendly faces and have a good laugh and you also get a chance to see some great films."

The star praised the writers of her latest film, in which she voices the part of Tigress, saying: "It takes so much talent for writers to be able to make children giggle and laugh and get excited about all the action and scream and then somehow underneath it they learn these pretty heavy lesson."

The film also features the voices of Dustin Hoffman, Lucy Liu, Jackie Chan and Gary Oldman who plays the villainous Lord Shen who tries to conquer China with a secret unstoppable weapon.