Kung Fu Panda 2

The first word I can say about this movie is, wow! Now once again I know that I enjoy animation movies more than anything but this is one of my top 5 favorites. Kung Fu Panda 2 when I first saw the trailer looked like a typical sequel and kind of a corny ending line, "This could be the end of kung fu..." despite the fact that I liked the first movie. However, the past tense of my sentence pretty much tells where this review is headed, not to mention the stars, but onto the review.

I am only going to choose four of the many characters to talk about for understandable reasons. Po (Jack Black) obviously going to be the star of the movie has excellently transitioned into the role he played. During the first movie, he was socially awkward and never took kung fu seriously, but in this movie it really makes it feel as if he has been shown the ropes a little more and he has matured significantly. For example he is enjoying himself with the Furious Five rather than trying to fit in, and he is also more comfortable with his technique, shown during fighting sequences.

Tigress (Angelina Jolie) I feel was a lot more accepting in this movie, which does not necessarily fit her description of the previous movie, but once again maturity comes back into play. On the other hand though I feel she is a little too accepting though. I don't know if this was deliberate, but she kind of has a relationship with Po unlike any of the other members of the Furious Five have. The boat scene is a perfect example of this because she tries to get Po to open up to her, and for those who have seen the movie, the jail scene where she gets the truth out of Po. Perhaps Dreamworks did this on purpose, but I guess I will just have to wait and find out.

Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), not really a major character in this movie, actually he is more of a minor one. Shifu looks like he has aged a lot more and he is trying to feel his inner peace as if his job is nearing completion. Now I added Shifu in here because he did contribute to the movie, as little of it as he was in. Shifu in KFP was a master to the Furious Five and Po, and only a master, but in KFP2 he is more of a father figure to them. He gives them the direction that he believes is best for them and the valley, and he is no longer intolerant of Po. When Shifu summons Po, Po interrupts Shifu's inner peace by stumbling and making loud noises, but Shifu just shrugs it off and guides Po to his next phase of training.

Now for the final character which made this an excellent movie, Shen (Gary Oldman). Now this character was one of my favorites. In most animation movies you can look at the antagonist and he will be able to fit into society and not be a threat unless he/she wants to be, but from the very beginning he is just a fearful figure regardless of what he is trying to do. Shen shows the true antithesis of good by just being ruthless, unforgiving, and down right murderous. It does not matter what is in his way he will destroy it or get his minions to do it. That is one of the excellent things about this franchise, the villain was truly a villain. Like Tai Lung (Ian MacShane), he was feared by the Valley of Peace just by hearing his name, same with the name Shen, it just struck fear into the hearts of the people.

These four characters really did add to the movie, but this movie also had everything built into it. Not only did it fill the previous holes from the first movie, where is Po from? Who are his parents? How did Mr. Ping get Po? All of these questions are answered in this movie, it is almost as if this is a prequel-sequel. It is as if the first movie was a rope with stray ends and the second movie weaved all the ends together to make it flow perfectly. Normally when I watch a movie I can find a few things that are just ridiculous, but I brush them off, not in this movie though, it was pure excitement, humor, and enjoyment throughout the whole thing. If you are debating going to see this movie, the decision should be to see it, well worth the money and well worth the time.

I had seen the teaser trailer for the awaited sequel to Kung Fu Panda, and I was psyched! Now I have seen Kung Fu Panda 2, and I find that both the original film and this sequel are awesome!

Po currently enjoys his role as the Dragon Warrior. But then a band of bandit wolves attacked the Artisan Village for metal. But during the battle, Po noticed a symbol on the bandit leader's armor that triggered a memory from his past, thus letting the wolves escape. Po asks his father, Mr. Ping, where he came from, but all the goose can tell him is that he found Po as an infant in a vegetable crate behind his restaurant and adopted him.

After receiving news of Master Thundering Rhino's death at the hands of the white peacock Lord Shen, who wielded a dangerous weapon that posed a threat to Kung Fu tradition, Master Shifu sends Po and the Furious Five to stop him in Gongmen City. To find out how the story unfolds, you'll have to watch the film yourself.

So overall, I really loved this film from beginning to end; it was perfect to go with the original film.

I'd not seen the first Kung-Fu Panda film since it had come out in the late noughties, and I hadn't seen any of the other ones at all until it my toddler started watching them and I picked up 2 and 3 for her. After watching the first one loads, I managed to move her to the second, for my own variety as much as anything else. The plot sees Po trying to settle into his new role as Dragon Warrior, at the same time as a banished son returns to the city to use a new powerful weapon to seize control of the city and country. It has a slightly darker tone than the first film, because it touches on Po's backstory, and it carries itself with more dramatic sequences than the first film did (where we only got to see the power and anger of Tai Lung in a handful of scenes - mostly the film was about Po's training).

This slightly extra weight adds to the characters and the narrative, and at the same time the scale of the film feels bigger as we move into a city, with the stakes high. This means the action sequences feel like they mean more, and in return the actions is bigger, more polished, and fits well with the gravity-defying excess of the genre that the film is referencing and drawing from. It did this well in the first film too, but here it feels much more satisfying in the scale of it all. At its heart though the film remains funny, entertaining, easy for families, and with good moral messages throughout. As with the first film, the use of Chinese culture swings from mostly feeling well used and cleverly adopted, to being a bit cheap - but mostly it works well.

Animation and production is of a very high standard, and the voice cast is even deeper than in the first film, with people like Oldman, Yeoh, Haysbert, Garber, Van Damme, and McBride joining an already very starry cast. Black doesn't always work for me, but he keeps Po funny but likeable, while Oldman manages to bring gravity to his performance and have good comic timing too.

In my mind, the Kung-Fu Panda films were sort of 'lesser' films because I always saw Pixar's deeper content as being superior to Dreamworks stuff, however this second film lifts from the already good first, and is a very enjoyable and satisfying family film.

My biggest fear about sequels is it's gonna end up pretty bad and ruin the first one. But I remember, Dreamworks already understand how to make a true good animated movie so I don't have to worry. Now the sequel just got more awesome. Non-stop action and non-stop laughs. The heart is also there. "Kung Fu Panda 2" is just as good as the first one.

The trailer makes us dubious but this is Dreamworks. Anyways, "Kung Fu Panda 2" is a great continuation of the series. The story still has a heart and some scenes can almost move you to tears. The movie has bigger and more Kung Fu action & yes, the action never stops. It's all kick butt action.

I like it how they improved the editing. Remember Megamind, It feels like you were flying in every flying sequences. They did the same thing in "Kung Fu Panda 2". Fast Moving Action that it's fun to see it even if it's in 2D. I don't really bash 3D though. The jokes are obviously everywhere. Even in serious scenes it suddenly has humor.

The new comers from the cast did a great job. Gary Oldman is definitely good at being a villain in movies even if it's animated. Michelle Yeoh made her character likable. Jean-Claude Van Damme is awesome even though his scenes were few. This movie still has the same style from the first movie. Magnificent flash animation in the intro, flashbacks, and the dream sequence. Nice music score. And a lot more.

I just said this movie is as good as the first movie but if I had to pick which Kung Fu Panda movie is better then it would be the first one. It's more heartwarming but Kung Fu Panda 2 is already good enough as a sequel because it's bigger and too awesome. Unfortunately, It's too awesome it moderates the depth a little bit but it's entertaining at its best. To be honest, this could be the best movie of the summer so far.

The question that has been floating around about Kung Fu Panda 2 is if it is Shrek 2 or Toy Story 2 of animated sequels? Well, I'm happy to say it's Toy Story 2 kind of animated sequel - a genuine good movie that takes risks and succeeds rather than rehashing the first movie.

Po isn't as much of a gastro-kung-fu fighter and fanboi from the first movie but has grown in his personality; he's less the Jack Black as a panda and more of a character that stands on it's own. However, Po is now the tragic hero in a Greek style prophecy which foretells of a warrior in black and white who would defeat a certain Lord Shen who has invented a new weapon that could spell the end of kung-fu. As Po learns that he is adopted, he struggles to find out about his past and the strange symbol from his nightmares. The heavy subject matter doesn't weight down the movie and is continually and cleverly able to escape into funny moments without losing gravitas. It successfully weaves the topics of fatherhood, friendship and family into a colorful story that even though we know how it will end, it gets there very very emphatically.

I'm really glad that Kung Fu Panda 2 didn't go the route of being a purely children's movie and didn't go the route of being built on jokes of Po's eating and Po's weight. I suppose the fortune cookie philosophy of master Shifu is slightly missed but purely a small quibble in a good movie. As a final note, maybe it's because of my eyesight with a weaker left eye, I barely noticed the 3D at all. Highly recommended movie.