Kung Fu Panda 2 Review

Kung Fu Panda 2

B

A review by Frederick Cholowski

    Animated sequels have a bad rap for not living up to the original. Shrek 2 wasn't as good as the original nor were any of the ice age sequels. Along comes Kung Fu Panda 2 the sequel to the fun yet flawed Kung Fu Panda and eyebrows raise. Well I'm glad to report that the second Kung Fu Panda is just as good as the original.

 

    Kung Fu Panda 2 continues to follow the panda Po (Jack Black) who is now the full time dragon warrior. Po's next goal is to find inner piece (which PS involves his past). This is where are villain comes in (wait for it, wait for it) an evil peacock Shen (Gary Oldman) who found the deadly usage of gun powder. Shen knows how Po ended up where he is today and this is a key for Po to find inner piece. So Po accompanied by the furious five (Tigress, Mantis, Crain, Monkey and Viper) go out to save China from the impending doom of a peacock with gunpowder.

 

    The plot is decent despite the fact that everything moves too quickly. The plot has no time to breathe and truly develop into something special. For example the inner piece story line (the most interesting of the two plot points) feels a bit rushed and unable to get past that wall between decent and really good.

 

    The voice work is fine here. All the American superstars from Angelina Jolie to Jackie Chan are good. The standout here though is Gary Oldman who clearly has a ton of fun as the evil peacock Shen. He's both the funniest and the most charming character here and he's the villain (go figure right).

 

    DreamWorks has clearly mastered the art of animation. Both the computer generated and the hand drawn animation looks great with great detail and lots of colors. I chose not to see this film in 3D so I don't know how well the it works but in essence I say save the money go for the brighter colors.

 

    Kung Fu Panda is a solid sequel to a good animated film. Well it feels rushed and sometimes uneven to me the film still looks and sounds great. Kung Fu Panda 2 is good solid summer entertainment that just misses being a really good animated feature.