Kung Fu Panda 2
So last time, we had the fish out of water story. Now we have a search for truth. Is the truth found or would we rather have it be lost? Let's find out.
Continuing his training with the Furious Five, Po (Jack Black) is having some fun with his friends Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu), and Crane (David Cross). Po then rushes off to Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) to learn about inner peace. During this, Tigress informs Po of an attack on a nearby village. The gang rush off to the village to stop these thieves that are attacking them. We find out that these thieves are working for Shen (Gary Oldman), a master of martial arts that has a darker past than one might expect. When the gang return home, Shifu informs them that Shen is killing other masters of kung fu. So they set out to stop Shen no matter what.
When I first saw the trailer for the movie, I had a lot of doubts towards it. However, a lot of those doubts were thrown out the window. Right away, you'll notice that they didn't nerf Po for this movie. He didn't forget how to do kung fu and they didn't create some made up form of kung fu just for Po to relearn it. Here, he's a master at the art and works with the Furious Five perfectly. Yes, he's still the lovable idiot, but he can beat the crap out of you if you make fun of him. As most of you know, this movie reveals Po's backstory of what really happened to his parents. These moments are handled flawlessly with some really impressive 2D animation. As for the CG animation, it's even better than the last movie. These are really shown to their full potential during the fighting scenes. It just flows so smoothly. Although, where it really shines is in the inner peace scenes where they show a drop of water moving from hand to hand. Then there's the characters. I absolutely loved that the movie put a lot of focus between the development of Po and Tigress without it turning into a love story. By the end of the first movie, I still felt that Tigress had some anger towards Po for being the Dragon Warrior. Here, it really shows how close they've become and that they're just friends. As for Shen, he's an amazing villain. Way better than the first movie's villain. In the first one, the villain didn't really do much. He just ran around trying to destroy Shifu and get the scroll. Wasn't really that threatening. Shen is the complete opposite. This guy uses his power at every opportunity that he gets. He will destroy villages and innocent people just for the fun of it. This is how you do a villain. Not only that, but there's a lot of heart behind the character and a link between him and Po. This just adds so much to the character and really helps the audience feel Po's anger towards him.
To be quite honest, I can't really find a flaw with the movie. The only one I can think of is a big nitpick. That would be that I wish they would of added just a few moments for Po to develop with the other members of the Furious Five.
So should you see Kung Fu Panda 2? Of course. This is the example of the perfect sequel. If you loved the first movie, there's no reason you shouldn't see this one. Even if you're not a kid, go ahead and still see it. You won't be disappointed.
Continuing his training with the Furious Five, Po (Jack Black) is having some fun with his friends Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu), and Crane (David Cross). Po then rushes off to Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) to learn about inner peace. During this, Tigress informs Po of an attack on a nearby village. The gang rush off to the village to stop these thieves that are attacking them. We find out that these thieves are working for Shen (Gary Oldman), a master of martial arts that has a darker past than one might expect. When the gang return home, Shifu informs them that Shen is killing other masters of kung fu. So they set out to stop Shen no matter what.
When I first saw the trailer for the movie, I had a lot of doubts towards it. However, a lot of those doubts were thrown out the window. Right away, you'll notice that they didn't nerf Po for this movie. He didn't forget how to do kung fu and they didn't create some made up form of kung fu just for Po to relearn it. Here, he's a master at the art and works with the Furious Five perfectly. Yes, he's still the lovable idiot, but he can beat the crap out of you if you make fun of him. As most of you know, this movie reveals Po's backstory of what really happened to his parents. These moments are handled flawlessly with some really impressive 2D animation. As for the CG animation, it's even better than the last movie. These are really shown to their full potential during the fighting scenes. It just flows so smoothly. Although, where it really shines is in the inner peace scenes where they show a drop of water moving from hand to hand. Then there's the characters. I absolutely loved that the movie put a lot of focus between the development of Po and Tigress without it turning into a love story. By the end of the first movie, I still felt that Tigress had some anger towards Po for being the Dragon Warrior. Here, it really shows how close they've become and that they're just friends. As for Shen, he's an amazing villain. Way better than the first movie's villain. In the first one, the villain didn't really do much. He just ran around trying to destroy Shifu and get the scroll. Wasn't really that threatening. Shen is the complete opposite. This guy uses his power at every opportunity that he gets. He will destroy villages and innocent people just for the fun of it. This is how you do a villain. Not only that, but there's a lot of heart behind the character and a link between him and Po. This just adds so much to the character and really helps the audience feel Po's anger towards him.
To be quite honest, I can't really find a flaw with the movie. The only one I can think of is a big nitpick. That would be that I wish they would of added just a few moments for Po to develop with the other members of the Furious Five.
So should you see Kung Fu Panda 2? Of course. This is the example of the perfect sequel. If you loved the first movie, there's no reason you shouldn't see this one. Even if you're not a kid, go ahead and still see it. You won't be disappointed.