Kung Fu Panda 2

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.

Having seen and enjoyed (if not been bowled over by) the original, I was surprised and delighted by this movie that seems to prove that Dreamworks, while still not quite on a Pixar level (Yet!) could soon catch them up. It handles much more sensitive material than the first movie and tackles some truly dark and heavy subject material, but manages to keep it from becoming a drama by dropping in comedic material in a manner that is never jarring, out of place, or desperate. Lord Shen made for one of the most delightful villains of recent movie history. His push against the future contrasting with Po's struggle with the past was wonderful to watch. Po's talks with his father brought a tear to my eye in more than one moment in the film. This company and production team have firmly established themselves as formidable storytellers and I'm eager to see what's next.

If I knew that I would give a sequel about a panda doing kung fu a 9 out of 10 I wouldn't believe it But my god this is how you do a sequel. I love the first movie, but the blend of comedy, Acton, atmosphere, plot and heart gives an actual emotional experience that completely trumps its predecessor There is no obvious flaws about this movie, it takes what 1 did good and improves it flaws to create an experience that's great for both kids and adults