Kung Fu Panda 2

Vlad Piranha · Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 7:47 pm Post subject: Kung Fu Panda 2

I remember the first time I saw the trailer for Kung Fu Panda. It looked like a generic animated action film for kids. I rolled my eyes and assumed it was just a bunch of anthropomorphic animals doing ninja moves with little plot. Imagine my surprise when I saw it on DVD at a friends house and fell in love with it and called it the 'best animated film I've ever seen'. It still is, as a matter of fact.

It was with low expectations that I went to go see its sequel this weekend. As you probably have already guessed, it failed to live up the original in every conceivable way. The flaws I expected (but didn't see) in the first film were not only in this film, but in spades. The plot is pretty simple: Unsatisfied with ruling a mere province as per his birthright, a new enemy is gathering resources to conquer all of China with his new weapons. The only thing that can stop him is intervention from the Furious Five and Po, The Dragon Master. In the course of his journey, Po makes the discovery that this villain may know of his mysterious past and what happened to his real parents. At that point, the film is all about generic self-discovery.

The fact that I can sum up the entire movie in such a complete nutshell is pretty disappointing. The plot feels more appropriate for a half hour episode of a cartoon series than an entire feature film, perhaps a two part episode at best. Everything about the film felt so forced and lifeless. I only truly laughed out loud at two jokes in the film while the most were merely amusing. The action scenes in the first movie were carefully made, and from a technical stand-point, very impressive and resulted in good action. These felt like the dance routine scenes that you'll see in any action flick these days. Hans Zimmer created a beautiful soundtrack for the original. While the popular themes from the first movie returned, the new material was forgettable. The biggest failure for this film was the villain, Shen. When Gary Oldman can't make a villain interesting or scary, someone has failed. While a gorgeous piece of art and technically very impressive, Shen was boring and two dimensional.

In closing, I didn't find this movie to be offensive or just plain bad, but so mediocre that I ended up seeing no reason for it to even exist. Kids will like it and it may make for a good rental, but it's nothing more, in my opinion. I give it a C.

Brutus · Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 4:49 pm Post subject:

I had high hopes after the first one was such a surprise winner. Id give it a B still - as it is a kids movie too. I was happy enough to have shelled out the dough to see it in the theater.
_________________

massive · Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 11:00 pm Post subject:

You are now in second place on my list of All Time Favorite Movie Reviewers.

(1st place is held by the guy at Red Letter Media - reference his seven part breakdown of Star Wars Episode I: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI (being part I) he's done the other Star Wars II and III as well as Avatar and others - must see, must see)

Does Jack Black's voice over for Po sound different from the first film? It does in the trailer, at least to me. Is it even Jack Black?
_________________

Vlad Piranha wrote:

I'm offended that a zombie holocaust isn't on the list. It would be terrifying, sure, but it would be pretty sweet if you think about it.