Review of Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) by Ducknation — 22 May 2014

My fist hungers for justice!

[stomach belches].

That was... my fist.".

2011 was a year we saw multiple weak animated movies like Rio, Cars 2, Mars Needs Moms, The Smurfs, Rango, and a few others. There were only a few select movies thatMy fist hungers for justice!

[stomach belches].

That was... my fist.".

2011 was a year we saw multiple weak animated movies like Rio, Cars 2, Mars Needs Moms, The Smurfs, Rango, and a few others. There were only a few select movies that seem worth watching like The Adventures of Tintin, and Puss in Boots another Dreamworks animated film. It just so happens to be that Kung Fu Panda 2 puts itself into that category, with a more compelling story that has emotional depth Kung Fu Panda 2 sets itself as a worthy sequel to it's predecessor. Seeing that this is the directorial debt of Jennifer Yuh I was quite surprised that the it turned out better then I thought it would have.

After the events that took place in Kung Fu Panda we now find Po a well trained kung fu master eager to show off his fighting skills and its not long before we see Po and the Furious Five back in action. This was actually a great thing about the movie that it starts out with a bang sorta like the first one did but whereas the first one awed you with gorgeous animation full of vibrant colors this one awes you with a seriously awesome fight scene. Just when Po is about the defeat the wolves attacking the small village he gets distracted by the symbol on the wolf leaders armor he has a flash back of him and his mom. This is where the more emotional part of the film takes its role as Po tries to figure out where he really came from but in the process he uncovers the darkness of his pass.

The movies villain is Shen(Gary Oldman) a peacock that was set to rule china but once his parents seen what he would become they locked him away making sure that he could never retake his home only they were wrong and with the help of firepower he sets out to rule all of china. The villain this time around is more compelling and has a bigger role in the film not just there for the sake of having a villain. You can even argue that it was half his film as we got plenty of his story but we soon find out both his and Po's story's intertwine setting you on a emotional ride where friends and family mean everything. The rest of the cast does a superb job like before with Angelina Jolie again as the lead of the side characters were throughout the movie we see that he and Po grow closer relationship with each other.

Some can argue that this movie is better then the first and in a way it is and isn't the first movie has a more comedy lightheartedness feel to it while the second one is a more darker emotional take on the franchise. I will say that im torn between the two of which I like more but if I had to pick id have to choose the first movie. A part that sucked about this movie though is that at no point did the animation blow me away like the celebration scene in the first film but seeing that there wasn't many scenes with a light background and the tone of the film we weren't going to be getting a lot of scenes like that but even at the end with all the fireworks going off it still didn't look all that amazing although will say that the fur on the animals looked great.

Overall I give it a 7.