Kung Fu Panda 2 excitedly kicks, punches and belly flops its way through overused visual humour. “Everybody was kung fu fighting!” much more so in this sequel when compared to its predecessor. The Furious Five were slapping Shen’s army of diabolical wolves left, right and centre. Master Shifu prodding his stick conveniently during the climactic battle. And a plethora of other anthropomorphic beasts harnessing the power of said martial art. This very much felt like an animated martial arts feature, one aspect the original was sorely missing. However, despite DreamWorks’ best efforts in continuing Po’s search in becoming the Dragon Warrior, its quality offers no improvements. Unable to surpass the boundaries of family-friendly humour that reduces the visual splendour and narrative heft to progress the story onto the next level.
Po, having realised who his parents truly are (not a goose...), must save China with the Furious Five from the malicious peacock Shen and his fascination with metallic weapons. DreamWorks constantly pump out family orientated animations with powerful morals every year. This sequel illustrating the ability to manipulate our past childhoods to shape the person we want to be. For Po, this meant ignoring the familial scars that Shen caused, producing his prepubescent abandonment. A notable moral that many should abide by, but unfortunately is weighed down by excessive comedy that diminished a vast amount of beautiful moments. Aside from the tantalising scene when Po finally discovered what happened to his parents, conveyed through mesmerising hand-drawn animated flashbacks, all other heartfelt examples were brutalised by Po’s apparent requirement to exercise his bumbling personality. Black’s prolific voice doesn’t help matters, with a lack of sincerity to his vocal performance, but the frantic pacing and rushed sequences made for a frustrating central narrative.
That’s not to say this sequel is poor, in fact it’s just as consistent as its predecessor. Rather infuriating is all given the tender bamboo seeds that were lovingly planted, unable to grow into ferocious stalks. The humour, as overwhelming as it is, does provide characterisation to these animals. Po in particular. Making it hugely accessible for all members of all families to watch and enjoy.
The action sequences were splendid and vibrantly colourful, with some ingenious editing that made one chase scene resemble ‘Pac-Man’. The oriental aesthetics and environments built a beautifully inclusive world for the characters to roam in. The antagonist, Shen, was far more memorable and sinister in comparison to...ummm...I forgot his name. The snow leopard? We’ll go with that. Mostly due to Oldman’s vocal work that has a larger range than the entirety of his filmography (and that’s saying something!). The red and black lighting was, at times, excessive in depicting “evil” and surprisingly dark. No, not thematically. It was literally difficult to see anything!
Aside from that, Kung Fu Panda 2 slaps. And punches. And kicks. But also tumbles repetitively due to Po’s constant buffoonery. It does however set the third film up nicely, so guess I’ll have to give that a go...
After his surprising success as the "Dragon Warrior", the cheery "Po" is hoping to take it easy. History, though, has no intention of letting him sit on his laurels as it emerges that the slighted peacock villain "Shen" has designs on taking over the globe. We learn from a brief retrospective a bit about the cause of his bitterness and it seems that he and "Po" have an overlapping provenance that might just explain a few things for both of them. Thing is, "Shen" has developed an all-conquering secret weapon that can cause even the most formidable of fortifications to tumble, so it's going to take all that "Po" and his five best friends can muster if they are to thwart the dastardly plan and save the nation from the peacock with feathers as razor sharp as his wit! This is becoming my favourite animated franchise. It successfully mixes some pithy dialogue with loads of characterful and colourful action and it's message of teamwork and inter-reliance is subtly delivered amidst a sea of entertaining mythology and adventure. It's quickly paced from start to finish and though I could have been doing with a little more of the sceptically sagely "Shifu" it's still just about as good as the first film from 2008. Great fun.
