Kung Fu Panda 2 promises big laughs and a lot of heart
One of my earlier reviews was “Kung Fu Panda” and I’m surprised it’s taken me this long to review the second. I’d been told by friends how great the series continued to be but never got around to watching the sequels. Since it’s currently streaming on HBO, I’m delighted to report my friends were correct!
The story begins with Lord Shen, the prince of the peacock clan who rule Gongmen City in ancient China, who is trying to weaponize the fireworks his family recently invented. A soothsayer tells of his defeat by “a warrior of black-and-white” if he doesn’t change his ways. He then leads his army to kill all the pandas he can find to stop the prophecy. Not great!
Three years later, Po (voiced by Jack Black) is living his dream as a Dragon Warrior along with the Furious Five: Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Mantis (Seth Rogan), Viper (Lucy Liu), Monkey (Jackie Chan) and Crane (David Cross). Their teacher, Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), tells him he has yet to complete his training as he has not achieved inner peace. When bandits attack the village, Po is distracted by the symbol on the leaders armor which causes him to have a flashback to his childhood. The bandits escape and everyone is concerned.
Po goes to speak with his goose father Mr. Ping (James Hong) who tells him he found Po in a radish basket behind his restaurant and doesn’t know what happened to his family. Shifu learns that Shen (Gary Oldman) has returned after years in exile and has killed the leader of the Kung Fu council, Thundering Rhino (Victor Garber), and plans to conquer all of China with his metal cannons. When the other council members surrender, it’s up to Po and the Furious Five to stop Shen before he destroys the city and takes over the entire country.
Once again, what a cast! I spent the first few minutes when each new character was on screen reading IMDb to see who was voicing them. Wowsa! The story is delightful and heartfelt — both rare in a sequel and one from a new writing team. Exploring a protagonist’s backstory is always good fodder for a sequel and they did so flawlessly. They even incorporate 2D animation for the flashback and dream sequences, which was a nice visual change of pace for the 3D we’ve come to appreciate from DreamWorks Studios.
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