My Rating: 3.5/4After three years, Dreamworks, has released the sequel to the very popular 2008 film. It's got the same cast, consisting mainly of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, David Cross, and Dustin Hoffman.
Fortunately, however, Kung Fu Panda 2 does NOT have the same story. Today, we see many sequels fall prey to the mistake of making the sequel follow the same plot line as it's predecessor. But for this movie, instead of just being another shallow repeat, it's rather a continuation of a grand plot line spanning the series. Or as described in the film by Master Shifu(Dustin Hoffman), "the next phase of Po's Journey". So what is this "next phase"?
Well, the movie picks up right where the original left off. (If you haven't seen the first one, stop reading) Po is now the Dragon Warrior, leading the Furious Five against evil. Now, a fierce enemy comes once again. A "Peacock Lord" named "Shen", who is coming to invade the kingdom his parents banished him from. With bladed feathers and an army of wolves at his command, he is very dangerous.
What I like is that instead of leaving the story off right there, I won't say too much, but in this film you will learn many revelations about Po, mainly centered around his parentage and origins. Things like who his parents are(which is good because I'd hate for all the small children watching this movie to be under the illusion that Ducks give birth to Pandas), where Po was born, and how he ended up at his adoptive father's house.
With this great plot line and script, the foundations are already laid, and the last frontier is pulling off the CGI animation. Which, is very impressive. The first battle sequence in the movie was very well animated and choreographed. When this is done, it is actually very fun to watch these scenes.
With a star-studded cast, I don't need to say much about the acting.
Overall, the movie is done very well, and evades many of the common mistakes in sequel plot lines, and if you liked the first one, I strongly recommend the sequel. I think Dreamworks has achieved a great success, and should put a lot more energy in this series because it may be their next "Shrek".
