Movies Features

Unseen Movie Review: Kung Fu Panda 2

By Rob Dixter May 28, 2011, 19:44 GMT

Po is now living his dream as The Dragon Warior, protecting the Valley of Peace alongside his friends and fellow kung fu masters, The Furious Five—Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Viper and Monkey. But Po’s new life of awesomeness is threatened by the emergence of a formidable villain, who plans to use a secret, unstoppable weapon to conquer China and destroy kung fu. It is up to Po and The Furious Five to ...more

It used to be only Pixar could turn out a cartoon movie that was worth an adult’s time, but in the past few years Dreamworks Animation has now joined a group that seems rarer than the list of women who have slept with Rock Hudson.

Shrek was a decent start, Shark Tale was a stumble, but with Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon, Dreamworks has really hit their stride.

This weekend will see the arrival of their latest, Kung Fu Panda 2. The first one had kids laughing at the out of control action while parents could chuckle at the jokes and story. Sadly, live action studios in Hollywood should be taking a look at Dreamworks and Pixar because they always put story first.

The jokes and animation may fly faster than Chesley Sullenberger on the Hudson but they never lose sight of the story they’re trying to tell.

I recently took the kids to see Fox’s Rio hoping for the same magic you get from a Dreamworks picture, a Pixar movie or Lindsay Lohan in a courtroom (seriously, how does she keep avoiding jail time that is more than a weekend?).

The film looked bright and colorful and reminded me of a rainbow or a Cee Lo performance, but the story and jokes were flatter than Twiggy lying down with her head turned sideways. Rio was so boring even my three year old yelled out “Is this over yet?” and that was during the opening credits.

The reason Kung Fu Panda works is solely because of Jack Black voicing the main character, Po. Jack is a life like cartoon character. He’s a big guy with no inhibitions at all. He usually plays the same character in all his live action films. Nacho Libre, Year One and School of Rock are all similar but that dizzying Jack Black whirlwind comes across best in animation. His characters never think they’re wrong and that false arrogance is best displayed in a cartoon.

Kung Fu Panda 2 has some great supporting voices as well, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, and Seth Rogen but the show is all Black. He’s silly enough to get kids laughing and funny enough with the jokes that adults chuckle too.

Having Mrs. Brad Pitt in this movie pays off more in marketing the film or when the actors have to do press junkets. I mean what outlet doesn’t want to talk to Angelina? She doesn’t really have great comic timing but she is on more magazine covers than the letter R.

So I will be seeing Kung Fu Panda 2 opening weekend with the kids. It has humor, animals, and kung fu, that’s like 3 out of the 4 staples for a good kids movie. The last, of course, being a “directed by Lars Von Trier” credit.

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