Sunday 1 April 2012

Left in the DVD player- Kung Fu Panda 2

A sequel filled with inner peace and awesomeness.


Dreamworks 2008's mega hit Kung Fu Panda, exceeded my expectations when I watched it. It was funny, engaging, heart felt and featured one of my favourite scenes of 2008- the escape of Tai Lung. So its sequel had its work cut out, but it didn't let down.Not one bit.

Po (voiced by the perfectly cast Jack Black) and the other members of the Furious Five- Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Crane (David Cross) team up again to confront the evil Lord Shen (Gary Oldman) and his cohort of  Wolves who have plan to use gun powder to kill off Kung Fu and take over China with canons and brute force. The character of Po is fleshed out as he discover the fate of his parents which brings a personal vendetta against Shen,but will the teachings of  master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) help Po make the right decisions? 



The plot, the characters and their relationships between each other are deeper and successfully build on those that were in the original, for example, the relationship between Po and Tigress has went from an almost hostile tone to a strong bond between the two by the end of the sequel. With the revelation of his parents fate, Po has become a little more serious in tone but still has a loveable buffon like charm to him,which is supplied by the excellent voice work of Jack Black. The rest of the cat too is on top form Angelina Jolie as Tigress and James Hong as Po's 'father' Mr Ping deserve praise, along with fun Cameos from Jean-Claude Van Damm, Danny McBride and Dennis Haysbert add to an impressive cast who bring so much to there animated characters.

The animation is no less than perfection. The opening scene, chronicling the story of Lord Shen in told in shadow light puppet style is an impressive homage to old Chinese storytelling. Each of the fight sequences (which there are many) are grand in scale and ambition. It seems that as the film goes on, the animators try to better themselves with every set piece. The finale is is nothing less than breathtaking, combining excellent lighting work, kung fu choreography and a  Hans Zimmer score that reaches its high point in the film. Throughout the film there is humour that will keep both children and grown ups laughing and enough drama to give the story a real depth for you to empathise with the characters- which is quite an achievement when you remember the characters are talking, fighting computer generated animals. 

Once again up the stakes with an excellent film stating that they do not rely on big green Ogres to make the people at Pixar feels that there is a snake in their boots. Bring on Kung Fu Panda 3! 






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