Can I just? I. Oh god, if I could count the ways this film made me feel all sorts of fuzzy and warm inside...eek!
So despite my anti-orientalism stance, I super enjoyed the original Kung Fu Panda. I was really surprised because, well, hello, Disney’s Mulan, and with a majority American cast, and with Dustin Hoffman putting on an accent, I was a skeptic. But the original proved me wrong, and thus, part two has as well.
Ignoring the fact that this is, yet again, a 3D film (I watched in 2D as per uge), Kung Fu Panda 2 lived up to it’s predecessor. I wouldn’t say it surpassed it, but it’s definitely a pretty damn good film, sequel-wise. The beginning felt a bit weak, to be honest, but after the initial ‘we’re back!’ sequence, it went into full on squishy-kick-ass-mode, and remained awesome from then on.
So I’m not going to spoil this film, but we all know Po and his father, well...aren’t exactly related.
Like father, like son.
So we have the topic of...adoption (I’m not sure whether to call it that or not), and part of Po’s (Black) journey in this film, is to find out what exactly happened to his birth parents. Apparently the peacocks got pissed and ordered a mass panda genocide. No, really. It’s in the prologue (so it doesn’t count as a spoiler!). Anyway, so that was handled with great care and possibly the wisest way I’ve ever seen handled in a children’s movie. Hell, it was handled with more grace than in most grown-up movies. The message? It doesn’t matter where you came from-your family is what you make of it, and will love you no matter what semi-endangered animal you are. So that was nice.
The second conflict in the film was that of Shen (Oldman), the villainous peacock. Yes, I felt pretty stupid writing that sentence. So there you go. He wants to rule China with an iron...claw(?), so Po and the gang have to go and save the day, meeting, along the way, Master Ox (Dennis Haysbert) and Master Croc (Jean-Claude Van Damme). I was pretty psyched about Master Croc. Heh.
Explosions, fire works, revelations, friendships kindled, bravery, and hijinx ensue. It’s pretty cool to watch.
Sparkly!
I suppose a problem I had with the film was how little of Jack Black there was in it. Don’t get me wrong, Po is there in full force, pretty much every scene, but in the first installment, I got the impression that Jack Black kind of...Jack Blacked the script out of the water. And turned it into his own vehicle, almost. With those ‘skadoosh’s and ‘awesomeness!’s, the first film pretty much made everyone fall in love with Jack Black all over again. He was there, he was black and white, he ate a lot of noodles, and he was in your face funny. The sequel, while strong, just seemed to lack that sparkle.
There were still moments of harkening back to the first film, but to me, it could have done with a few more littered over the film’s dialogue. On the flip side however, I guess if they had quipped the same quips in the first film, it probably would have looked like number two was relying on the same formula. It’s a bit of a lose-lose situation, but all I’m asking is a little bit more...you know, just a smidge.
Overall however, Kung Fu Panda 2 is a pretty kick ass film from Dreamworks (not as well known for its continuous hits as rival Pixar is-Cars 2 review coming soon!), and a pretty kick ass sequel to boot! If you enjoyed the first, you’ll enjoy this, and if you never saw the first, you’ll still enjoy this one, but I recommend you rent out the first one because it’s also very warm and fuzzy-inducing.
Seriously, all I can think of here is 'Spice Up Your Life'.
No comments:
Post a Comment