Pick of the Week: Kung Fu Panda 2

By Horacio Garcia

I went to see Kung Fu Panda 2 and afterwards I talked a little with three members of the audience; Matt, Sonia and Tammy -ages 7, 9 and 12- and we all agreed that the movie was awesome. No other word, just awesome.

This is probably the most visually impressive movie since Avatar and I have to tell all those fans that were a disappointed with Tron or Sucker Punch: this time the storytelling works smoothly, the script is funny as hell and they suck dry any the possible twist and turn. Not to mention the excellent score, with a particularly good music scene in the Musician's Village where they manage to stage a big Kung Fu fight while playing traditional Chinese music, a total delight.

In this new adventure of Po, the Dragon Warrior, the fearless Panda played by Jack Black and his fateful comrades The Furious Five face a terrible enemy with a new weapon. There is some Chinese philosophy to deal with (provided by Master Shifu, a very sober Dustin Hoffman), a cute panda baby, daddy issues, a hint of romance and a lot of good Kung Fu.

Kung Fu Panda 2 easily boasts the most star filled casting of the season, besides the recurrent Black, Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong and Jackie Chan; they added the voices of the great Gary Oldman (playing Po's enemy, the evil peacock Prince Shen), Jean Claude Van Damm, Dennis Haysbert, Danny McBride and Michele Yeoh. They left practically nobody out of the movie.

In a good move by the screenwriter, they decided to exploit more Angelina’s character Tigress and truth to be told, she is perfectly cut for those tough girl characters she's been playing lately. A very Mrs. Smith performance for Angie, filling in kind of an oblique way the romantic part of the film and giving a little pause to the rollercoaster Kung Fu Panda 2 is most of the time. On the other hand, Gary Oldman performs a villain as despicable as they come.

One of the best things of this second part is that respects perfectly the structure we are used to in martial arts movies: the big challenge, the almost defeat, the return of the hero and the final combat. Is so classical that is almost like watching a classic Kung Fu flick from the 80's but with great FX's. They do the flying thing, the exploding thing and the "I catch the bullet and throw it back to you" thing. Jackie Chan must've been delighted.

Finally; the 3D is great for the movie, they really got the best out of it and that's the way everybody should watch it. I can assure by personal experience that kids are going to love it and if you like really big, colored, exploding, spectacular movies you are going to like this one. Two words to define Kung Fu Panda 2: Good Kung Fu.

Tags Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Jack Black, Jackie Chan, Kung Fu Panda 2, Lucy Liu, Seth Rogen