Jasonic's Favorites: Kung Fu Panda 2
Hello, and good evening, Internet!
Since reviewing my favorite characters' serieses is my thing, it was only fitting I would go back for another kung fu staring contest with this film -- a reference to the teaser trailer for those who don't know, or don't remember.
Released in 2011, Kung Fu Panda 2 is just as it sounds being the second film in the Kung Fu Panda series -- now a quadrilogy as of this review's release. I was unfamiliar with the general public's reaction to a sequel being made though with the success of the first film and DreamWorks' track record up until then, I could imagine many were confident they could deliver while others were skeptical whether it would be great or not. Despite getting slightly lower critics scores on RottenTomatoes than the first film, surprisingly many hold this film in high regard, some saying it's the outright best in the series. As with my experience with the first film, my first time seeing this was with my sister in the cheap seats and while I originally had high hopes and still thought it was awesome upon viewing it, she, on the other hand, thought it wasn't that funny and that the story moved too fast for her enjoyment. While that may have had to do with us being slightly older than when the first film came out, I perfectly understand those criticisms and hold no ill will toward those who don't like it as much as the first film. That said, I still thought the movie was awesome regardless of those seeming flaws and, being older now than I was then, can appreciate the deeper story it tells despite its breakneck pace. In fact, I personally say that it not being as silly or upbeat as the first film is certainly the point of it being a sequel as the series structure known as "the trilogy" usually has a darker second act than the first one (case and point - Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back). While Kung Fu Panda is no longer just a trilogy as I stated before, I still think this darker sequel works on a fundamental level and outdoes the first movie in a lot of ways. "Why is that?" you may ask. Well, grab your popcorn, put on your kung fu fighting spirit, and watch as I explore what makes Kung Fu Panda 2 work as both a sequel and a movie.
*SPOILERS* (though the movie is over a decade old so if you were or if you have had young kids or have been a fan since it came out, chances are you have seen it)
As a sequel, the story picks up a while after Kung Fu Panda 1; in it, Po (voiced by Jack Black) continues to train with the Furious Five in his new life as the Dragon Warrior at the Jade Palace in the Valley of Peace. Despite his progress, however, Master Shifu (voiced by Dustin Hoffman) teaches him the importance of the state of being known as "inner peace", which was one of Master Oogway's final teachings. As Shifu demonstrates the technique by catching a water drop and dropping onto a nearby plant, Tigress (voiced by Angelina Jolie) informs Po of an attack on the village in which a pack of wolves are stealing metal to which the Five proceed to counter the attack. When Po is distracted by a symbol resembling a red eye on the wolf boss (voiced by Danny McBride), the wolves unfortunately get away with a decent amount of metal to deliver to their boss, a peacock named Lord Shen (voiced by Gary Oldman). Having once been the heir of Gongmen City, Lord Chen returns there with a powerful cannon that utilizes gunpowder to take out the main regent and subdue the rest, taking control of the city. With Po and the Five being informed of this, Master Shifu sends them on a mission to stop Shen from using the weapon to conquer all of China; all the while, Po is disturbed by the visions caused by the red eye symbol, which showed him his panda mother seemingly abandoning him without purpose in a radish basket when he was a baby. After confronting his goose "dad", Mr. Ping (voiced by James Hong), about this, the goose finally explains after so many years that Po is actually adopted after Mr. Ping found him in that radish basket all those years ago. With Po setting out on a journey to defeat Shen and save China, he will soon discover the secrets of his past that led him to him ending up in the radish basket, soon finding that his story does not have a happy beginning, but finding inner peace no less.
For starters, this film, like any good sequel, does everything, but retread the first film in any way. I have said it before about other sequels including How to Train Your Dragon 2 -- another DreamWorks example -- on this blog and my old one, but the best sequels don't capitalize on the success of their predecessors by recreating it under a new plot framework rather they take the story that was shown in the first movie and expand upon it. Po already earned respect from Shifu and the Five by the end of the last movie that this film wastes no time showing Po being friends with the Five along with Shifu treating him, his student, with confidence in his abilities, but still finding ways to surprise him -- demonstrated through the way Shifu inexplicably appears behind Po when the latter least expects it. As the plot synopsis may suggest, more of the circumstances behind Po's origin are revealed as early as the prologue narration in which Shen, in an effort to avoid his fate of being defeated by "a warrior of black and white", commands his wolf army to exterminate all pandas across China in mass genocide. This being the darker sequel that prime examples such as The Empire Strikes Back try to be, it's honestly amazing that they managed to delve into such an extreme topic without making it too dark much less too graphic for the kids. The visions that Po has of his mother come into play through this backdrop as the little bit we are shown throughout makes Po and us, the audience, question whether one or both of Po's biological parents even loved him if they were to abandon him like that. Surely enough, his mother left him in the radish basket to protect him out of love, ensuring that Shen's army would not find him before she herself would be killed. This ties a major theme throughout the series, which involves acceptance of the past, which Shifu clearly demonstrated in coming to peace over what happened to Tai Lung at the end of the first movie; it makes sense that Shifu would be passing on what he knows to Po and, to boot, Shifu does not act as Po's guide quite as much in this film as in the last one. This seems like a conscious choice for both the movie to feel less repetitive as a sequel and also a logical step forward for Po as he allows his experience with all the drama happening to help him understand the concept of inner peace without anyone, much less Shifu, holding his hand.
Once again, the animation of this movie is just as stellar as ever, maybe even moreso than the first movie; the kung fu fighting styles of each character represent their species or even their actor well with characters like Viper (voiced by Lucy Liu) fighting like her actress as if she were a snake. The kung fu styles of Lord Shen are arguably the most creative in the series yet with him using his peacock talons to slash enemies as well as fanning out his plumage the way a real peacock would for distraction. To boot, even the lesser remembered character of Master Croc (voiced by Jean-Claude Van Damme) demonstrates a split kick that only his real actor could pull off and that makes the adults who are familiar with kung fu/action movies all the more entertained when watching. Following the trend of these movies, the prologue even has a different animation style than the traditional 3D animation. Narrated by the soothsayer (voiced by Michelle Yeoh), this prologue showcases a more shadow-puppet like portrayal of Shen's downfall in which characters are barely animated, but expressive in ways that demonstrate their emotions such as the horror on Shen's parents faces when they find out about his genocide. Another way it keeps things consistent is in the showcasing of 2D cell animation through Po's flashbacks and dream sequences; the first several times we see Po flashback to the last time he saw his mother, it's in the same 2D cell animation of Po's opening dream sequence in the first movie, showcasing to us Po's disconnect from reality and doubting of whether it was real or not. Po's personal flashbacks of Shen's genocide are also shown in this style until the very moment the soothsayer tells him to stop fighting the past in which the flashback of his mother finally turns over to computer animation, displaying his acceptance of what happened and that his parents loved him enough to protect him. It's honestly amazing how a seemingly minor aspect such as an alternate animation style can tie in so well to a major aspect of storytelling in an animated film and that's one of the reasons the Kung Fu Panda movies have been so awesome.
As with the first movie, the voice acting is a major selling point without being the main one or oversaturating the movie. Jack Black is once again an excellent Po, exuberating his lovable, energetic nature while melding well with his characters' traits of being a level headed fanboy with great comedic timing. With Po's realization of who he is and where he comes from comes also a few moments where Black demonstrates a more sincere tone of voice such as right before the final battle when trying to convince Shen to let go of HIS past -- the villain ultimately doesn't, but it's a great moment no less. Gary Oldman is also a most excellent addition to the cast being the excellent actor he is by demonstrating a cunning, even vitriol tone of voice as Lord Shen -- especially when he tries to convince Po that his parents never loved him. All the while, Oldman conveys Shen's impatience and anger towards the heroes trying to halt his scheme very well, showcasing how great of an actor he is even if it's just his voiceover -- and I've heard him in more voice roles besides this to know that for sure. Apart from our hero and villain, the returning voice cast also lends to this film exceptionally well; Angelina Jolie once again provides a great performance as Tigress with her level headed, serious tone to where she's almost unrecognizable unless you know it's her. Once again the other members of the Five -- Monkey, Mantis, Crane, and Viper -- are given excellent performances from Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, David Cross, and Lucy Liu respectively and even though the characters are still not developed well enough, they play off each other well and certain line deliveries can have you rolling. Others such as Dustin Hoffman as Shifu and James Hong as Mr. Ping are consistent with their previous performances, the latter in particular having some heartfelt sentiment in the love he expresses for his adopted son when sharing his story and sentiments. In addition to Oldman, the new actors such as Dennis Haysbert (the Allstate guy) as Master Ox and Jean-Claude Van Damme as Master Croc are given good material with what limited lines they have and the former you can really tell is the Allstate guy if you listen closely. I'd even say that Michelle Yeoh gives a good performance as the soothsayer with her wise demeanor contrasting the comedic, impulsive goat-like nature of her character. That said, once again, the Kung Fu Panda franchise delivers well on both its voice actor choices and performances.
As I had mentioned before, certain people may not have liked this movie as much as the first movie initially based on the fact that the story moves at a breakneck pace. With hindsight and the fact that I have become an adult since then, I'd personally say that this is to the movie's advantage in more ways than one; for starters, it's a kids and family movie in which an hour and a half runtime is pretty much expected. There was a lot of story to tell for that matter and had it gone on any longer, any additional scenes made to slow down the pacing would have more than likely felt extraneous padding, leaving audiences to complain about a lot of filler content in an otherwise excellently made movie. That said, even the moments where it could have gone on longer are entertaining such as the montage of Po and the Five journeying across China with its excellently constructed shots of them journeying across rock formations and the desert framed in a way to look epic for those who dig visual appeal in movies, animated or otherwise -- I know I do. For that matter, although the movie barely has any time to breathe, I'd say it has a slow enough beginning with the opening prologue, the displaying of Po, the Five, and their master's current state of living together, and the first battle followed by the flashbacks to Po's childhood with Mr. Ping. This is about the first 20-25 minutes of the movie with the rest being almost breakneck action setpiece after breakneck action setpiece; I say ALMOST because it has a few moments of reprieve with Po and Tigress talking on the boat before reaching Gongmen City at dawn as well as the panda genocide flashbacks that allow Po to find inner peace and accept the past. These were all pretty much the major character moments of the movie and had they added any more between that, the movie surely would have felt padded therefore in hindsight, I'd say it was to the movie's advantage it wasn't any longer than it was. All in all, this movie works well the way it is not just in the story and visual department, but I will also add that, once again, the audio department did well once more with the fantastic score by Hans Zimmer and John Powell. Personally, I'm not huge on listening to too much film music in isolation, but am more than willing to discuss visuals, story, and acting all of which I have enjoyed about animated movies since childhood and the greatness of Kung Fu Panda in those regards is a testament to that.
Overall, the greatness of the Kung Fu Panda franchise -- at least the first three from what I have heard -- can be felt throughout its movies, especially this one. From this movie's logical steps forward as a sequel to its visual appeal, excellent voice casting and acting, as well as arguably its pacing -- and even its music -- not a moment or aspect of Kung Fu Panda 2 is wasted, making it one of my favorite movies, sequel or otherwise. While I have yet to see the recently released fourth film as of yet, I do believe that this series has a right to be considered as great as it is even with its seemingly goofy premise of a big fat panda learning the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of kung fu alongside other anthropamorphic animals who assist him in his journey. I'd even say that this one actually is the best in the series since, although it's not nearly as comical as the other movies, it goes to meaningfully dark areas in a way that resonates with viewers, showing many that even if their story doesn't have a happy beginning, it doesn't define who they are. The biggest takeaway for me was, in fact, the acceptance of the past that Po experiences in order to achieve inner peace and that helps me see that letting go of emotional pain is possible. All that said, for this and the other technical aspects of this movie, I give it a solid A and will recommend it to all who have seen and loved the first one.
Thank you all for reading and I will see you in the next review!
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