Kung Fu Panda 2,’ Much More Heart Than Laughs
Kamis, 26 Mei 2011 by Android Blackberry
It takes somewhat longer for the awesomeness to turn all that awesome. And you cannot genuinely replicate that element of surprise that the initial movie had going for it -- a fanboy panda who gets to team up with his martial arts heroes.
But “Kung Fu Panda 2” is a sequel that delivers far more heart than laughs, and is, if something, extra visually dazzling than the 2008 original film.
Cuddly, plush Po (voiced by Jack Black) is now a reasonably accomplished and competent Dragon Warrior, a sixth member of the Furious 5, meting out justice with his mad kung fu skillz. But there is certainly a new threat, a preening peacock (literally) who covets all of China and has a new magic weapon, “one that breathes fire and spits metal,” a weapon whose arrival on the scene “could be the end of kung fu.”
“But I just GOT kung fu!” Po protests.
Po and his Furious close friends have a quest -- cease Lord Shen (voiced by Gary Oldman) and destroy his weapon. But to begin with, Po’s mentor (Dustin Hoffman) has a new life lesson for him -- obtain inner peace.
“My innards are already super-peaceful,” Po complains. Jack Black has fewer lines with all the gonzo-gusto with the initially film, just the odd “My fist hungers for justice!” But the soul of “Panda 2” is Po’s real quest, the a single that provides him flashbacks every time he sees Lord Shen’s peacock feather emblem on the wolves which can be the villain’s minions. “Where did I come from?” A dumpling loving panda raised by a wok-wielding goose has got to figure out he’s adopted, sooner or later.
Artist-turned-director Jennifer Yuh, head of story on the first “Kung Fu Panda,” sees to it that this sequel is both far more striking -- cut-out shadow puppets for the opening credits, 2-D flashbacks to Po’s childhood -- and additional Confucian. When the evil megalomaniac Lord Shen asks his soothsayer (Michelle Yeoh, as a goat) his fortune, her answer applies to greedheads of any age: “The cup you choose to fill has no bottom.”
There are fantastic grace notes in this script, as befits a film having a distinctly Buddhist bent -- “Your story may perhaps not possess a pleased beginning. But look at how it turned out.”
The chases are 3-D animated wonders, the martial arts brawls are epic, or “severely cool,” as Po would put it. But the stunt voice casting doesn’t pay off, as Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Seth Rogen and other folks do not have sufficient lines to make an effect. And it takes a solid, stolid half-hour to ultimately get to that first string of laughs, that 1st blast of flip, funny “awesomeness.”
Nonetheless, “Panda 2” has additional genuinely heart-tugging moments than any “Shrek” sequel. That is in all probability why we’re certain to view a lot more of tales of Master Po mastering martial arts, acquiring inner peace and finding out to wok his way.
‘Kung Fu Panda 2,’ HH ½ stars; Cast: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Angelina Jolie, Michelle Yeoh. Directed by Jennifer Yuh, written by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, created by Melissa Cobb. A Dreamworks Animation release. Running time: 1:28. MPAA Rating: PG for sequences of martial arts action and mild violence
