Kung Fu Panda 2

fresh

It's funny how animated movie sequels usually fall into the trap of just repeating the original formula to sell toys, right? Well, "Kung Fu Panda 2" does the exact opposite. When I sat down to watch it, I was just expecting to get some good laughs out of a clumsy bear tripping over his own feet. What I didn't see coming was getting punched in the gut by a heavy story about trauma, adoption, and acceptance. If you ...

freshTop critics

Slightly better than the first one, especially with its breathtaking visuals, strong storytelling (particularly its themes about inner peace and genocide), memorable villain Lord Shen, all-star cast, and music. I still disliked the Furious Five in this movie, though less so. It was mainly because they benched Po later on in the movie when he revealed his traumatic past to them in the city prison. Seriously, why di...

freshTop critics

It's not often the second movie is as good as the first movie and this was awesome! The story was good, the movie was funny and they added what I felt was missing from the first movie the back story to Po and his father (a Panda and a goose). Although the villian story seemed a bit familiar it was different enough not to feel too much of a copy of the first film, so well done guys.

fresh

After his surprising success as the "Dragon Warrior", the cheery "Po" is hoping to take it easy. History, though, has no intention of letting him sit on his laurels as it emerges that the slighted peacock villain "Shen" has designs on taking over the globe. We learn from a brief retrospective a bit about the cause of his bitterness and it seems that he and "Po" have an overlapping provenance that might just explai...

fresh

Kung Fu Panda 2 excitedly kicks, punches and belly flops its way through overused visual humour. “Everybody was kung fu fighting!” much more so in this sequel when compared to its predecessor. The Furious Five were slapping Shen’s army of diabolical wolves left, right and centre. Master Shifu prodding his stick conveniently during the climactic battle. And a plethora of other anthropomorphic beasts harnessing the ...

rotten

Admittedly, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first “Kung Fu Panda.” Don’t get me wrong, it’s alright, but that’s all. Just alright. The jokes about him being big and clumsy get old after an hour and a half, to the point where it almost seems like a movie that’s trying to (ironically) fat shame kids. “Kung Fu Panda 2” is really more of the same. Same characters, same plot, same jokes. It’s extremely predictable w...

fresh

Threre are few sequels that are better than the original. This is one of them. Smarter, with good plot and an amazing animation. Perfect for a movie session with the family.