It’s a bit of a year for animated sequels this year. Pixar are serving up Cars 2 this summer while Dreamworks have released Kung Fu Panda 2. To be honest both of them look a little underwhelming, Cars is probably the weakest film Pixar have done so it’s a strange choice to bring out another. Kung Fu Panda was a relative hit, a decent movie that is probably more variable than Cars to get a sequel.That being said Kung Fu Panda 2 doesn’t really capture the same magic of the first instalment. Po the Panda is already a Dragon Warrior so the object of this movie is simply stop the bad guy from doing evil stuff.
In fairness to the movie, it isn’t that bad. In fact it’s quite good. It’s a fun movie that will entertain kiddiewinks a plenty and also offers something for the adult crowd. Overall though it lacked freshness; I felt like I’d seen it all before.
Some of the characters were either shallow or their actions made no sense. Take Tigress, played by Angelina Jolie, she’s supposed to be a hardened warrior who shows no mercy or compassion, but I didn’t really get that vibe from her at all. There’s a scene in the movie where she hugs Po, and everyone acts shocked as though the Pope randomly started praising Allah. I just never got the impression she was hard-as-nails, apart from the fight scenes obviously, but then again all the warriors are…so what makes Tigress so special?
Most of the movie is about Po finding out who he is, because apparently he isn’t the biological son of a goose. Looking forward to Kung-Fu Panda 3: The birds and the bees. Anyway, as usual the story focuses around Po as you would expect seeing it’s called Kung Fu Panda not Kung Fu Tiger or Kung Fu Monkey; however because of this it can get boring at times, there are so many other characters to learn about but we rarely even get glimpses of their personalities. There is so much potential in the other characters that just ends up being wasted in the end.
Also, what kind of role model is this Po to young kids who will no doubt watch this movie? He effectively becomes the greatest warrior of all time but he does bugger all to earn it. He doesn’t do any work whatsoever and never trains like the other warriors do and yet he becomes the Dragon Warrior? What message is that sending out? Be a sloth, fill your face, become obese, you’ll make it in the end anyway. God Bless America.
To be fair to Kung Fu Panda 2 it has its funny moments. There are some parts here that will genuinely make you laugh. My favourite is towards the end where Po talks to the evil peacock: Shen (Gary Oldman) from a rooftop on the other side of the harbour, and of course Shen can’t hear him. I though this was pretty funny - how many times have we seen it in movies where someone is miles away from another character and yet can have a conversation like their in the same room? I personally love it in movies where people can hear conversations through binoculars or scopes. Some directors are idiots at times.
Overall Kung Fu Panda 2 is an enjoyable movie that raises a few smiles here and there. It’s definitely not as good as the first, but it’s a decent attempt nonetheless. The casting is good, the actors perform well, the animation in some scenes is brilliant as well as the art style. Hans Zimmer does the soundtrack too which adds to the epicness of it all.
The action scenes are great, the humour is more hits than misses, and Po does look very cute as a baby panda. That all being said though it just lacks that little bit extra to put it on a par with its predecessor.
You just get the feeling that Kung Fu Panda 2 only exists because the first was a success and frankly it’s easy money for the film studio. Rather than do something different they’ve played it safe and made a sequel to a former hit. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Kung-Fu Panda 3 if I’m honest.
Final Verdict: 3 Stars. A fun, well animated movie with a great soundtrack. Lacks a bit of freshness though.
No comments:
Post a Comment