Kung Fu Panda was something of a surprise hit back in 2008, with very few industry insiders expecting the kiddie-friendly story of an American-sounding martial-artistic bear in a cutesy critter China to become the 50th top grossing film of all time. And yet, against the odds, Po the panda’s quest for self-fulfillment struck a gong with audiences everywhere, especially in China, where its Sino-styled riffs on Asian legends and kung-fu cinema went down a treat. And in one fell chop, DreamWorks established a new franchise to rival Pixar’s dominance of the computer animated cartoon.
Three years hibernating later, Po and co return for a sequel that aims to explain just why this panda’s father is a noodle-cooking goose, as a fowl foe rises to dominate China with an arsenal of deadly firearms. Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, the first female to ever solely helm an animated feature for a major Hollywood studio, the story reunites the prolific vocal talent of the original, with Jack Black, Angelina Jolie and Dustin Hoffman all reprising their roles, and a wonderfully theatrical Gary Oldman as albino peacock baddie, Shen.
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The film is a visual triumph, with luscious backdrops and breathtaking attention to detail. Every hair of Po’s monochrome fur is ready to tickle your eyeballs with the exquisite 3D rendering, and the inclusion of a touching manga-like flashback is completely at ease with the digitised prowess of the main feature, and all the more potent for its lack of dazzle. The action scenes particularly are packed with great energy and humour, with all the creatures, great and small, flowing into perfectly choreographed sequences of chop socky thrills. A rickshaw race in a packed marketplace and the tail fanning fisticuffs between Shen and Po are particular highlights, but so too is the Zen-like shifting of a single raindrop around the panda’s bulk as Po tries to find inner peace.
The script is perhaps not as polished as the Pixar ilk, with the jokes aimed more squarely at the younger viewers, but what this panda lacks in humour, he very distinctly makes up in heart.
4 Likes.
Yeah, but is it good?
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