Kung Fu Panda 2
Review
by Anthony Morris
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Kung Fu Panda 2
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“Underwhelming” isn’t really what you want to hear about any film, but when the first Kung Fu Panda
film came out – during something of a golden age for high-end CGI films
– it was hard not to leave feeling a little, well, underwhelmed.
All
the elements seemed to be there for a great film and a lot of it was
great, but it just never quite seemed to be as amazingly awesome as it
could have been.
So to say the second film hits many of the
same notes of the first is to compliment it in a way, because there
have been plenty of sequels that have turned out a lot worse.
On
the plus side the animation just keeps on getting better, and with such
a fight-centric franchise like this you really need the fights to stand
out.
The story holds up moderately well, combining the twin
threads of our titular hero (Jack Black) searching for his long-lost
father while dealing with the threat of a peacock (Gary Oldman) who
plans to use a new weapon to take over China and eliminate kung fu
entirely.
The numerous gags mostly work, and the big name
vocal cast (pretty much everyone returns from the first film, including
Dustin Hoffman, Angelia Jolie and Seth Rogan, with Jean-Claude Van
Damme making an appearance as a splits-performing kung fu crocodile)
manage to avoid giving the impression that they’re merely phoning it
in.
But in a week when Pixar’s latest effort also hits the big
screen, it seems only fair to point out that while Cars 2 is perhaps
the weakest effort from Pixar in a long time, it’s still roughly as
much fun as this turns out to be.
Again, “underwhelming” is
the word that comes to mind: all the elements are here for a truly
great film, but somehow the result turns out to just be merely very
good.
Like that’s such a bad thing. 3.5 out
of 5
Kung Fu Panda 2
Australian release: 23rd June,
2011
Official
Site: Kung Fu Panda 2
Cast: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen,
Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong, Gary Oldman, Michelle Yeoh,
Jean-Claude Van Damme, Victor Garber
Director: Jennifer Yuh Nelson
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