DreamWorks Animation has long felt like the hard-working junior varsity to the bulletproof all-stars at Pixar.
“Kung Fu Panda 2” continues that tradition of very good but not great.
Its chief strength rests in its visuals, which are at once evocative of delicate silk-screen paintings from ancient China and yet filled with the lush, wild colors only fantasy can have. Thanks to artist-turned-director Jennifer Yuh, who was head of story on the 2008 original, there isn’t a single moment where the audience’s eyes aren’t scanning around the screen, spotting hidden gems at the corners.
Once again we have Po (voiced with slacker earnestness by Jack Black), the chubby and not-always-graceful panda and kung fu artist teamed with the Furious Five, a quintet of lethal masters, chief of whom is the stoic Tigress (Angelina Jolie.) The Five are trained by Po’s mentor, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman).
A new threat arises in the form of the urbane and ambitious peacock Lord Shen (Gary Oldman, oozing menace), who has concocted a plan to conquer all of China using a seemingly invincible weapon.
Po is also struggling with a more existential crisis as he deduces that Ping (wonderful James Hong), the goose he calls Dad, might not be his father after all. This also gives our protagonist a chance for an origin story, which all heroes need … especially if the villain was somehow involved at the beginning (nudge, wink).
The plot is painted in broad strokes and serves mainly as a frame on which to hang some well-crafted action set-pieces, such as a rickshaw chase reminiscent of Buster Keaton. And a scene where Po and the Five conceal themselves inside a parade dragon, which then appears to devour and excrete various bad guys, wrings laughs and smiles at its ingenuity and imagery.
Like DreamWorks’ “Shrek” series, the film works on two levels, keeping younger viewers happy while getting parents involved with snappy one-liners.
Where the film falls short is that vaunted third level of true emotional engagement. While foreign directors such as Hayao Miyazaki (“Spirited Away”) seem to find it with ease, in America it’s pretty much the sole property of Pixar. And it’s when compared to triumphs like “WALL-E” or “Toy Story 3” that Po and his friends seem insubstantial.
Studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg has revealed that he envisions four more films telling Po’s story. If they’re all as beautiful and sharply written as this one, as Po would say, bring it on. (source:kansascity.com)
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