In the Spirit Realm, Master Oogway has a brother-in-arms Kai, who is obsessed about collecting the chi of all the masters in their world, thus misusing his power. It would take the Dragon Warrior to stop him. Meanwhile, in ancient China, Po is handed over the responsibility of teaching in the Valley of Peace. He finds that overwhelming, coming from the legendary Master Shifu himself. How Po comes to terms with realising his full potential and discovering himself, how he gets to unite with his biological daddy and how he protects his friends from the deadly collector Kai - forms a simple, yet nicely animated film that's just about 94-minutes long.
The funny lines and the quality animation makes this a fun-filled cruise.
It has some profound one-liners like, "There's so much wisdom in here, I can't find anything!" Or again, when Shifu says, "Time is just an illusion, there is only the now." Or when Oogway asks Kai, "When will you realize, the more you take the less you have?"
Jennifer Yuh Nelson, the first woman to solely direct an animated feature from a major Hollywood studio, in Kung Fu Panda 2, has teamed well with Alessandro Carloni to direct a pure, unalderated movie not just for the kids, but for all ages, as it has some good messages.
The voice-overs are always good in this franchise, and most of the cast reprise their roles: Jack Black as Po, Angelina Jolie as Master Tigress, Dustin Hoffman as Master Shifu, Jackie Chan as the Monkey, Seth Rogen as the Green Mantis, Lucy Liu as the Viper, etc. It was heartening to see J K Simmons play the voice of the yak Kai, the antagonist in this outing. I last saw him in Whiplash, over a year ago.
I was pleasantly surprised that Hans Zimmer had scored the music for the Kung Fu Panda theme - as one may normally associate him with his immortal scores from period or superhero films.
I also enjoyed the song, "Try" (Patrick Brasca feat. Jay Chou), as the credits rolled, and it had some peppy lyrics,
"You just have to try, try
to be who you are
And you ought to fly fly
Step into the light..."
The simplicity of the tale is adorned with some appealing animation and surfacing in 3-D. The Dragon Warrior Panda Po is here to immortalize this series, yet again. Like the Pandas, I guess it's time to roll...
Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars, for the sheer entertainment and animation quality.
The funny lines and the quality animation makes this a fun-filled cruise.
It has some profound one-liners like, "There's so much wisdom in here, I can't find anything!" Or again, when Shifu says, "Time is just an illusion, there is only the now." Or when Oogway asks Kai, "When will you realize, the more you take the less you have?"
Jennifer Yuh Nelson, the first woman to solely direct an animated feature from a major Hollywood studio, in Kung Fu Panda 2, has teamed well with Alessandro Carloni to direct a pure, unalderated movie not just for the kids, but for all ages, as it has some good messages.
The voice-overs are always good in this franchise, and most of the cast reprise their roles: Jack Black as Po, Angelina Jolie as Master Tigress, Dustin Hoffman as Master Shifu, Jackie Chan as the Monkey, Seth Rogen as the Green Mantis, Lucy Liu as the Viper, etc. It was heartening to see J K Simmons play the voice of the yak Kai, the antagonist in this outing. I last saw him in Whiplash, over a year ago.
I was pleasantly surprised that Hans Zimmer had scored the music for the Kung Fu Panda theme - as one may normally associate him with his immortal scores from period or superhero films.
I also enjoyed the song, "Try" (Patrick Brasca feat. Jay Chou), as the credits rolled, and it had some peppy lyrics,
"You just have to try, try
to be who you are
And you ought to fly fly
Step into the light..."
The simplicity of the tale is adorned with some appealing animation and surfacing in 3-D. The Dragon Warrior Panda Po is here to immortalize this series, yet again. Like the Pandas, I guess it's time to roll...
Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars, for the sheer entertainment and animation quality.
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