Kung Fu Panda 2

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Belinda

An alright movie completely ruined by annoying little shits in the row in front of us. Why the hell weren't they in school? Very frustrating.

Well the film didn't hold their attention and I tried my best to get into it but even with Po's dark backstory of self-discovery, I couldn't find the heart from the first film. Po's relationship with his dad is still the best thing in the film. I understand the desire to explain it away, but I really loved the idea in the first film that it was just something everyone accepted. They go even further with a coda at the end of the film that sets up an inevitable 3rd adventure and undermines the relationship even more.

The animated kung fu action is amped up in this one though, now that Po is one of the masters there's plenty of great sequences where they are all fighting as a team. We have a new villain, a peacock voiced by Gary Oldman, whose backstory ties in nicely thematically with Po's. He's not as threatening as Ian McShane's Tai Lung from the first film, but he's got the tech.

Michelle Yeoh is another addition as a soothsaying goat. Wise and hilarious. Some of the bigger laughs in the film for me. The other things I loved was the Po's inability to perfectly create those badass action film clichés. They boarder on breaking the 4th wall but never quite go that far. I love that.

Once again there as various forms of animation used in the opening prologue and flashbacks. The prologue has a new shadow puppet style that was beautiful, and once again the 2d style from the first film is used in flashbacks.

Overall I didn't enjoy it as much as the first but it had it's moments. But my viewing was tarnished by horrid children so perhaps I'll have to have another look where I can actually get into the quieter character moments I enjoyed so much in the first one that these kids were obviously very bored in because no one was making any funny noises or fart jokes. God I hate kids.