Animated Antic The first "Kung Fu Panda" was a big surprise for moviegoers around the world. Critics and audiences, including myself, really enjoyed it's enjoyable martial arts story, beautiful animation and brilliantly developed characters. So when DreamWorks announced a sequel, I actually got very eager to see it. I went into the film very excited and walked out extremely satisfied because "Kung Fu Panda 2" is a very good sequel that steps up everything that made the first film work. It's one of those films that makes the story, characters and animation better.The dragon warrior Po (Jack Black) and his fellow kung fu master the Furious Five (respectively played by Angelina Jolie, David Cross, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, and Jackie Chan) have been protecting the Valley of Peace from enemies for some time now. Little do they know that the evil Lord Shen (Gary Oldman) has returned to  Gongmen City in order to test his newest weapon used from modified fireworks to seek revenge after he was banished by his parents for exterminating the panda population in order to avert a prophecy predicted about him. When the kung fu team's teacher Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) receives the news of the return of Shen, he sends the team to the city to defeat the evil Lord and protect the art of kung fu. Along the way, Po is trying to discover his origins along with the mystery with his real parents. After this, we receive some very funny and emotional moments resulting a pretty fantastic movie.This is one of those sequels that does the proper approach that a sequel should do which continue the story from the first. The film simply doesn't repeat the first story but rather tell a different story. Speaking of the story in this film, it's pretty fantastic. I loved how this movie is able to balance both the comedic and emotional moments very well without making the film feeling like it had to much or even to little. The film once again dove into the philosophy and art of martial arts like the first film did and also added new elements involving inner peace which I found fascinating. The animation once again is beautiful. Director Jennifer Yuh Nelson knew how to tell it's story through it's colors very well with the film having a very heavy focus on the color red during evil moments of the film and calming green colors during quieter moments. I also liked that the flashback scenes in the movie were told through 2D animation which is something that I always love to watch. The characters are also fantastic as well. The reason why is because they're properly developed and given more character and don't act like jerks throughout the movie, particularly Po's relationship to the Furious Five. The villain, Lord Shen, is one of the best villains that DreamWorks has ever created. He has a fantastic backstory and a very deviously evil plot, but they also manage to give him some very good comedic moments. As far as flaws, the movie does feel like it did run a little too long and some of the scenes could have been cut a little bit shorter, but that's really about it."Kung Fu Panda 2" is a very good sequel that makes everything that worked in the first film better with a very good story, some great animation, and well developed characters. I wonder where DreamWorks will go from here when they do a sequel because based on the end of the film, this might go somewhere exciting. I surely hope that it does.

Christopher Shobris One thing that DreamWorks does well (with the exception of Shrek the Third) is sequels. They prove time and time again that they are very legit company in many cases, does better then its animated counterparts. Kung Fu Panda 2 is no exception as it seems the franchise is well at hand. After the incredible year of 2010 for DreamWorks after the cultural success of How to Train Your Dragon, and ending a great franchise (Shrek) they follow that year up with this. The movie's strengths are found within the story, not that its unique, but the secret ingredient found within. The secret ingredient is heart. Its not totally comedic as one would expect, but in the middle they tweak the film's tone with heart and emotion. This is what a proper sequel should do, taking the story and making it more then what we'd expect. Is this film a rehash from the last? Well, not really it offers new elements, especially to Po's character. The other characters are still they're same likable selves. In this however they really showcase the relationship growing between Po and Tigress which is the most unique and pleasurable relationship. The next thing is the villain voiced by Gary Oldman. He is the most interesting and menacing out of the villains so far. And that's hard to make a peacock menacing, and they did it like pros. Now the negative I have is what I said before, with the story not being unique and refreshing, but that's a slight error as the film makes up with heart. So a very small negativity. As a whole this film is one of DreamWorks' best. Now to grade. Animation: A Voice Acting: A- Story: C+ Music: B+ Characters: A+ Overall: B+

sanjayasantoso I'm still found this movie as hilarious as the first one, especially since all the seven main cast still reprising their role to lend their voice in this sequel.. New cast like Gary Oldman, Michelle Yeoh, just made this movie more full of stars.. The story itself still logical, since we never know the past that Po had so exploring them in this sequel is a great idea, since they never end up with ideas when they talked about a sequel.. As I remember, there's more action than the first movie and I'm fine with that... The flow of the story walks rapidly and leave me surprised when this movie ended in less than 90 minutes.. Overall, it's still enjoyable and hilarious as the first movie..

Python Hyena Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011): Dir: Jennifer Yuh / Voices: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Seth Rogen: Every bit as bland as the first film despite its colourful images. This time out Po the kung fu Panda desires to know where he came from and what happened to his original family. Shen the peacock is the new villain who leads a pack of wolves into battle and only Po and his allies can stop them. Sounds standard and delivers on just that. While the first film is no dud, it certainly didn't avoid every martial arts cliché it could find. Jennifer Yuh does well directing but the film fails to deliver a compelling story. Jack Black voices Po who remains a likable presence despite his stereotypical friends. He searches for his past and realizes that he has forgotten it due too a trauma. He proves to overcome his dilemma while his enemy cannot. Angelina Jolie voices Tigress who comes to life more as an animation as oppose to a personality. The same can be said of Shifu, voiced by Dustin Hoffman who seems only as the countless reference to Yoda. The only other character of interest is villain Shen, voiced by Gary Oldman. We learn of Shen's upbringing and how he was banished, and the revenge he sought that would ultimately consume him. Other characters are paper thin although any one of the animals would make for a great documentary on wildlife program. The animation is as stunning as that of the first film but the story itself fails to lift off the screen. We are left with images of Asia and greater desire to watch something far more entertaining such as Animal Planet. Score: 4 / 10