By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY
The Force clearly is with Kung Fu Panda 2. Or vice versa.
DreamWorks Animation
(Jack Black) and Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) receive troubling news about Lord Shen's plan to take over China.
DreamWorks Animation
(Jack Black) and Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) receive troubling news about Lord Shen's plan to take over China.
Either way, this winning sequel to 2008's martial arts cartoon makes deft moves for a big-budget sequel ? and is even warmly reminiscent of 1980's The Empire Strikes Back.
Like Luke Skywalker, Po (voiced by Jack Black) is raised by surrogates but yearns to know the truth about his biological father. Like Empire, Panda is an unabashed setup to a third film. Even Hans Zimmer's wonderful soundtrack recalls Darth Vader's Imperial March theme.
Yet it still feels fresh the second time around for our pudgy warrior. Director Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who worked as an artist and writer on the first film, takes care to evolve characters instead of running them through the same maze. (Are you listening, Hangover II folks?)
Po reassembles his supporting cast, the Furious Five? Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Crane (David Cross) ? to confront Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), who plans to wipe out kung fu entirely.
Instead of focusing on the showdown, writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger make the battle a backdrop and explore Po's abandonment issues. It's not deep stuff and won't bore the kids. Easing Po across the emotional crevasse is the diminutive master Shifu, voiced by Dustin Hoffman and looking and mumbling like Yoda. (If this isn't intentional, it's a weird coincidence.)
Kung Fu Panda 2
* * * out of four
Director: Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Stars: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen
Rated: PG for sequences of martial arts action and mild violence
Running time: 1 hour, 31 minutes
Distributor: Paramount Studios/DreamWorks
Opens nationwide Thursday
The film features some beautiful animation, and the story hums along as the Furious Five and the gleefully wicked Shen head for an inevitable clash. The 3-D is a harmless additive. Kids will love the opening sequence and battle scenes, though parents may not find it worth 90 minutes of glasses discomfort.
If Panda has a weakness, it's more the film's genre than its story. As Hollywood opens the floodgates to high-priced cartoons, the limits of family animation become evident. Namely, that most stories draw from the same moral well: Never give up on a dream, and family need not be blood-related.
Panda provides both lessons without sounding preachy. Black is clearly suited for the role of a modern-day Inspector Clouseau, a hero clown who can't help but save the day.
And the message is undeniably sweet. It may not tread new narrative ground, but Panda echoes some worthy tales that parents heard a long time ago at a theater far, far away.
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