Kung fu panda 2 (3D) (Jennifer You Nelson, 2011): USA

Reviewed by Gustav Orvefors. Viewed at the Santa Barbara film festival.

This is an amazing movie. Kung fu panda 2 have the perfect mix of humor, drama and action making it a film for the entire family, and whether you see it with your 5 year old daughter or your 70 year old granddad you are going to have great time watching this wonderful movie.

Pos “Jack Black” dreams have come true. He is now the legendary Dragon Warrior, which protects the Valley of Peace, along with the other kung fu heroes, the Furious Five: Master Tigress “Angelina Jolie”, Master Crane “David Cross”, Master Mantis “Seth Rogen”, Master Viper “Lucy Liu” and Master Monkey “Jackie Chan”. When a new enemy appears, Po and the Furious Five must protect China and save Kung Fu.

The animation is really great, and have a real depth to it. I love how much is going on in the movie, there are so much details in the animation. Even if you see Kung fu panda 2 a hundred times you will still not see it all. I love all the small pig-characters walking around in the background, they seem so wonderfully defenseless against the evil wolves. The voice actors makes a wonderfull work making the characters more personal, especially Jack Black. His character “Po” feels so alive and whenever Po is making something funny I can see Jack Black doing the same in real life, this is something that makes this film stand out.

The visual is not the only thing making this movie great. The story is really great, especially for being a animated film. My favourite character is “belive it or not” the villain: Lord Shen “Gary Oldman”. On the outside he is a heartless general and warrior which wants to destroy kung fu, but the more we come in to the movie the more we realize he is actually just confused and angry with himself. There are several heartwarming moments like this in Kung fu panda 2, like when Tigress swallows her pride and hugs Poe, or when Poe confronts his father. Several good storys, nicely bunded together, makes a good movie.

If you liked Kung fu panda, then your going to love Kung fu panda 2. It has the same “finding yourself” kind of story and the animation is actually better in the second film. If you haven’t seen it, do it! I can’t come up with one kind of person that wouldn’t enjoy this film.