ONE of the most suprising films of recent years, for me, was Kung Fu Panda.
Bought at a supermarket checkout simply because I had a poorly child with me who loved pandas, it turned out to be excellent.
Po, a kung-fu-loving son of a noodle bar owner (who, it is worth noting at this point isn’t even a panda), somehow ends up becoming the Dragon Warrior and saving the valley.
In doing so he’s won over the Furious Five, five pretenders to the Dragon Warrior throne who were astounded at the choice of the food-loving bear. Kung Fu Panda was brilliant because it was so off-the-wall, original, and genuinely funny.
But could they repeat it. The animation world is full of good sequels (Toy Story 2 and 3, Ice Age 2) and bad sequels (Shrek 2 and 3). And this came from the Shrek studio.
Once you were past the sheer novelty of a kung fu panda, could the jokes sustain a second film. Well happily, the answer is absolutely.
Okay, so it’s perhaps not quite as good as the orginal - but nearly.
The sequel sees Po (Jack Black) and the Furious Five travel across China to save the city of Gongmen and the country itself from Lord Shen, the evil peacock who is heir to the Gongmen dynasty.
Long ago a sooth-sayer (actually a goat) predicted that Lord Shen would be defeated by a ‘warrior of black and white’. Enter our hero.
There’s also a sub-plot with Po seeking the truth about his family. He’s reached the tricky age where deep down he knows a noodle-loving bird can’t truly be his father... so what happened?
Well we find out, but I won’t spoil the suprise for anyone intending to watch the film. Needless to say Po’s right, his father was a panda...
The animation is superb, the plot well thought out, and the action moves along at a great pace. It gets quite violent, but it somehow seems okay when it’s panda versus wolf? You probably need to have seen the original but if you have, give it a go.
RATING: 4/5
Tickets: Cineworld, Shrewsbury