Kung Fu Panda 2

For those who haven’t seen the first Kung Fu Panda Movie: Go watch it! What’s wrong with you?!?! Freak.

By which, I mean, Kung Fu Panda told the story of Po, an overweight lazy son of a noodle shop owner, who spent all day fantasizing about being a Kung Fu master. As fate would have it, he is accidently pointed at by the great Master Oogway as being the Dragon Warrior. Master Oogway, however, doesn’t believe in accidents, and so the Panda’s training begins.

"Tigress: One would think that Master Oogway would choose someone who actually knew kung fu.
Crane: Yeah, or could at least touch his toes.
Monkey: Or even see his toes."

The second movie starts up where the first movie left off, with Po living with the Furious Five and Master Shifu, eating a lot and helping keep the locals safe from danger. We then discover a shocking truth:

*Major Spoiler*
Po is adopted!!!! Mr Ping, the Goose who owns the Noodle and Tofu restaurant (that’s right, he makes Tofu now! Living the dream) is not his real father!!!

Po then goes on a quest to find inner peace, discover his origins and stop the big bad Lord Shen from conquering China.

Is it a good film? Yes.
Is it as good as the first? No.

Unlike the first film, the second is in a tricky position when it comes to Po. They clearly don’t want to lose the humour they had around him being the fat lazy accidental hero, but they can’t ignore the fact that he basically finished the first film as a Kung Fu Master. As such, they kind of blend the two, making Po’s silly moments feel more forced. Also, a lot of the jokes in the second film are either taken from or extensions of jokes from the first.

Still, if you liked the first, it’s a good film and worth a watch.