I've seen
three whole movies since
my last update (which was in May 2022).
I've been putting off seeing KFP2, just because I didn't think it could live up to the original. Now I'm not so sure.
I mean, I like KFP enough. In fact, I think it'll endure as a shining example of the genre, the sort of thing that future students of animation cinema will pick apart in classrooms. It has
layers of depth that you don't notice until subsequent viewings. But if you guys say KFP2 is worth it, well, then I'd better rustle up a copy.
Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
Finally getting around to reviewing that third movie I mentioned, and...I'm glad I waited as long as I did to see it. I know many people here have a great fondness for KFP2, and I'm not going to say it isn't a decent movie, or that it's not entertaining, or anything like that. But what I
am going to say is, it ... is not as good as the first one, full stop.
Since I haven't formally reviewed the first one on here, I'll summarize by saying that, in the first movie, nothing is wasted.
Everything has meaning. Every character we meet has something important to contribute to the story. Every
scene progresses the story. Every camera pan/zoom/pull/transition, every slo-mo, every angle. All the characters grow and change. The entire movie and story have a constant forward motion and flow that carry the viewer towards the thrilling conclusion and reveal. The movie itself has a message it wants to convey--more than one, actually,
if you're paying attention.
The second movie...it's good enough. It's entertaining, it deepens the lore of the KFP universe, and it gives us that Po fix we've been wanting for 3 years, but it's nowhere near as "tight" as the first one. I went in completely unspoilered, but except for a few clever callbacks to Po's fantasy sequence from the first movie (Look! The same F5 fantasy action sequences from the opening of KFP, but
this time it's for
reals!), I felt like the entire beginning third of the movie was a waste of its screen time. The movie doesn't start to build any actual momentum and "suck you in" until the point where they get captured (the first time). Oh, there are plot points which get introduced, and important events that happen, sure, but their presentation doesn't have the same weight of the first movie, and the scene/line delivery has the same stilted lack of polish/flow/continuity/pacing that you might get from a high school or community-access cable theater production, a kind of "We did the lines like we were supposed to but we didn't actually
live them" feel. Even the slapstick feels...forced, I guess, like they maybe had a different idea for the first act but then plans changed and they had to hastily reshoot/rerecord/reanimate a different opening BUT were still required to include certain plot points which just ended up feeling disjointed. It lacks the
feng shui of the first. This is not to say I didn't enjoy the KFP2. I did! I just went into it expecting the same high level of storytelling I got from the first one, and I didn't get that. Maybe it's because I had my bar set a little too high after hearing how much everyone else had praised it, I don't know. Maybe it's because I wanted Michelle Yeoh and Danny McBride's characters to get more screen time instead of just being animated MacGuffins (They wuz robbed!). Maybe it's because the scene of Po's enlightenment felt so arbitrary ("Huh, guess it's time to believe now"). Maybe it's because I could see how much more this movie
could have been, but wasn't.
It has its moments, and plenty of them. The action sequences are all very action-y and full of action in their action-ness. The cinematic references are clever. We DO get more growth from Po, watching him go through some more much-needed acceptance of who he is/how things are (with some help from his friends, of course), and the device of having his memories go from 2-D cell to mixed to full 3-D is inspired. We get more of a peek behind Tigress' façade (and leave open the possibility for more, some of which was
apparently explored in the series?), which I welcome. Jackie Chan gets a few more lines. Gary Oldman is awesome at fully submerging himself into everything he does, as always. And, like the first movie, this one culminates in a new lesson which is shown, not told, further showing what can/will happen to those who accept and those who refuse to accept this message. Plus there's the teaser for a third movie...which unfortunately made me think more
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria rather than
Kung Fu Panda 3, but I can't have been the only one.
Was it worth watching? Yes. Would I recommend it? Of course I would. Each and every one of my complaints about this movie have nothing to do with this movie itself, but rather that the movie which preceded it (and which I'm therefore going to compare it to) was so much better, nothing more. I have a feeling that my opinion of this movie might be adjusted a bit after seeing the third movie and adding it to the lore, but I guess I won't find out until I finally watch it.
--Patrick
