Po is back...and with a bang! Jennifer Yuh, the new director of the Kung Fu Panda series managed to do justice to her role in recreating the magic of Kung Fu Panda, adding even more (if possible) to the charm and universal appeal to the movie franchise. This time though its not just hilarious and cute, but has a touch of drama, and if i may be bold to say, even a hint of romance. Jack Black is back with his swash-buckling, bumbling comic heroic strategies to save the day with his boundless energy as Po, the ever cuddly Panda. The Dreamworks Team has once again created scenes that are not only visually striking or kinetically thrilling, but overflowing with a humor that is in no sense, even for a moment seemed forceful or artificial.
The story in itself has touches of drama in that we have a glimpse of Po's origin, well thankfully he has panda parents, obviously because he can't really have a goose for a father. But their absolutely crazy relationship as father and son finds new meaning. The plot line, as well the overall atmosphere, has a kind of a dark overtone but in the end, I guess it makes the story more involving. In this movie Po joins forces with the Furious Five of the earlier movie as well with Master Croc (the voice of Jean-Claude Van Damme) and Master Ox (the voice of Dennis Haysbert) to take on a deadly old enemy with a most dangerous weapon. Gary Oldman in the voice-over of Shen, the irredeemable peacock with only deadly vengeance in his mind is absolutely breathtaking. The animation is superb, specially with a 3-D effect, its one-of-a-kind. The action and humor goes hand in hand, so that you never feel that the movie is getting too dark for the younger audience. The final face-off is worth a watch for its masterful detailing in every scene, as well as the theme music where the composers Hans Zimmer and John Powell has done a superb job in holding and increasing the suspense and delight of the movie experience. However, in my personal opinion, i missed Shifu (the voice of Dustin Hoffman) and his oh-so-charming berating, and frustrated incredulous observation of Po. The rest of the cast seemed to hve played their role with elan. To describe it in a nutshell, although Kung Fu Panda series have every quality to become in the future a most profitable movie franchise (the last scene does hint of another sequel in time), with its humor and animation as well as Jack Black in his emblematic role of comic hero Po, the sequel cannot overcome the "awesomeness" of the original.
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