“I love Kung Fu Panda. We know this, because it ended up at #75 on my top 100. So I was rather excited about the sequel. Verdict, eh (but with a little raise in pitch on the end there). I know better than to expect too much from a follow up.
Where it did go right is that they did expand on the original story pretty well. Here we got a lot more of Po’s backstory, which was actually the main driving factor in the plot. That was good. But the movie still felt kinda lacking overall. The action sequences (with the exception of the big chase thru the city) weren’t as much fun as I remembered in the first. And the quotes weren’t as clever. Granted, a lot of the magic from the first came from it being unexpected.
One thing that I do like is that it is a positive film for the little ones. The characters had a lot more teamwork than before, but it was subtle. I like that image. And they do continue the whole believe-in-yourself thing from the first.
I did see it in 3D, but as per usual, dont feel too much was gained for it. I had a real sad moment at the beginning when I realized that all the young’uns have gotten just as jaded with the extra dimension as I have. I used to love sitting in an auditorium crowded with munchkins, hearing all the oooohs and aaaaahs every time something jumped out, even as during the trailer and the intros. I didnt hear any of that at all, and there was a fair amount of lil tykes in there.
But I will say that with all the same ol’ same ol’ going on, the last 30 seconds really caught me off guard, and got me excited about a possible threequel.
Kung Fu Panda – \m/ \m/ \m/