The BEST Movie of the Franchise! · 5:49pm May 22nd
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. This is Mr. J back with another re-review for you all today. This afternoon, I will be re-analyzing the second installment of the Kung Fu Panda franchise simply entitled “Kung Fu Panda 2”. If I haven’t said this before, I’ll say it again: this movie is my favorite movie out of the trilogy—well, quadrilogy now. After re-watching this movie recently, I have even more appreciation and love for it than ever before.
This movie is about Po learning how to master inner peace; in addition to that, a psychopathic peacock threatens to exterminate kung fu from all China with a deadly weapon of fire and metal. Po and the Furious Five must stop him before it’s too late. But will Po learn to move on from his traumatic past and embrace who he is now?
Jennifer Yuh Nelson did a brilliant job mapping out the story for this movie and perfectly captured not only the magic of the first movie but also made a faithful continuation of Po’s story. Now that he has mastered the physical techniques of his calling as the Dragon Warrior, he must learn how to discipline his mental faculties.
Po’s backstory is so heartbreaking to watch, and even though we don’t actually see the vast majority of his species being brutally slaughtered on screen, the implications are still there. That’s what makes him fascinating as a character: he has an unhappy beginning, but his present life and future calling are what defines him the best.
Honestly, when his mother left him in that radish basket with tears on her eyes, it made me cry. She knew she was going to die, and the last thing she could ever do was to make sure her flesh and blood would survive. In her last moments, she prioritized the safety of her son over her own. That shows how much she loved him.
Even during the flashbacks, we see how badass his father was when he fought off the wolves (especially being the reason why Boss Wolf has a black eye). He was the patriarch of his family, and he did everything in his power to fight off the wolves before he and the survivors can escape.
I’m bringing all this up because Po desperately wanted to know the truth about his parents and why he was left alone and seemingly abandoned. He had a nightmare that his parents didn’t care about him, and his fear was only reinforced by Shen’s lie that they didn’t love him.
You can tell in Po’s eyes he started to believe that lie: the despair, the sorrow, and his whole world trembling before him. But when he learned to master inner peace, that’s when he knew the truth and what truly happened.
Seriously, this movie is so dark…and I love it! It did not shy away from its dark themes, and it utilized them to properly convey its message about moving on from your past and embracing who you choose to be now. Both Po and Shen are perfect examples of either letting your present life define who you are or letting your past control your life.
Speaking of Shen, that peacock is undoubtedly one of the best villains of this franchise and arguably one of the best animated villains in all of DreamWorks. There are two major things I love about this movie: 1). Gary Oldman’s voice acting as Lord Shen. He excellently mastered Shen’s paranoia, ruthlessness, sadism, disgust, and anguish in his voice alone.
He was so evil and persistent in his ways that he had the gall to attempt to avert his fate by committing mass genocide in the panda village. As the soothsayer wisely put, his actions only sealed his destiny. That shows his arrogance and stubbornness. He knows that he has gone too far, and he will not stop until he kills Po to prove that he is in control of his destiny.
But his hunger for control isn’t what defines him: it’s also his intellect. He knows he cannot defeat any kung fu master on his own which is why he evens the odds by using his cannons—the weapons that are fueled by fireworks. Huh, he would love the Fourth of July.
Anyway, that’s what I find interesting about Shen. He knows he can be defeated easily, so he uses his cannons, daggers, feathers, and wits to make it difficult for his opponents to catch him. That’s what sets him above the other villains: knowledge of your own weaknesses. We need to see more of that.
But his background makes him more complex because we see how much his parents loved him, but he was so spoiled and wicked he could not see why they were so horrified of his actions. So the fact he knew how wrong he was yet chose to lie to himself that his parents hated him makes him a littlesympathetic; regardless, it does not excuse his repulsive behavior.
Now here’s the second major thing I love about this movie: 2). the soundtrack. This movie has the absolute best soundtrack out of them all, thanks to Hans Zimmer and John Powell. It gives me goosebumps every time I listen to some of my favorite scores such as Fireworks Factory, Invasion Begins, and Po Defeats Shen/Reunion.
The animation still holds up as it is on par with that of the first film. The voice acting of the other cast members was likewise top-notch, notably Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, James Hong and Michelle Yeoh.
Speaking of whom, I completely forgot Yeoh voiced the soothsayer in this movie! Her character was so awesome to watch, and I love everything about her. She’s wise, funny, sweet, fearless, and thoughtful. I even like how close she was to Shen and was basically the only voice of reason to him.
Unfortunately, the moment he sent her away, that was when Shen sealed his defeat. He would no longer be reasoned with, and the only way he would be stopped is to actually kill him. I bet the soothsayer was both sad and happy at the same time when he died.
By the way, his death scene is very poetic as he is destroyed by his own creation. Po didn’t kill him, it was his own actions that did the deed. That’s why he accepted it because he would rather die than accept Po’s mercy which he did not earn.
Lastly, the interactions between Po and Tigress was so well-done. There were hints that they have some feelings for each other, but…I honestly hope they don’t go any further than where they are now. I know some people ship them and stuff, but they’re better off as companions—close ones at that.
Oh, and they even teased her backstory. I hope future KFP movies take advantage of this and make it worthwhile.
Overall, this remains to be my favorite movie of the series and the best movie of the franchise. The score is still a 12/10! It was so good re-watching this movie, and it will always have a special place in my heart.
Peace!
Ah, I still remember when I watched it for the first time in theaters. Time flies... Most of the people that watched say that they prefered the first one or that this one was a little weird, but I loved it. I love both the first one and the second. I love sharing my opinions about my favourite movies, so here´s some punctualizations!:
And that´s exactly what makes it the more impactful. There´s respect for the victims. Their deaths are not used for shock value. The movie shows they were people (or in this case pandas), with their own life. Had this not been made for `kids´ (despite its dark premise, it´s considered a family movie), they would have taken the route of showing deaths onscreen (which is exactly what happened with the Netflix ATLA live action), and would have been less emotional.
Aaand that´s how you make a good complex villain! All of us have got hurt somehow or we may have our own wounds, but Shen had good influences in his life (the soothsayer, heck I could even argue the wolves, since they really cared about each other and I´m positive it was the same for Shen!) yet he chose to do all of that and that´s what makes him evil. If you give a villain who has committed serious crimes a backstory you must point that out, otherwise it will be a justification and not background, which again, executives tend to forget. But don´t make it dumb either.
Man, Shen is my favourite Dreamworks villain. He´s such a good character! We need more villains like him in animation nowadays.
Can we take a second to appreciate her? Girl went through the same as Tai Lung and worse, yet she always remained good. That takes strength. She might not have been the kindest to Po in the first movie but honestly, she just needed to process her emotions, and most importantly she made ammends with him. I feel like she´s also a good antithesis to Shen.
Honestly, i ship them but I respect your opinion.
I don´t think I´m the first one to say but if they wanted a 4th movie, they should have made it about Tigress. Po´s story was pretty much complete but Tigress´ story still has so much potential. And for me, if there´s still room to explore, then I´ll welcome a sequel. Plus, she´s a very beloved character, so people would gladly watch, myself included!
Anyway, that´s all I wanted to say!
By the way, it´s been long since we last talked! How are you doing?
5782382
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Love reading your comments!
Yeah, it’s been a while. I’m doing alright. How are you doing, my friend?
5782383
. Right now I´m good. I´m doing a master´s degree on early childhood intervention and now I´m an intern at a pediatric occupational therapy centre. Very intense and exhausting but interesting and fulfilling at the same time.
Hey! Sorry for replying late, been very busy
What about you?
5782520
It’s all good! I understand!
For me, though, I’ve been busy making movie reviews for the months to come. I’m also getting into some voice acting, which is very exciting to me.
5782522
Oooh, that´s interesting! That sounds something very fun, hope you learn a lot