'Kung Fu Panda 2' ups the ante and gets it right

Film:  Kung Fu Panda 2 (U)
Cast:  Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu,  Seth Rogen, David Cross, James Hong, Michelle Yeoh, Gary Oldman, Jean-Claude Van Damme
Director: Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Rating: ***1/2

After rising to the occasion and emerging as the dragon warrior of lore in an ancient China populated by anthropomorphic critters, Po, the titular panda, must, along with his companions the furious five, ie Tigress (Jolie),  Monkey (Chan), Mantis (Rogen), Viper (Liu), and Crane (Cross), venture out of the valley of peace in order to defend the realm against the sinister machinations of the wicked peacock Shen, a Fu Manchu/Saruman-type evil-doer who possesses a weapon capable of annihilating China and Kung Fu itself.

Haunted by a recurring vision which raises disturbing questions about his past, Po who has been instructed to make “Inner peace” his goal by red panda master Shifu (Hoffman), learns that he must confront the megalomaniacal Shen for other reasons all together.

If Kung Fu Panda’s story were akin to that of a decently made Golden Harvest production, the kind you stumble upon on TV at 2 in the morning, its sequel’s stylings are of Yimou Zhang proportions.

And, in addition to pile upon pile of butt-stomping, blink-and-you-miss-it action sequences, the film, which, as mentioned earlier, plays out on a much larger, lusher canvas, accommodates generous amounts of rib-tickling humour and depth (no, aside from the typical hokum oriental esoterica) without the apprehension that the later would take a toll on its light-hearted overall tone.

The panda’s struggle to reconcile himself with his identity in a quest for the ever-elusive inner peace puts across a sincere stab at pathos that almost steers the film into Pixar waters.

Black, the man behind the furry, rotund black-and-white exterior, lends, with great results, his disarming brand of endearing self-deprecation to the character.

One wishes that with such a great cast at hand the furious five got a little bit character development, apart from them having to bail Po out of the usual (and unusual) sticky situations.

Oldman, Hollywood’s go-to guy for villainy, is perfect as Shen, a creature who feels that fate has dealt him a cruel hand and is bent on proving wrong the prophecy of a soothsayer (Yeoh) who considers his defeat at the hands of the panda as an inevitability (when she isn’t chomping on his robes, her being a goat and all…).

Kung Fu Panda 2 stands out as being a funny, fast-paced and, at the same time, touching digitally animated film that is miles ahead of its underwhelming predecessor. Catch it.