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Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

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Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

Old 05-26-11, 03:07 AM
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Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

Pre-release discussion is here.

Movie:
"Kung Fu Panda 2" (Starring: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Gary Oldman, Seth Rogen, Jackie Chan, David Cross, Lucy Liu)

Release Date:
5/26/2011

Rating:
PG (for animated mayhem and Jack Black chaos throughout)

Running Time:
90min. (1h. 30m.)

IMDb Synopsis:
Spoiler:
Po is now living his dream as The Dragon Warrior, protecting the Valley of Peace alongside his friends and fellow kung fu masters, The Furious Five - Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Viper and Monkey. But Po's awesome new life is threatened by the emergence of a formidable villain, who plans to use a secret, unstoppable weapon to conquer China and destroy kung fu. It is up to Po and The Furious Five to journey across China to face this threat and vanquish it. But how can Po stop a weapon that can stop kung fu? He must look to his past and uncover the secrets of his mysterious origins; only then will he be able to unlock the strength he needs to succeed.


IMDb Info and Rating:
8.1 (2,202 votes as of 5/30/11)

Rotten Tomatoes:
Fresh:81 Rotten:20 (80% as of 5/30/11)

Metacritic:
67 metascore ('Generally favorable reviews' as of 5/30/11)

Trailer:
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YdaMGcOyfjM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Poster Art:
Old 05-26-11, 06:39 PM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

the story's a little too simplistic for my tastes, but visually - it's stunning, the action scenes have such a wild intensity - I quite enjoyed it, still like the first one though. The 3D sequences are great, notably during the dream sequences.

B

Last edited by Giles; 05-27-11 at 08:47 AM.
Old 05-27-11, 03:08 AM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

Me (*****): http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/50047...panda-2-in-3d/
Orndorf (****½): http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/50040...fu-panda-2-3d/
Old 05-27-11, 10:41 PM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

Just as good as the first.
Old 05-27-11, 10:45 PM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

Wow, stellar reviews. I'm going to try and catch this over the weekend.
Old 05-27-11, 10:53 PM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

the way the scene where Po is slamming his head into the 'signs' isn't what's shown in the trailers - the humor in the trailer was funnier I thought.
Old 05-28-11, 09:09 AM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

This was a worthy followup to the original Kung-Fu Panda, and it delivers not only the humor and the amazing fight scenes and teamwork amongst the Furious Five, it delves a little into Po's own "origins", since the goose dad obviously adopted Po. The antagonist is literally a peacock named Shen with some amazing moves of his own, and comes with his own angsty motivations. The plot is a little thin in spots, but the direction of the action sequences more than makes up for it being a fairly straight forward plotline. The CGI animation is really top notch, and the 2D animation is also solid.

I give it 3.75 stars, or a grade of A-.
Old 05-28-11, 06:49 PM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

Caught a 2D showing with my 5 and 3 year old boys today. As much as I enjoyed the first this one surpasses it - pretty touching father/son themes.

The animation is so good here. Take note when they have a living character interacting with the inanimate i.e., Po's wood-carved toys. I completely suspended the notion that this was an animated movie for stretches at a time.
Old 05-28-11, 08:09 PM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

An amazing film ... and a brilliant 3D experience as well. There was a weird feeling when the film went from the 2D "mother" scenese back to the 3D ones - for a moment the CGI panda seemed like a physical being. Not sure how else to explain it.

The ending had me teary-eyed - something that hasn't happened in some time (I'm looking at you Brother Bear, and before that - the ending of Best of the Best).

Loved the setup for the obvious 3rd chapter - can't wait! 4 stars from me.
Old 05-28-11, 08:14 PM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

I caught an afternoon showing of this and absolutely loved it. As good, and possibly better then the first movie. The movie hits on kind of a darker theme which lasts throughout the movie, but it allows it to bring a lot more heart to a story that actually makes sense for the character and not tacked on. Great action and animation throughout, and I love Jack Black's shtick far more as a cartoon character then live action. The bit with the dragon had me laughing endlessly.

Non-Pixar animated films generally get passed by here, but this is highly recommended.
Old 05-30-11, 09:16 AM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

Originally Posted by achau9598
An amazing film ... and a brilliant 3D experience as well.
Absolutely - probably the best use of 3D I've seen in a long time. It really worked extremely well. I loved the movie - I was reluctant to see it, since I haven't revisited the first one much (which I loved at the time) and was worried it would be a subpar Dreamworks sequel, but it was definitely on a par with the first film. There wasn't as much humour, but the action was great and there were some genuinely touching moments. I had an absolute blast and will be seeing the 3D version again ASAP. I really hope this gets good word of mouth and starts making some good money because I'm definitely in for the teased Kung Fu Panda 3.
Old 05-31-11, 12:21 AM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

Saw it tonight, and I can only echo most of the other comments. It was fantastic, and possibly better than the original. And the 3D was perfect. I felt as if I were looking through a window, instead of at a screen. There were no "in your face" moments of things coming out of the screen, just a completely immersive 3D world on the other side.

And I had the exact same reaction after the switch from 2D to 3D "mother" sequence, as well as at other times during the film. I had to remind myself that this was animated, not a real world (like the night "establishing shot" of the boat on the river - simply amazing in its realism).

Even my wife, who never really appreciates 3D the way I do, commented on how amazing it was.
Old 06-03-11, 12:34 PM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

Saw this last night with my wife and abolutely loved it. Brilliant casting of JCVD as Master Croc, just wished he had more lines. I like how they did his trademark split when he came out of the water at the end. Michelle Yeoh was great as well as the Soothsayer, I just didn't like that she was a goat. They could've made her a more elegant animal I think.

Anybody else think Chow Yun Fat should voice Po's dad? He seems to be the logical choice at this point.
Old 06-03-11, 01:04 PM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

Great movie. I saw the 2D version and was happy with that choice. My only gripe was to many characters with little to say. Did JCVD have more than 2 lines?
Old 06-03-11, 04:05 PM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

When I saw JCVD's name in the credits, I had no idea what character he was playing.
Old 06-03-11, 10:15 PM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

It looks good, but that's all it has. I can't believe that this was popular enough to get a sequel. The story is one that we've seen a hundred times before. It didn't offer anything new. If a movie is going to use an often used story, they should at least try to give us at least one or two things that are a bit different. The 3D was nothing amazing. How To Train Your Dragon had perfect 3D. If it hadn't had Seth Rogan and David Cross in it, then maybe it would have been interesting. I like JCVD, I like Angelina Jolie (Changeling is an incredible movie), and I like Jack Black.....separately. But putting them all together in the same movie just doesn't work. Karate Kid is great, and Nacho Libre is great. But putting them together and making the characters animals....no.
Old 06-04-11, 08:08 AM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

Originally Posted by Spottedfeather
If it hadn't had Seth Rogan and David Cross in it, then maybe it would have been interesting.
I think with both of their lines combined, we're talking a total of about THREE MINUTES of screentime.
Old 06-04-11, 10:51 PM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

I'm sad to say that this one didn't do much for me. I love the first one, but the sequel just kind of fell flat. Not nearly as funny, not nearly as enjoyable to watch. Wish I saw the same movie you all seem to love...
Old 06-06-11, 08:19 PM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

I'm with Anubis. The movie was entertaining to be sure, but it left me a bit cold. Just not on the same level as Dragon (in emotion) or Hedge (in humor).

It didn't help that I paid twenty dollars to see this. Stupid 3D.
Old 06-06-11, 09:50 PM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

Saw this at Arclight when visiting LA last week, and thought it was awesome. As mentioned previously, perfect 3D use in this one.
Old 06-07-11, 07:27 PM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

I took my daughter and nieces to see it this afternoon. All of us enjoyed it. I thought it was almost as good as the first.

***1/2 out of five.

I thought the animation was fantastic.

All three girls thought it was much sadder than the first film.
Old 06-12-11, 05:27 PM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

Caught this with my son this afternoon. We both really enjoyed it.
Old 06-20-11, 04:45 PM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

How come this movie is making much less money than Kung Fu Panda? The reviews have been good.
Old 06-21-11, 09:42 AM
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Re: Kung Fu Panda 2 (Yuh, 2011) — The Reviews Thread

We saw it on Saturday and really really liked it. Just as good, if not better, than the first one.

**** out of *****

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