I saw this movie on opening weekend and must say it exceeded my expectations by ten-fold. This was easily one of the best 3-D animated movies I have seen in a long time (excluding Avatar). The action was top notch and the actual fight scenes were much improved over the first one. I was though surprised how dark this movie was with most of it being played at night. But that just made the animation even better and more breathtaking. The plot was alright as Po and the five try and defeat a new foe in Shen who has built a new weapon that could destroy kung fu. Dreamworks also tried to incorporate what many movies are doing now- creating a solid backstory for the main character. We now learn where Po came from and how he was raised by Mr. Ping. Another thing I like about this franchise is that they have great morals for young kids.[spoil][/spoil] The first one was that there is no secret ingredient to what you can accomplish, it is your hard work that will make you succeed. The second one was that don’t look back in your past for the answers, look at your future. All in all, I still thought the first Panda was better. That movie was hilarious (although this one was too) and just had a better plot. KFP 2 barely had any Shifu which for me was kind of dissapointing and there was really only one main location. Still great movie that I’ll buy on DVD. /
The only two problems I had with this movie were: the lack of comedy and Master Shifu’s absence. Dustin Hoffman is such an amazing actor and his voice over work in the first movie was spectacular, so I was really disappointed Shifu didn’t get a lot to do this time around. Hopefully, we’ll see more of Shifu in Kung Fu Panda 3! 
Apart from that, this movie was perfect and is probably one of my all-time favourite animated movies! I’ve been really impressed with DreamWorks lately, what with HTTYD, MegaMind and now Kung Fu Panda 2 - the studio is on a roll! 
So I saw this today, having read no spoilers and not even the premise of the film. The very first cool bit was the fact that I got to see the Cars 2 trailer on the big screen! 
I liked but didn’t love the first KFP, so I kindof didn’t really expect to enjoy this too much, but hey, it was this or The Green Lantern, the new X-Men/Hangover/Pirates film, or Bad Teacher, so the choice felt pretty justified. But whilst I don’t feel the sequel was really needed, [spoil]and the end with his dad’s big bold statement was something I found really annoying coz it’s blatantly obvious that they’re now going to milk this series until it’s a dead cow 
[/spoil], I don’t think they did a bad job at all.
Things I liked: Gary Oldman! He was absolutley fantastic and very sinister in his performance. The slapstick was very well applied and very funny, rather than over the top and contrived ([spoil]the scene where Po was fighting with the wolf on the ricksaw was hilarious![/spoil]). I also cried during this film, which was unexpected. I liked the art direction and cinematography, and the blending of traditional drawing with CGI in some scenes, and everything was animated with a stylised touch. It was stunning visually, but that’s a given . The lack of pop culture jokes was also very refreshing.
A few things annoyed me though. a) Too many characters, and I struggled to really root and get attached to any of them, not to mention that some interesting characters like Soothsayer and Master Ox and Master Croc got very limited screentime…which was one of my issues with the first film. b) The end, as mentioned above, really annoyed me. c) I don’t think it’s a film that I can watch repeatedly.
Bottom line, it’s no How To Train Your Dragon, but probably higher mid-range of DreamWorks films imo. 
6? Wow, overkill much?
my mom & brother went to see this the other day because i told them how amazing it was, and they both loved it.
I NEED TO SEE IT AGAIN SOON.
I never thought I’d say this months ago. But, I liked the KFP sequel better than the cars sequel.
IKR! It was made of pure awesomeness–especially that now we know where Po came from I liked how they made Tigress a lot more sensitive toward him, and Lord Shen put Tai Lung entirely in the shade. Hes on of my favourite villians now.
And what about the end, eh? my son is alive! I was like, SHUT UP! Oh well guess tht means they have to make a third one now…
I know! I thought that too,I was like no waaay! At least we’ll have more KFP awesomeness!
‘NONE COULD RESIST HIS BODACITY!’ I swear, Jack Black reinvents the meaning of awesomeness so darn awesomely.
so i went to see this again today. idk if that makes me a traitor or something but whatever.
anywho, i loved it, obviously, since i loved it the first time i saw it, but not /as much/ because somebody a couple rows in front of me was like, texting or something so i was being blinded in one eye by that.
oh and this kid behind me insisted on quoting like every other line from the film. so that was just lovely. /sarcasm
BUT LORD SHEN WAS AMAZING STILL. seriously, the bits with him were some of my favorites. idk why. his feathers were kind of distacting, i guess. xD
i’m still kinda unsure how i feel about the ending, though. i mean, it was definitely surprising, but it kinda /screams/ THERE’S GONNA BE ANOTHER SEQUEL.
overall, though, i still adore this movie. so gorgeous. <3
'Course. Sequels are what make the movie world go round
Shen is epic. Totally epic. Gary Oldman really outdid himself. Plus I love that scene with the soothsayer where she tells him stuff and he says things that confirm her statements while trying to refute her. Darn priceless!
I want to see this film really badly but my parents both insist that it looks lame, ugh, shame on you, parents
I mean, my dad would rather see that new Transformers film, I mean, what
Dad, I am disappoint
New Transformers was horrendous, this was better!
I did like this film a lot. However, I felt that it didn’t know what kind of movie it wanted to be. The humor and comedy worked extremely well by themselves, and the emotion and depth worked extremely well by themselves. However I felt that there were moments where nice serious moments where interrupted by stupid jokes. However that it a very small complaint and I do think the movie was very well done. Dreamworks has really gotten its act together as of late.
I’ve never seen the first movie or the second one, but the things that I’ve heard about the sequel make me want to see them.
I hope that you do!
Do yourslef a great favor and watch it! It’s priceless.
[quote=“Garak of Cardassia”]
The humor and comedy worked extremely well by themselves, and the emotion and depth worked extremely well by themselves. However I felt that there were moments where nice serious moments where interrupted by stupid jokes. quote]
That’s a really good point; I guess they wanted to cover a lot of different audiences, but they don’t really mesh together well.
Okay, for everybody who has been worrying about the franchise because of the domestic gross, I did some Box Office Mojo research and pulled up some fun facts. KFP is doing great internationally. It is hitting records in China. Blah blah blah. But I think we still need to hear how well the film is doing in a general, total gross comparison to other movies.
Keep in mind, Kung Fu Panda 2 isn’t even out of mainstream theaters yet. Last time I went to see Cars 2, they still had 2 rooms dedicated to it here.
But already, KFP2 has beat the total, final gross of the following animated films you might have heard of somewhere:
Monsters vs. Aliens
Megamind
How To Train Your Dragon
Cars
WALL-E
It’s also beaten the first 4 Pixar films and some other older films, but blah blah inflation I’m not even going to go back that far.
I’m going to pull a couple films out of that list, and I promise it’s not just because I happen to like them.
How To Train Your Dragon and WALL-E. Let’s talk about these for a moment.
Yes, HTTYD wasn’t a summer release, but it is an example of another 3D movie that Dreamworks considers a success. It was set ablaze by word of mouth and stayed in the box office an unexpectedly long amount of time because of this. Oh, and a sequel is planned for 2014.
WALL-E is one of Pixar’s worst grossing films of recent year… not counting the first Cars. But Cars had something WALL-E didn’t: a ton of toys, merch, and otherwise well selling items. WALL-E had some toys that were either unpopular or popular but under produced, which makes it a better film to compare to the surprisingly modestly merchandised KFP2 than Cars is. Despite this, WALL-E continues to be used in Disney commercials and is even getting an updated blu-ray release. Well, duh! Why wouldn’t Disney marketing acknowledge WALL-E in later years? Obviously, WALL-E is considered a critical success by movie fans. Duh. It spawned one of the biggest controversies over the best animated feature category in history.
WALL-E was one of the rare cases where critical actually held value with marketing; it started to break through the ceiling of animation being only for children in the US. Ratatouille, which was considered a very out there plot with a strong adult pull, the year before did better than WALL-E, but only thanks to the international box office; it barely reached $200M domestic. Up, which was considered a very out there plot with a strong adult (a strong older adult) pull almost hit $300M domestic. We could pull a lot of other factors out there and talk about how much 100$M means these days, but the attitude about animation was taking a shift, and Disney happened to notice that WALL-E was involved.
Have I gone totally off track? Does this have anything to do with Kung Fu Panda 2 anymore? Did Kung Fu Panda 2 make an important critical change?
Yes.
While it wasn’t big and world changing, Dreamworks proved something extremely important to the future of the company with KFP2 that a lot of critics, and adults disgruntled by sexual innuendo and potty humor, had seen little evidence of before: Dreamworks has the chops to make a serious, quality sequel.
So yeah. I think KFP2 has been a success for Dreamworks. But what remains to be seen is how DW looks at it when the time comes to plan for the distant future.
Hey guys, guess who just saw it today? The one who is giving a very long winded gleeful post?
Some (re: a lot) of backstory:
Kung Fu Panda the First is in my top 3 in terms of Dreamworks films, along with Dreamworks most recent films, HTTYD and Megamind.
Or at least it was in the top 3 until its SEQUEL turned out to be even BETTER than the first! Well done Dreamworks!
So many things to praise regarding this film, but first a little history I’m sure we’re all familiar with- sequels in general between both DW and Pixar.
Overall Pixar has had a better track record in this area. (Hears a resounding ‘duh’ permeate the globe.)
Granted it must be remembered that until the recent Cars 2 and Panda 2 (as well as yet to be seen HTTYD and Monsters Inc sequels) both companies have seemed to reserve sequels for one franchise each for quite some time. For Pixar it was Toy Story, and everyone generally praised the sequels as better and better with each one. Granted in Pixars case until Cars 2 it has only had two sequels, and personally I felt TS2 was better than 3 anyway even if I did like it too, but I digress, let’s not argue in terms of personal details and preferences here.
Overall, until the recently and currently financially successful (though one torn apart by critics) Cars sequel that was where Pixar had made its mark in this area as so far producing critically acclaimed sequels, especially praised when the mother company seemed to be pretty much trying to kill peoples childhoods by way of a fast buck. And heck not only Disney, there are a large number of live action franchises which went on too long or just didn’t live up to the originals.
Dreamworks itself squeezed every last drop it could out of the Shrek sequels- which like the current Cars sequel was jilted by critics but courted by the general public in terms of spending money on tickets. While Shrek 2 was praised, 3 is despised, and while I find 4 to be tolerable and not the worst thing to watch when you’re bored- it doesn’t seem to be on the same level as their two first Shrek films. And that’s not even getting into the other direct to DVD features I have not seen at all. Though most likely, they are terrible.
Also it has to be said as Nostalgia Chick has pointed out by quoting a certain more famous person in terms of parodying it’s better to do it with things with love than hate.
While early reviews of Puss’ movie have been favourable from what I gather people are right to be apprehensive no matter how cool trailers may be in their opinion. After all HTTYD, Megamind and TS3 trailers actually looked pretty bad from what I remember at least in my opinion, making me wonder why whoever made those trailers wasn’t fired since the movies were either good if not great. It’s possible for a trailer to be misleadingly good looking of course as well. Though for now Puss looks like it could be good (given as mentioned, early reviews), though we’ll have to wait and see. Though I’m hoping this movie will be the last we ever hear of a Shrek character again in a movie myself.
Hence people have wondered and feared and doubted when KFP2 was announced. KFP after all was one of their first films, beyond Shrek people perhaps genuinely LOVED. And look what happened to Shrek!
Thankfully KFP2 didn’t disappoint and I’m not really fearing KFP3 will be anything like Shrek 3. It’s not impossible but I find it unlikely. Because while [spoil]the ending with the pandas[/spoil]may be obvious- Dreamworks now has a PLAN it seems for this particular franchise right now. The future stories are planned too it seems. While money will be driving force in the making of any movie- it’s not like Shrek where the general idea almost seems to be- I don’t have a clue what to do and we need cash, I know another Shrek movie!
No, an actual plot plan which could definitely potentially work- not something just made up on the whim because they know the green ogre sells, instead something which feels like it has love and feeling attached to it. It seems as if there may be an eventual overlying arc to tie everything together in the future while also in fact keeping things contained rather than just randomly adding to the canon like Shrek has done in the past without perhaps due thought. A general idea could be considered like in Harry Potter almost, which had its own contained stories too to a degree, especially with the first few books as well as a wider over-arcing plot. (Granted I didn’t like how HP ended but once again this is just an example so let’s not hash this out here). KFP2 fits with the original, seems like a natural progression of how things could have ocurred, while also adding new things as well such as it seemed expanding their world just a little bit and helping in a little world building to boot. This movie is also darker even if the original had dark themes. I actually got some chills [spoil]when the genocide was first mentioned and shown even if it was in simpler drawings. Shen’s parents expressions were also wonderfully conveyed and during the attack of the panda village, when drawn in that style and with the red tone it almost reminded me of the Secret of Kell’s and the Vikings to a degree[/spoil].
I genuinely teared up at parts in this movie. Shen committed horrific actions, but given the time frame the movie is based upon (ancient China) he still felt incredibly real. And this definitly was like ancient China albeit with anthropomorphic animals. His ending to his own story was far more respectful, poignant and dramatic [spoil]than Tai Lungs ever had been (perhaps the one gripe I have with the first movie),[/spoil]and Dreamworks has shown that( once again as with their GOOD films) it CAN do subtle and emotion well not only in Shen, but in the Soothsayer, Po, Tigress, and Po’s adoptive father. It also has to be said for the minor parts as well- [spoil]especially when that Wolf stood up and refused to shoot his own when ordered only to be killed for it by Shen- I thought it was great that not all of the wolves were shown to be complete drones and even individuals to a degree who could care even if they did look the same and they were fighting for the ‘big bad’[/spoil]. There were also genuinely funny parts and points. It overall, melded tobether well, and [spoil]Po’s ending at the noodle shop felt like a real and true family moment after the touching-I-have-something-in-my-eye stuff took place.[/spoil]
Overall if I was to criticise it is simply that beyond Tigress none of the furious five have been further developed (and Tigress already got a larger share in the first really than the others), but with future sequels this will hopefully be addressed in the future and the others will have their chance to shine (particularly with Viper and Crane who I like a lot. Viper is just a sweet girl and Crane… I’m not sure, I just like him. That’s all. Can’t put my finger on why.)
My favourite relationships were between Po and Tigress, Po and his father and Shen and the Soothsayer, though personally I’d prefer the former to remain friends for now. Not to say I’d hate it if they eventually become romantic or ‘ragequit’ at all but a guy and girl remaining friends isn’t something we always see enough of in media and I quite like it as it is right now and want to see that friendship to develop at least for a little while (as in they don’t hook up immediately in the next movie please). Which is weird since I am still interesting in checking out some Po X Tigress fanfics right now all the same, but since when did fandom yearnings make sense or always remain completely unconflicted?!
Granted as I’ve mentioned elsewhere there are certain things I personally think should be reserved for fandom. Not to say this ship is perhaps in the future, but for now, yeah.
As for Po and his feathered father I enjoyed what we saw of that- [spoil]also yes definitely he is your father Po! Glad you acknowledged that, the people who get to claim to be your family are the ones you know and were raised by and love you. As much as I’m sure your birth father did too as a baby, he doesn’t really know you… yet as you’ve grown up. Plus you were ridiculously adorable as a baby. I mean seriously. Stop it baby!Po. You are giving me tooth decay especially with all those looks your new father gave you. And wanted to hug you and protect you too. Plus when your birth mother sacrificed herself[/spoil] I was sniffling. Shut up! I wasn’t the only one.
Then there was Shen and the Soothsayer- VERY interesting indeed, [spoil]and while this is perhaps mainly a fan extrapolation I think the Soothsayer seemed to feel guilty about saying the prophecy at all in the past, just something there with Po in that half pulled down house even if yes she couldn’t have ‘foretold’ it. I guess because she realised that if she’d never told the prophecy of the warrior, the attempted genocide (in her view it was also more successful than it was in reality given the ending) might not have happened. Not really her fault but still[/spoil]
[spoil]She also worried for Shen despite everything that happened and of course even wished him happiness. - plus she (pardon the expression) seemed to notice some humanity in Shen in his fear and desire to strike out and attack everything- which is what a lot of people do when afraid. Perhaps a slight case of Stokholm syndrome in addition to her true wisdom?[/spoil]
Perhaps. But I think she really gets people. Plus I want her to meet Shi Fu properly at some point. Just a random whim that.
Still overall [spoil]redemption didn’t seem possible for Shen, he’d done too much, gone too far, but all the same a respectful almost fitting death as evidenced by his reaction to accepting his end- something Pixar itself has not really done much with its antagonists either at all. Usually it’s supposed to be humourous or not wanted to be thought on too much in terms of Pixar antagonists endings neyond well, ending the obstacle in question, otherwise they are not usually really poignant or meaningful at all beyonf say making jokes about capes and getting a cape caught in aturbine and horribly mangled. (Waternoose wasn’t too bad given the sadness attached with it from Sulley as he yelled at him- which was subtle but beyond that I don’t really think so. And its still not as good as Shen’s ending.[/spoil] Dreamworks has also been guilty of this after all too in the past, but generally there has been little to beat [spoil]Shen’s removal from the picture). Shen’s ending was great even if his death was a result- if only for his reaction to it when he saw it coming- something that was also an added improvement as well in comparison to the original. It was meaningful and it almost seemed like a mercy to kill him off, which is all hard to pull off when they’re being crushed by a cannon![/spoil]
Overall I give this 9.5/10.