Several years after the events of Kung Fu Panda, Po (Jack Black) is enjoying his life along with the furious five warriors. But when disgraced prince Shen (Gary Oldman) returns from exile to take the throne of China, Po and friends must travel to the capital of in order to stop his evil plans. But Lord Shen has a devastating weapon that can defeat Kung Fu, and Po must not only fight against him, but also find out what connection Shen has to his forgotten past.
In some ways this film makes up for what its prequel lacks. The story is pretty clever, and a tad more interesting that the first Kung Fu Panda. The animation lives up to its predecessor's standards, and goes several steps further, mixing Dreamworks animation along with paper puppetry, Disney-esque cartoon artistry and even flashy digital effects. Also, one of the things that the first film lacked was that the rest of the cast only had bit parts, even though their characters are much more interesting than Po. This time though the cast is not only expanded to include new members, but every member has more to do.
However thats about it for new stuff. Most of the animated martial arts may be interesting but its the same sort of action and comedy mix we saw in Kung Fu Panda, or even from some of the older Jackie Chan films (not surprising he is voicing one of the furious five to be honest). Also, this film was released in 3D, so most of the special effects are meant to support that, which means that watching this film in 2D feels as if it is lacking something (not that 3D gives anything new to this film).
Overall Kung Fu Panda 2 is a decent sequel, but falling into all the pitfalls of a sequel. And with another sequel hinted at in the story, there is every chance a Kung Fu Panda 3 may be kicking its way into cinemas in a couple of years time.
