Kung Fu Panda 2- review

...That's what she said!

            I seriously went into this movie without many expectations.  Though, I suppose that is good for a critic.  The first film was okay.  I thought the message was cute. I really enjoyed the father Goose, and the message of there being no secret ingredient.  It was a cute tale.  But it also had story issues that were bizarre choices.  Like why was the leopard villain such a super villain that he could take on an entire army?  If he was not destined to become the dragon warrior who cares if he got the dragon scroll; especially if it’s blank?

Okay Dr. Jones. Hold on to your potato.

            But plot holes aside it was a good movie.  The sequel was I think a better movie.  The villain this time is Lord Shen, a peacock who is reminds me a lot of a mix between the Skexis of “Dark Crystal” and Saruman of “Lord of the Rings”.  His motivations are almost biblical, in that it is almost a spot on plot Xerox of Exodus from the Bible.  Still with the production value brought to us in part by Guillermo del Toro we can see that this can give the tale it’s own originality and even go into some dark territory where needed.

Gary Oldman as the villain! In what media?!

            Po, the Panda voiced by Jack Black is back and is actually pretty damn funny as the fanboy still in awe of the Furious Five.  He knows a lot more Kung Fu though since we last saw him and he seems very hungry to fight for justice.  This time the drama stems from him finding out that he is adopted.  I am a big fan of the father character so the scenes that involve the two of them really shine for me.  When he discovers that Lord Shen has knowledge of his past he must wrestle with his own inner peace to battle a devious warlord who seeks to end Kung Fu and rule China.

            For the most part DreamWorks is not the best when it comes to the animation department.  Their best stuff was the “Shrek” series and even that started to get stale after a bit.  This one is a diamond in the rough.  It reminds me a bit of the old “Disney’s Robin Hood” with the anthropomorphic animal characters.  All in all I totally recommend “Kung Fu Panda 2” and hope that if you watch it you smile as much as I did the whole time.

Megamind-review

Would you ever guess the loser on the left is Jonah Hill? Shocker!

            Like “Monsters vs. Aliens” it’s worth seeing…once and only once.  I don’t know why but DreamWorks just bottled gold with “Shrek” but other movies they have put out have been just by the book movies that will never beat Pixar for their creativity.   Don’t get me wrong this is a good movie and it’s really worth seeing but it doesn’t have much in the way interest fore extended viewings.

Hmmm. Will anyone believe I'm a villain?

            For example I am not sure whose bright idea it was to make Jonah Hill the antagonist.  Too say his name on the poster a dozen times like its drawing power does nothing.  I am not sure if there are that many Jonah Hill fans but I am one of those people that don’t really give a hoot in hell when it comes to a cartoon what celebrity does the voice.  If it were up to me I’d say cast nobodies and let the art and story speak for them selves.

            But America it seems rather likes paying more so that the crafty cat can sound like Cate Blanchett or some such person.  Markets are funny that way.  Still, I am getting off track.  “Megamind” has loads of in jokes and some neat gags that are pretty worthwhile but I won’t lie the whole superhero computer animated feature felt done with more style in “The Incredibles” this felt a wee forced sometimes and like it wanted too much to be something edgy like when you saw older people trying to be cool and you knew it just came off sad…that is sometimes how this comes off to me.

I admit this is a good gag.

            Still it’s worth a rental.  Oh and in the theater I had a moment that I can chalk up on my list of best things overheard yelled at the screen.  This one came from a little girl behind me when Megamind is driving a flying car at top speed away from a building flying towards him.  She yells “Just TURN!”  That is so brilliantly logical and I can see some little girl will grow to be a cynic like me one day.  Little girl I salute you.