Kung Fu Panda 2 Review (2011)

Jack Black returns as hero panda Po as he tries to find inner peace and take on the evil peacock lord Shen (Gary Oldman). Po and the rest of the gang must leave their village and give Shen a good kicking.

Kung Fu Panda was released in 2008 and was cute, funny and had some great animation which appealed to large audiences as it brought home $600 Million worldwide. Atlanta zoo even named one of it's Panda's Po.

The sequel sets out to be bigger and better in every department and does not disappoint as it's as good, if not better then the first. Everything seems to have been done on a larger scale with the fights scenes more spectacular and the story line much deeper as we get to find out why Po's Dad is a Goose.

Now that Po has earned the trust and friendship of the furious five (not Vin Diesel and Paul Walker) we don't get to see too much of their continued training which allows the story to get straight into the action.There's a host of new characters including Danny McBride's one eyed leader of Shen's army. The trio of legendary kung fu fighters in Jean Claude Van Damme's Croc, Victor Garber's Rhino and Dennis Haybert's Ox. Also Michelle Yeoh plays a fortune telling sheep. Standout character is Lord Shen with Gary Oldman fantastic as his voice. Only Gary and some great animation could make a peacock the main villain in a film.

The journey takes an occasional side step as Po is looking to find out what happened to him when he was younger. this is done by flashbacks with great 2-D animation and is pleasing to see as we didn't get to see much of a origin story in the first film. This film has a better plot which gives life lessons and explores more of the Chinese culture as well as some breathtaking animation which makes this another enjoyable film and makes us eagerly wait Kung Fu Panda 3.