Kung Fu Panda 2: Grading, Discussion and Review
- Thread starter JD
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I saw it today and thoroughly enjoyed it. I still like the original better because it had more humorous elements as the story focused on how Po's character developed from a clumsy big oaf to a brave and very skilled warrior. Tigress' character had more part in this second movie, but I got to see less of Master Shi-Fu (played by Dustin Hoffman), which was one of the more prominent characters in the first film. Gary Oldman voiced a sinister Lord Shen, though at times his voice characterization sounded a lot like Stewie Griffin on Family Guy. 
I liked the dramatic and heartwarming moments in the movie, i.e., Po finally remembering and coming to terms with his past. There's the theme of achieving inner peace, and even when he learned about his tragic early childhood, he didn't feel anger or revenge in his heart when he confronted Lord Shen.
Overall Rating: A
I liked the dramatic and heartwarming moments in the movie, i.e., Po finally remembering and coming to terms with his past. There's the theme of achieving inner peace, and even when he learned about his tragic early childhood, he didn't feel anger or revenge in his heart when he confronted Lord Shen.
Overall Rating: A
I actually liked having Shifu more on the periphery than in the first movie, in keeping with the different focus of the sequel's story. One of my small nitpicks is that I felt his sudden appearance at the boat battle was a little jarring, and he doesn't really get to do that much there specifically. He's fine in the earlier parts of the movie, of course.
Domestic: $100,440,000 44.6% + Foreign: $125,000,000 55.4% = Worldwide: $225,440,000
Production Budget: $150 million
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=kungfupanda2.htm
Production Budget: $150 million
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=kungfupanda2.htm
And that's after just week #2...
2 more weeks without major animated competition to go.
Any major releases over the next two weeks that might cause issues?
I'm just rooting for this particular series (and the eventual sequel to How to Train Your Dragon).
Cars was all well and good, but both of these Dreamworks efforts beat it hands down.
Edit:
Any clue why the promotional subtitle "The Kaboom Of Doom" was dropped from the Title?
I wasn't thrilled by it to begin with, and just wondering if negative reaction from pre-screening feedback was a factor?
2 more weeks without major animated competition to go.
Any major releases over the next two weeks that might cause issues?
I'm just rooting for this particular series (and the eventual sequel to How to Train Your Dragon).
Cars was all well and good, but both of these Dreamworks efforts beat it hands down.
Edit:
Any clue why the promotional subtitle "The Kaboom Of Doom" was dropped from the Title?
I wasn't thrilled by it to begin with, and just wondering if negative reaction from pre-screening feedback was a factor?
Nowhere Man
Commodore
I thought it was good, it was really funny. I didn't expect to like the first one, but I ended up loving it. I can say the same for this one too.
Saw it this weekend with the kiddos... They wanted this more than X:FC... We all thought it was great.. Not as ha-ha funny like the first movie but still had some really humourous moments.. Lot's character development for Po, but I'm hoping we'll get some more development for at least Tigress in the next.. We cracked the surface with her this time around, but there's got to be some more there to explore.
All in all, an excellant way to spend an hour and a half on a smoky Sunday afternoon in ABQ...
All in all, an excellant way to spend an hour and a half on a smoky Sunday afternoon in ABQ...
saw this today and loved it. i swear a couple times i was laughing so hard i thought i was gonna pee myself (tmi, sorry)...
loved this. nice to get more of the Furious Five this time, but as others have said, they are a tad underutilised. i hope if they do continue making these (as has been said, i saw something about several more. IIRC, Dreamworks consider KFP to be their new cash-cow franchise to replace Shrek...) that along the way, they give bigger roles to some more of the Five (say spotlight Tigress in 3, Crane in 4, Monkey and Mantis in 5 or something) or that they do a Five spin-off. Okay, they did that 'secrets of the furious five' DTDVD thing, but that was when the characters were young...
loved this. nice to get more of the Furious Five this time, but as others have said, they are a tad underutilised. i hope if they do continue making these (as has been said, i saw something about several more. IIRC, Dreamworks consider KFP to be their new cash-cow franchise to replace Shrek...) that along the way, they give bigger roles to some more of the Five (say spotlight Tigress in 3, Crane in 4, Monkey and Mantis in 5 or something) or that they do a Five spin-off. Okay, they did that 'secrets of the furious five' DTDVD thing, but that was when the characters were young...
I'm kind of glad the only bad thing I can really say about this film was that I wanted to see more of the secondary characters.
The Five have come to respect Po, and we've even seen them joke around a bit , but I want to see deeper relationships expressed as we move forward and see how they become Po's closest friends.
The Five have come to respect Po, and we've even seen them joke around a bit , but I want to see deeper relationships expressed as we move forward and see how they become Po's closest friends.
I really need to watch the Secret of the Furious Five DVD movie, to learn of the past of those characters.
Saw KFP I the following day after seeing the sequel, and experienced the same Technobuilder mentioned back in page 2. Lots of small connections between the movies, in particular the theme about running into one's fate by trying to avoid it (Shifu's actions to prevent the escape of Tai Lung causing it).
Box Office Mojo: http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3185&p=.htm
'Kung Fu Panda 2' Still going strong and doing great internationally.
Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $130,704,079 37.8% + Foreign: $214,926,382 62.2% = Worldwide: $345,630,461
'Kung Fu Panda 2' Still going strong and doing great internationally.
Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $130,704,079 37.8% + Foreign: $214,926,382 62.2% = Worldwide: $345,630,461
Last edited:
Domestic: $143,343,000 33.9% + Foreign: $280,000,000 66.1% = Worldwide: $423,343,000
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=kungfupanda2.htm
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=kungfupanda2.htm
Kung Fu Panda 2:
Total Lifetime Grosses (33 Days Released)
Domestic: $153,621,104 30.9% + Foreign: $343,444,573 69.1% = Worldwide: $497,065,677
Pirates IV: (39 Days Released)
Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $229,917,248 23.3% + Foreign: $756,100,000 76.7% = Worldwide: $986,017,248
Hangover II: (33 Days Released)
Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $244,295,348 46.3% + Foreign: $283,200,000 53.7% = Worldwide: $527,495,348
X-Men: First Class (25 Days Released)
Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $133,754,373 41.7% + Foreign: $186,658,643 58.3% = Worldwide: $320,413,016
Total Lifetime Grosses (33 Days Released)
Domestic: $153,621,104 30.9% + Foreign: $343,444,573 69.1% = Worldwide: $497,065,677
Pirates IV: (39 Days Released)
Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $229,917,248 23.3% + Foreign: $756,100,000 76.7% = Worldwide: $986,017,248
Hangover II: (33 Days Released)
Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $244,295,348 46.3% + Foreign: $283,200,000 53.7% = Worldwide: $527,495,348
X-Men: First Class (25 Days Released)
Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $133,754,373 41.7% + Foreign: $186,658,643 58.3% = Worldwide: $320,413,016
Just saw Kung Fu Panda 2. Terrific movie, on a par with the first. I loved how they expanded the world, showed more Chinese-inspired environments (seriously, China is just about the most gorgeous place on Earth, at least in the movies). The city was a stunning environment. I loved the teamwork among the Five and Po in action, although characterwise, aside from a couple of mantis-mating jokes, we didn't learn anything new about any of the Five except Master Tigress. I like it that Po has grown while still being true to his character; he's leaner and more competent, but still a bit of a klutz and still utterly unwilling to quit no matter what.
The story was good, quite funny and thoughtful. And its theme, about letting go of the past and making peace with who you are, was a little more sophisticated than the Dumbo's-feather "believe in yourself" message of the first. There were some nice character moments. I liked how Po and his dad were just not on the same page about the adoption thing -- his dad thought it was this big dark secret, and Po had already figured it out long ago but didn't bring it up, and the way they stumbled over that miscommunication felt very real. Another character bit that really stood out for me was near the climax, when the head wolf straight-up refused to fire on his own men. It's unusual for such an outright bad-guy character in a movie like this to show that he has a conscience, or at least limits on how far he'll go. It was a nice humanizing (lupinizing?) moment.
The design and animation were superb. Dreamworks is known, I gather, for a certain exaggerated and formulaic style of character animation, but this franchise seems to be the exception to that (as well as to their tendency of basing their humor on pop-culture references). There was some fantastic physical acting here (and yes, character animation is acting on the part of the animator, just very slow acting), superb use of subtle body language. My favorites were the scene where the soothsayer urged Shen to let go of the past and he was monologuing about his parents, the way his head trembled a bit with deep emotion before he spoke, and the way Tigress stiffened up when Po hugged her.
I like the continued use of different animation formats. The throughline from the first movie's opening to here seems to be that Po dreams in 2D cel-style animation. When the flashback to Po's Moses-esque origin story went from 2D to 3D, I guess that represented Po's dream giving way to real memory. And I liked it that the opening was done in shadow-puppet form, a clever new style. Unfortunately, the theater amazingly did not show 20 minutes of ads and trailers before starting the movie, so I missed the opening part of the puppet show.
Good cast, too, though I regret that Victor Garber's role was so short-lived. He's a fantastic voice actor; I love the intensity and complexity of his line readings. Dennis Haysbert was a nice addition too, and Gary Oldman was effective as Lord Shen. I do wish there were more Asian actors in the voice ensemble, but at least they added Michelle Yeoh.
I do have a couple of quibbles with the climax.
The story was good, quite funny and thoughtful. And its theme, about letting go of the past and making peace with who you are, was a little more sophisticated than the Dumbo's-feather "believe in yourself" message of the first. There were some nice character moments. I liked how Po and his dad were just not on the same page about the adoption thing -- his dad thought it was this big dark secret, and Po had already figured it out long ago but didn't bring it up, and the way they stumbled over that miscommunication felt very real. Another character bit that really stood out for me was near the climax, when the head wolf straight-up refused to fire on his own men. It's unusual for such an outright bad-guy character in a movie like this to show that he has a conscience, or at least limits on how far he'll go. It was a nice humanizing (lupinizing?) moment.
The design and animation were superb. Dreamworks is known, I gather, for a certain exaggerated and formulaic style of character animation, but this franchise seems to be the exception to that (as well as to their tendency of basing their humor on pop-culture references). There was some fantastic physical acting here (and yes, character animation is acting on the part of the animator, just very slow acting), superb use of subtle body language. My favorites were the scene where the soothsayer urged Shen to let go of the past and he was monologuing about his parents, the way his head trembled a bit with deep emotion before he spoke, and the way Tigress stiffened up when Po hugged her.
I like the continued use of different animation formats. The throughline from the first movie's opening to here seems to be that Po dreams in 2D cel-style animation. When the flashback to Po's Moses-esque origin story went from 2D to 3D, I guess that represented Po's dream giving way to real memory. And I liked it that the opening was done in shadow-puppet form, a clever new style. Unfortunately, the theater amazingly did not show 20 minutes of ads and trailers before starting the movie, so I missed the opening part of the puppet show.
Good cast, too, though I regret that Victor Garber's role was so short-lived. He's a fantastic voice actor; I love the intensity and complexity of his line readings. Dennis Haysbert was a nice addition too, and Gary Oldman was effective as Lord Shen. I do wish there were more Asian actors in the voice ensemble, but at least they added Michelle Yeoh.
I do have a couple of quibbles with the climax.
One, Po mastered the dewdrop-juggling move way too easily, after only seeing Master Shifu do it once. The other was when Shen asked him afterward how he found inner peace. How did Shen know that Po was seeking inner peace or that he had to achieve it to do what he did? I suppose it's possible that this is common knowledge in the KFP universe, at least among kung fu practitioners. But it seemed a bit on the nose.
Kung Fu Panda 2:
Total Lifetime Grosses (43 Days Released)
Domestic: $158,149,321 28.8% + Foreign: $391,150,368 71.2% = Worldwide: $549,299,689
ONLY 550 Million Dollars??? What a total bomb.
Pirates of the Carribean 4:
Total Lifetime Grosses (47 Days Released)
Domestic: $235,195,785 23.2% + Foreign: $778,900,000 76.8% = Worldwide: $1,014,095,785
Hmm.. 1.02 Billion Dollars, They MIGHT actually break even on this one.
Total Lifetime Grosses (43 Days Released)
Domestic: $158,149,321 28.8% + Foreign: $391,150,368 71.2% = Worldwide: $549,299,689
ONLY 550 Million Dollars??? What a total bomb.
Pirates of the Carribean 4:
Total Lifetime Grosses (47 Days Released)
Domestic: $235,195,785 23.2% + Foreign: $778,900,000 76.8% = Worldwide: $1,014,095,785
Hmm.. 1.02 Billion Dollars, They MIGHT actually break even on this one.
Just saw this today - great stuff, at least as good as the first one, and for all the same reasons (i.e. not being a vehicle for endless pop-culture refs)
Yes indeed. I'm eagerly awaiting a third (and possibly fourth) installment as long as they can keep to this level of quality.
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