Kung Fu Panda 2

This article is about the dreamworks film. For the video game, see Kung Fu Panda 2 (video game).

Kung Fu Panda 2
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Written by	Jonathan Aibel Glenn Berger
Produced by	Melissa Cobb Guillermo Del Toro (Executive)
Starring	Jack Black
Music by	Hans Zimmer John Powell
Production company	DreamWorks Animation
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	May 26, 2011 (2011-05-26) (US) May 27, 2011 (2011-05-27) (CAN)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English
Budget	$150 million

Kung Fu Panda 2 is a American 3D 2011 computer-animated action comedy film and the sequel to the 2008 film Kung Fu Panda. The cast of the original film reprised their voice roles. The film was released on May 26, 2011 in Real D 3D and Digital 3D.

Plot

Long ago, Lord Shen, the son of the ruling Peacock Emperors of China, sought to harness the power of gunpowder as a weapon to fuel his aggressive ambitions. When he learned from the court soothsayer that a black and white warrior would one day defeat him, Shen assumed she was referring to the Giant Pandas and had them exterminated to avert that prophecy. Horrified at this atrocity, Shen's parents exiled him and Shen, feeling abandoned and betrayed, vowed he would return one day to rule supreme.

Years later, Po is now living his dream as The Dragon Warrior, protecting the Valley of Peace alongside his friends and fellow kung fu masters, the Furious Five. However, Master Shifu's lessons to further Po's training to help him pursue inner peace are interrupted by a raid by Wolves seeking all the refined metal they can steal from a village of musicians. Po and the Five arrive to stop them, but the wolves get away when Po is paralysed at the sight of a symbol on the lead wolf that brings flashes of traumatic memories of his mother from his subconscious. Po asks his father where he came from, but all the goose can tell him is that he found Po as an infant in a vegetable crate behind his restaurant and adopted him.

Afterward, Master Shifu receives word from Gongmen City, under the stewardship of the Kung Fu Council, that Lord Shen has attacked with a powerful new weapon that threatens to destroy the martial arts tradition. Po and the Furious Five are sent to stop him, but the journey is complicated by Po's troubling nightmares that he feels he cannot share completely with anyone, even with Tigress, whom he is growing increasingly close to. When they reach the city, Po and the Five find it under the control of Shen's forces and try to stealthily reach Masters Storming Ox and Croc in the prison in order to get their help to liberate the city. Unfortunately, both masters inexplicably refuse to leave their cell, citing their helplessness against Lord Shen's weapon, forcing Po and the Five to make the attempt alone. Unfortunately, the Wolves, including the same leader Po encountered in the village, discover them and they chase him throughout the city until they are captured.

Placed in restraints, they are shown that one of the Regents, Master Rhino, is dead and they are brought before Lord Shen who refuses to believe this goofy Panda could possibly threaten him while the Soothsayer realizes Po has no knowledge of what the Peacock did to his people. As per their plan, Po and the Five free themselves and destroy the Peacock's weapon, a large cannon. Unfortunately, Po's attempt to capture Shen is blocked by the paralyzing sight of the same symbol from the village fight on Shen's plumage and the Peacock escapes. The heroes then realize to their horror that Shen has built a whole arsenal of cannons and they barely escape the castle while Shen destroys it with a salvo. Hiding in the prison, Tigress demands to know why Po froze, but the panda refuses to confess about his flashbacks, driving Tigress to force him to remain with Masters Storming Ox and Croc while they attempt to stop Shen's cannons at the source.

Unfortunately, Po decides to break into the cannon foundry to question Shen himself about his memories and fouls up the Five's attempt to destroy it. In the ensuing battle, Po faces Shen who acknowledges that he was in Po's parent's village and sadistically claims that Po's parents abandoned him before blasting the panda out of the foundry with a giant cannon into the river to his apparent death. However, Po is alive, wounded and unconsciously floating down the river, where he is rescued by the Soothsayer. When he regains consciousness, the Soothsayer tells him that he is in the remains of the village where he was born and Po's unconsciously repressed memories fight to come to the surface. Guided by the Soothsayer to let them rise as he tries to attain inner peace, those memories come back as he witnesses the destruction of his village, his mother's flight from Shen's forces until she was forced to abandon him in the produce box to lure them away, presumably to her death. However, Po's memories move to his adoption by the loving Mr. Ping and how he conquered his deep insecurities to achieve his most cherished dreams with help of his new friends, the Masters. At that, Po comes to realize that his past does not define him as much as his present choices, allowing him to attain a measure of peace even while he prepares to return to Gongmen City to confront the murdering peacock.

In the city, Lord Shen captures the Five trying to stop his war fleet from departing and prepares to kill them as an example of his power as soon as his ships clear the harbor. However, Po arrives to confront Shen and he manages to free the Five, beginning a massive battle that soon includes Master Shifu who also convinced Masters Storming Ox and Croc to participate. However, the attempt to stop the fleet fails and the heroes are left floating in the bay amongst the wreckage. Regardless, Po stands on a floating piece and stands his ground against Shen and astounds everyone when he uses a special water manipulation martial art technique he learned from Shifu to direct Shen's cannon fire against him. In doing so, Po devastates the fleet and his cannons through kung fu alone and confronts Shen on his irreparably damaged flagship. There Po rejects that his horrific past dominates his spirit and urges Shen to come to terms with his own grievance with his parents. However, Shen refuses the entreaty and hatefully attacks the Dragon Warrior. In the melee, the wreckage of the ship's cannon is jostled and falls on Shen, who declines to escape in despair and is crushed on impact.

Back in the Valley of Peace, Po reunites with Mr. Ping and lovingly proclaims him to be his father. However, at that very moment in a distant hidden area that contains a whole village of Giant Pandas, Po's biological father suddenly senses that his son is alive.

Cast

Main article: List of Kung Fu Panda characters

• Jack Black as Po, a Giant Panda
• Dustin Hoffman as Master Shifu, a Red Panda
• Angelina Jolie as Tigress, a South China Tiger
• Jackie Chan as Monkey, a Golden Langur
• Lucy Liu as Viper, a Green Tree Viper
• Seth Rogen as Mantis, a Chinese Mantis
• David Cross as Crane, a Red-crowned Crane
• James Hong as Mr. Ping, a Goose
• Jean-Claude Van Damme as Master Croc, a Chinese Alligator
• Victor Garber as Master Thundering Rhino, a Javan Rhinoceros
• Michelle Yeoh as The Soothsayer, a Goat
• Dennis Haysbert as Master Storming Ox, an Ox
• Gary Oldman as Lord Shen, an albino Indian Peafowl and the film's primary antagonist
• Danny McBride as Wolf Boss, a Grey Wolf and the secondary antagonist
• Paul Mazursky as Musician Bunny

Production

Kung Fu Panda 2 is the sequel to the 2008 film Kung Fu Panda. The first film was released in June of 2008, and by the following October, the studio DreamWorks Animation announced plans for a second film. Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who was head of story for the first film, was hired to direct the sequel. The original film's cast members reprise their voice roles. Like the other DWA films beginning production in 2009, Kung Fu Panda 2 was produced in stereoscopic 3-D technology. The studio also plans to release the film in IMAX theaters worldwide.

Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger were screenwriters and co-producers for the first film, and while they returned for the sequel, the studio hired Charlie Kaufman to revise the screenplay.

Marketing

DreamWorks Animation has invested $100 million in creating promotional partners and building up marketing for its films. For Kung Fu Panda 2, DWA has partnerships with McDonald's, AT&T, Best Buy, General Mills (cereals), Sun-Maid (raisins), Airheads (candy), Hint Water and HP. The film's characters are used in products and advertising campaigns across various media. The studio is also pursuing social media efforts to promote the film.

DWA partnered with House Foods America to brand its products, notably tofu, with advertising of the film. Variety reported that the partnership was the first-ever between a film studio and a tofu company. The studio also enlisted the parade balloon of Po from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to tour in six cities, concluding with Los Angeles over Memorial Day weekend in late May of 2011.

Merchandise is also being produced for the film: Mattel (toys), THQ (video games), Hallmark (cards), and Jem Sportswear (apparel). Publishers VTech, Penguin Books, Dalmatian Press, and Ape Entertainment are releasing books tied to the film.

Theatrical release

Kung Fu Panda 2 was screened at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival in early May before its commercial release. The film is scheduled to be released on May 26, 2011. Box Office Mojo reported the film's release date as advantageous; the computer-animated family film Rio is concluding its theatrical run, and another computer-animated family film, Cars 2, is scheduled to open in four weeks. The website also noted that 3-D sequels in territories outside the United States and Canada typically outgross the original films.

Critical reception

The film received a "Certified Fresh" score of 78% on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 89 critics and a rating average of 7 out of 10, with the consensus being that "The storyline arc may seem a tad familiar to fans of the original, but Kung Fu Panda 2 offers enough action, comedy, and visual sparkle to compensate." It also received a weighted average score of 68 out of 100 at Metacritic, based on 23 reviews from mainstream critics.

Variety called the film "a worthy sequel that gets an extra kick from the addition of dynamic 3D fight sequences" while The Hollywood Reporter similarly praised the film..

External links

• Official website
• Kung Fu Panda 2 Production Notes at Paramount Pictures
• Kung Fu Panda 2 at IMDb
• Template:Bcdb title
• Kung Fu Panda 2 at Box Office Mojo
• Kung Fu Panda 2 at Rotten Tomatoes