Panda finds inner peace, audience loses sense of wonder

Quick! What’s black and white … and red and green and blue all over? It’s a panda practicing kung fu, finding inner peace while a colourful backdrop of fireworks explodes behind him.

This is Kung Fu Panda 2, the sequel to the story of a cuddly bear who becomes an unlikely champion. Here, he learns to let go of his past in order to master himself and overcome a powerful enemy.

In the back-story, we learn that Lord Shen (Gary Oldman) once ruled Gongmen City with the rest of the peacock clan. They sought to learn the magic of fireworks but only as weapons, not as national holiday amusements. When his soothsayer Goat (Michelle Yeoh) forewarns him of a warrior of black and white who would be his undoing, he takes drastic action to exterminate all giant pandas. Baby Po (Jack Black) is saved, naturally, but Shen is exiled for being a big meany.

Back to the present, Po suffers a flashback of his unknown mother and suffers existential angst. He questions his adoptive father Mr. Ping (James Hong) about his origins but doesn’t get enough answers.

And so, he must discover himself, fight his own personal demons and fight off the evil hordes at the same time. Shen is back and his army has constructed a cannon that will destroy kung fu tradition and bring modern horrors of war to China.

It’s a very good thing that Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) is there to help, as are the other members of the Furious Five and a few others as well.

Apart from giving a bunch of big name actors the opportunity to practically (and almost literally) phone in a performance, this movie really shows how tired the franchise has become … and it’s only the second in the series. It felt like everyone was just going through the motions.

Actually, the story was enjoyable despite the many similarities it has with Disney’s Mulan. It’s tough to believe that Charlie Kaufman helped revise the script but he apparently did, which is apparent in the serious tone of the work but not in the creativity department. It’s practically a paint-by-numbers project. When Po utters ‘ska-doosh’ it sounds like someone had a checklist of important elements that needed to be included somewhere. Reference to Po enjoying food? Check. Po hating stairs? Check. Trademark phrase? Check.

Apart from the unpleasant similarities, there are some good points. The 3D aspects are well done. They are actually integral to the movie and don’t come across as superfluous visual effects. Also the message of letting go of your past in order to achieve harmony in your life resonates.

Otherwise, it was pretty boring. Audiences shouldn’t be encouraging Jean-Claude Van Damme to get more acting jobs either.