Mark your calendars: Coming May 2014 Kung Fu Panda 3

Rating: Null/10 (21 July 2011)

I went in knowing that the first KFP could not be topped. The newness of the concept, the opening fantasy sequence, the Tai Lung escape scene, the clumsy humor of Po, I could go on...no beating it or duplicating it. The sequel doesn't beat it. But it's still very good. And for very different reasons from those that made the original was so awesome. In KFP2 the Furious Five have grown, moved on. They've improved their kung fu. They work as a unit, with a new leader, Po the Dragon Warrior, whom they've fully accepted. The banter between the team is raised to a new level. The rocky relationship between Tigress and Po is replaced by friendship. The action scenes where they're all fighting together are...something not seen in the first movie, actually. The story is excellent, centering on Po's search for his real parents. It's a little bit more intense than the first, with a lot more weapons used than last time. It's just more of an action movie. There were a lot of kids there when I saw it(ages 6-12 I'd guess) and I heard a lot of comments during and after the movie. Universal approval. There will be another in this series. Hopefully we'll see more of Shifu, who only shows up at the beginning and end of '2.'