Kung Fu Panda 2 - The Quest for Balance (or Yin and Yang, if You Like)

Rating: 8/10 (26 June 2012)

Most of Dreamworks's animated efforts have complacently settled for being rousing, diverting, and knowingly satirical action-and-violence stories, but not especially memorable (thinking about Shark Tale, for example). Occasionally, some of their movies leaven all the crazy action and movement with important themes, like the meaning of isolation and innate virtue and love in the Shrek movies. However, at the pinnacle of Dreamworks's animated features is one that poignantly delves into the character of a seemingly silly, corpulent, and superficial panda who somehow possesses devastating martial arts skills. Yes, Kung Fu Panda 2 (hereafter KFP2) has all the action, color, adventure, and conflict of its lesser Dreamworks cousins, but it is also profoundly different. Besides being a chop-socky martial arts adventure for the kiddies, KFP2 offers food for thought for more mature viewers, namely, the importance of balance (or yes, master, yin and yang) for a full and healthy life.
At the beginning of KFP2, it appears that the panda, Po (voice of Jack Black), has that full and healthy life. He is now the accomplished dragon warrior and leader of kung fu wizards the Furious Five, and has the respect and admiration of his sensei Master Shifu (voice of Dustin Hoffman), and the loving supervision of his restaurateur father Ping (voice of James Hong). But in the Furious Five's latest mission to prevent a horde of wolves from looting metal from a local village, Po's confrontation with the Boss Wolf (voice of Danny McBride) triggers a disturbing memory that knocks him off his stride and lets the wolves get away. As the usually cheerful Po solemnly ponders these memories which seem to show a wolf attack on a village and two parent pandas leaving their baby behind, those memories intertwine with the machinations of the latest garden-variety megalomaniac, Lord Shen (voice of Gary Oldman). Shen is a colorless peacock who, partly fueled by resentment against parents he sees as stifling, wishes to conquer China and perhaps the world. Although adept at kung fu, Shen plans to use weapons and artillery to attack, hence the minion wolves' metal raid. Thus, if we are careful, we see both the main protagonist and antagonist (Po and Shen) as "unbalanced" individuals seeking to stabilize themselves. The genius of KFP2 is its demonstration that, in a way, each needs the other for balance.
Nagging at the back of Po's mind is the realization that Ping cannot be his true father. But as his dreams gradually show, HE was that baby panda abandoned by his parents in the radish box as the wolves attacked. That box gradually made its way to Ping's shop. Since Po's parents did not arrive to claim the child, Ping raised Po as his own, with the usual frustrations and complications. Po is grateful to Ping, but he is out of balance because he can't understand why his parents would leave him. A calm, unperturbed, ram seer (voice of Michelle Yeoh) eventually shows Po that Shen instigated the attack on his parents' village and that they had to abandon him for his own safety. But instead of easing his mind, this knowledge awakens feelings of vengeance against Shen and unbalances Po further.
Furthermore, the ram seer nominally works for Shen and constantly reminds him that a force of black and white (i.e. panda Po) will be his undoing and that he should refrain from his conquest. Shen petulantly and arrogantly refuses to listen. Who - Po or Shen - will embrace balance and, by association, inner peace as exemplified by Master Shifu? The ram seer advises Po not to obsess on the past but to improve on and develop the present and future. You know, let it go, and go on. Does Po listen? You will see when you witness the climactic confrontation between Po and the Furious Five, and Shen's armed armada sailing down the river to the sea.
KFP2 is an astoundingly towering tour-de-force. It takes the standard worn-out martial arts trope, and balances it with respect of ancient Chinese geography, architecture, and philosophy. It shows ALL its anthropomorphic characters with multifaceted, sometimes opposite, characteristics (serious and playful) striving to keep them working together. Finally, KFP2 shows us that balanced inner peace is one of humanity's greatest gifts, symbolized by the familiar black and white yin and yang symbol. Po is of course black and white. Does he eventually symbolize that peaceful yin and yang? Again, watch the climactic battle, and you will definitely find out.
With this consoling philosophy, KFP2 is a considerable, Pixar-level production, and promises to continue to do so with its sequel-hinting final shot, which promises more conflict but also more consolation for Po.