Incredible FX and action that cannot match the spirit of the first one.

Rating: 5/10 (13 May 2012)

I am so sorry to disagree with so many people, It seems I wasn't expecting the same as everybody else here.
Kung Fu panda made me cry, there you have it, it was a story filled with profound teachings about life, Kung-Fu and full of meaning. The master turtle and Shi-Fu really made the whole movie shine and the good and sad moments were truly remarkable, that movie was a dead serious hit for me, it surely wasn't done just for kids, so I was so eager to see this one.
Sadly, Kung-Fu panda 2 returns to the formulaic premise of Hollywood these days, our hero doesn't need more training so the lessons are replace with a very bad villain who doesn't know how to fight and then recurs to weapons (not my kind of villain).
The tone of the movie is darker than the original, sadly, the mood, the way the movie is made and the way characters develop is it not. It's like they tried so hard to made it more serious than the first one, but the excessive action and special effects really contrived the movie to a merely two or three scenes of peaceful nature. There are so few quiet moments that it really feels like "producers and execs" told the writers, " more fun, more action, more dark" and this is what we got.
I really don't know why people loved it, I hated it, not because it's a bad movie, because the first one was so deep, and this one so dull. Comparing this one to the first one is like comparing star wars episode 5 with episode 1, one is deep, the other is dull.
My kids liked it, the increased action will have a positive feedback for people that don't have inner peace (clearly the majority of the market this movie goes for), but, for people that search some deep meaning to the things that happened on screen, they will better be served with Kung Fu Panda.
Kung-Fu panda 2 excels at action but lacks heart, not giving us master Shi-Fu through the movie was a big mistake and the lack of a master like the turtle in the first one was a serious error me thinks.
Tai-Lung was a glorious villain, the peacock no, it wasn't scary, it wasn't evil, it was just a resentful guy trying to be bad, also, what's up with dumbing down our dragon warrior?, after the first one this guy was a real master that defeated a truly difficult villain, in this one it behaves like a moron the whole movie up until the end?, it just doesn't fit and it was done purely for jokes and fun and it was forced.
So sad that it turned out to be like this.
My score 5/10