The evil Lord Shen has just introduced gunpowder to China and plans to aim it at the country’s greatest martial artists, a group that implausibly includes a pudgy panda bear named Po . Po’s teacher Shifu considers this a revolting development; as he observes mournfully, “This could be the end of kung fu.” And the panda, a late bloomer in the discipline, whines, “But I just got kung fu!”
When the DreamWorks animation auteurs get a concept, they don’t let go. Any hit DreamWorks cartoon serves as a product launch for as long a line of sequels as the public will pay to see. They’ve produced four films in the Shrek series ; they’re preparing a third Madagascar for next June and have begin work on a followup to How to Train Your Dragon for 2014. Now they’ve manufactured a 3-D sequel to Kung Fu Panda, the 2008 comedy that is arguably , who served as “creative consultant” They surely helped make the film watchable; but the lingering impression is of a perfunctory sequel — one made not to enrich the story or characters but because the first one made a bundle. It’s called franchising, folks, and a “new” KFP has all the nourishment of another batch of KFC.
See the 100 best movies of all time.
