Fast as lightning

Director: Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Starring: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman

The loveable panda Po (Black) returns to the big screen as The Dragon Warrior, protecting the Valley of Peace alongside his friends and fellow kung fu masters, The Furious Five.

However, little does he know that his new life of awesomeness is about to be threatened by the emergence of a formidable villain, one who plans to use a secret, unstoppable weapon to conquer China and destroy kung fu for good.

It shouldn’t be a surprise after the first one, but Dreamworks’ latest cartoon sequel remains a genuinely good martial arts movie, with some of the year’s best fight sequences and inarguably the best use of 3-D in a long time.

The film also marks an impressive directing debut by artist-animator Jennifer Yuh - hardly a scene goes by that isn’t visually striking or kinetically thrilling.

Jack Black is back on top form as the voice of Po and sounds likes he’s having a ball in the studio. In fact, the casting in general is inspired and the eclectic voices are all a perfect fit for their animal counterparts.

Bigger and better than the original, Kung Fu Panda 2 skilfully avoids the curse of the sequel with wit, flair and a 3D paw to the face.

Genre: Animation | Action | Adventure
Age Restriction: PG
Runtime: 90 min