"You're my son...right?"
It must be a rare misconception that we think our past truly defines who we are. I've watched a lot of movies where heroes were trapped by their pasts, and even villains who, back then, had chosen to accept they were "meant to be" bad guys. But then we learn from Po our dreadful pasts are not a hindrance to what we can be now, especially when we've got great teachers and a great foster family.
Dragon Warrior. Hero. A newly coined identity motto of "My fist hungers for justice". And that red mark reawakening that nightmare. Watching Kung Fu Panda 2 (directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson) with my best friend Gemma and my siblings, I easily concluded how equally awesome it is given the fact that not many "Part 2" movies became as famed and epic as its first.
Dreamworks Animation-style, Po (Jack Black, Gulliver's Travels) stays as the humble, adorable and hairy panda now serving as the Dragon Warrior in a region in China where kids are all rabbits and adults are pigs and geese. With the help of the Furious Five, he keeps the city safe from bandits and other enemies.
And just like any hero, Po was haunted by his past curtailed in horrible flashes of his mother leaving him, jeopardizing his mission to stop Lord Shen (Gary Oldman, Sirius Black in Harry Potter series) from destroying kung fu. After many attempts, baskets of awesome Kung Fu moves, and recruitment from Kung Fu Masters like Master Croc (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and Master Thundering Rhino (Victor Garber), Po finally gained inner peace and learned "it doesn't matter how horrible your past may be; how your story goes, how you choose your life makes you who you truly are."
Kung Fu Panda 2 perfectly and equally hit-smashed its first release with more amazing kung fu moves and high doses of off-the-seat laughs, from Po's clumsy but cool kung fu style to his efforts to "cook" a serious look and speech only ending in untimely punch lines.
Po's humble character--not wanting revenge but only the truth--greatly inspired me that even though he knew Lord Shen killed his parents, he didn't even plan to kill him.
"Now that's pretty hardcore." I especially loved the scene when Po argued with Tigress (Angelina Jolie) she wouldn't understand his frustrations with his past, and in one blink we all thought she pounced on him but actually hugged him, saying "a hardcore can understand".
Aside from the new and awesome kung fu masters like Master Soothsayer (Michelle Yeoh) and Master Oxen (Dennis Haysbert), the Furious Five's back to "stop something that stops kung fu": Mantis (Seth Rogen), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Crane (David Cross) and Viper (Lucy Liu). Po's master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) became the key ingredient for our charming panda to learn inner peace.
In the end, the movie brought me to tears when Po told his dad Mr. Ping (James Hong) he already knew who he truly is: "I'm your son."
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