Balance of Justice: Po and Mantis in my Happy Meal!

Two down. Six more to go.

All thanks to my twin sister Jillian who took home Po and Mantis with her McDonald's Happy Meal, after enduring a long queue at UP Diliman yesterday.

Po, Tigress and Mantis!

Kung Fu Panda 2 continues to soar with its box office hit records now conquering China itself, with over 125M yuan. Among other box office Hollywood films, The Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five hit third place, collecting $24.3M. X-Men First Class garnered the highest spot with over $56M, according to Box Office Mojo.

Starring Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Gary Oldman, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Michelle Yeoh, Seth Rogen, Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Haysbert, David Cross, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Victor Garber and James Hong, Kung Fu Panda 2 (directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson) takes us back to twice the awesomeness of kung fu with humble Po taking the lead. But this time, he's in for more than just a challenge "to stop something that stops kung fu." Unsure of his identity after a flash of a nightmarish memory, Po, with the help of his master Shifu and the Furious Five, learns how to acquire inner peace and realizes that, after all, he was never far away from home.

Toes of Truth: Tigress with McDo's Kung Fu Panda 2 Happy Meals!

Toy collection is my divine redemption.

After reading about the Kung Fu Panda 2 Happy Meal from Ms. Josephine Bonsol's blog, I got excited and itched to collect all the toys so I would also have that Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior set just like Po (Jack Black).

We had this General Assembly for my scholarship yesterday, and I only had one thing in mind: buy a Happy Meal at McDo. I ordered the Happy Meal Plan A with four pieces chicken nuggets and a medium-sized drink with the Kung Fu Panda toy of your choice (P98). I noticed a lot of people staring at me as I ecstatically chose from the toys the cashier lady presented to me, but I didn't care.

I chose Tigress (Angelina Jolie) because I was inspired with her character as the group's only feminine kung fu warrior and as the "hardcore" fighter who, at the same time, can understand Po's feelings.

I thought they would give me the meal in the McDonald's Happy Meal box though, and I was a little disappointed. I also ordered the new Awesome Shake Shake Fries Combo in Barbeque kick flavor and Coke float (P80). You can also choose the Cheese Rush flavor for the fries and Watermelon or Sprite float for P85. 

My siblings and I missed McDo's chicken nuggets and enjoyed munching it with rice during dinner. We also indulged on the Shake Shake Fries with that rich barbeque kick and the coke float.

I would definitely collect all the Kung Fu Panda toys with McDonald's awesome Happy Meal treats!

You can also order online at http://www.mcdelivery.com.ph/

Movie review: Kung Fu Panda 2 "Of black and white"

"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."

Movie review: Gulliver's Travels "Small jobs, small people"

Maybe the reason why it's hard to reach our dreams is because we had wished to have another life.

If you were given a chance to rewrite your story--your life--how would you start and end it? Somehow this remains a question and not a chance at all. But not for Lemuel Gulliver (Jack Black), after he made the worst and awful move to woo his longtime crush Darcy (Amanda Peet). From Jonathan Swift's classic novel Gulliver's Travels (2010, directed by Rob Letterman), we discover a world where Old English people resemble ants: tiny, hardworking and funny.

Even though he's very good with words, Gulliver couldn't have the guts to mingle with people, preventing him to be promoted and even to make a move with his crush Darcy. After trying to impress her with a fake resume saying he'd already traveled the whole world, he instead ended up in another world called Lilliput, and made a whole new life he'd always dreamed of.

As Gulliver piled lie after lie saying he's the president in his kingdom called Manhattan while resembling his life with Anakin's story in Star Wars and Jack's in Titanic, he realized how much he had thought lowly of his old life and felt the invincible power as a giant, only to discover in the end he'd hurt "the small people who have grown very large in his heart".

On the other hand, the movie brought me to a lot of laughs, especially when Gulliver saved the king (Billy Connolly) by taking a leak to the building on fire, and when he was banished from Lilliput and became a girl's barbie doll in an abandoned island. Because it's Jack Black, the classical Gulliver's Travels became a more exciting and hilarious musicale with popular songs like "Rock and Roll All Nite" by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of Kiss, "Listen to Mama" by Walkerman and "War" by Norman J. Whitfield and Barrett Strong.

I was also inspired by Gulliver's positive outlook by "posting" his dreams (like his dream home) on his bedroom wall, so he could see it everyday and be equally inspired to reach it. And he actually did.

At one point in our lives, we may dream and wish to have another life because we're too "small", but let's not forget how wonderful ours is because we're "big" enough to RULE IT.