Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Po is finally living the dream as the Dragon Warrior—until a shadow from his past comes roaring back. When the ruthless peacock Lord Shen unleashes a devastating new weapon used to wipe out kung fu masters across the land, Po and the Furious Five race across China to put an end to his plans. But if Po is to have any hope of stopping him, he must first confront the truth of his origins—and find inner peace before his past tears him apart.
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What critics compared Kung Fu Panda 2 to
Shen's invention is the same one that polluted Eden in " Princess Mononoke ," and, like King Herod, the psychotic peacock tries to fend off fate -- defeat by panda -- by means of wholesale murder.
A badass snow leopard in the first " Kung Fu Panda ," Ian McShane jolts "Pirates 4" to life every time his seriously satanic Blackbeard appears.
You can add Kung Fu Panda 2 to that list, as the film contains all of the elements that made the first installment such a success but also takes things further by exploring Po’s mysterious past.
The director of this movie is Jennifer Yuh Nelson who is primarily an animation director (“Kung Fu Panda 2”, “Kung Fu Panda 3”) and story artist (“Kung Fu Panda”, “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron”, “Madagascar”) at Dreamworks animation and this is her live action directorial debut.
The live-action directing debut of Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Kung Fu Panda 2 and 3), The Darkest Minds is the latest attempt at a young-adult dystopian sci-fi franchise.
The director, Jennifer Yuh Nelson (“Kung Fu Panda 2,” “Kung Fu Panda 3”), keeps the pace fast and the exposition flowing; the movie is almost comfortingly watchable.
But the horrifying reality of our day-to-day world is not novelist Alexandra Bracken’s point, nor is it the point of screenwriter Chad Hodge or director Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Kung Fu Panda 2 & 3).
Nelson (who directed Kung Fu Panda 2 and co-directed Kung Fu Panda 3) gives The Darkest Minds all the requisite gloomy grandeur, presenting a crumbling world thrust into chaos and paranoia.
Assembled in a one-from-column-A, one-from-column-B way from far better stories, Minds — based on the novel by Alexandra Bracken and the live-action debut of Kung Fu Panda 2 and 3 director Jennifer Yuh Nelson — borrows from Children of Men and X-Men , among other fanciful properties, without any interest in actually examining the ideas it steals.
Perifel has spent most of his career as an animator; some of his first films were Curious George and The Illusionist , he did some CGI work on Monsters vs. Aliens and Shrek Forever After , he did some traditional animation work for Kung Fu Panda 2 and the Lord Shen character specifically, and he was also the supervising animator on Rise of the Guardians .
He worked on the animated films “Kung Fu Panda 2” and “Rise of the Guardians,” so has familiarity with animal characters.
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It opens with an assault on a Hydra base, and the team is kicking ass, but with the exception of a fantastic shot straight out of “Kung Fu Panda 2,” it’s underwhelming, a more elaborately choreographed and at the same time less thrilling version of the battle sequence at the end of “The Avengers.”