Kung Fu Panda 2 is a surprisingly strong children's animation, which raises the bar very effectively from the adequate first film. The film is a technical triumph for DreamWorks Animation, even surpassing How To Train Your Dragon, with stunning CGI throughout and impressive depth of field in its excellent use of 3D. Action/fight sequences are pacily edited and show real imagination in their coverage on screen. The story works well both as a simple good vs. evil adventure quest (with Gary Oldman voicing the convincingly villainous peacock Shen) and as an emotional journey for Jack Black's panda Po as he pieces together his past, shown through wonderfully-realised old-school animated flashbacks. Whereas the original movie felt rather forced, here there is a more measured tone and a stronger overall narrative, with the visual gags well-placed and genuinely funny ("Stealth mode!"). The dream voice cast works effortlessly (Black, Jolie, Hoffman, Chan, Rogen, etc), which - together with the truly cinematic style and cutting of the film - gives Kung Fu Panda 2 a feel of ambition and credibility which lifts it above most sequels.
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