Story
Po (voice of Jack Black) is fulfilling his role as the Dragon Warrior, fighting alongside the Furious Five – Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Mantis (Seth Rogan), Crane (David Cross), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Monkey (Jackie Chan) – to protect the people of China. Kung Fu Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) tells Po that his training is almost complete and that Po now needs to find his ‘inner peace’.
Po begins to have terrible flashbacks to an event that he doesn’t remember. He starts wondering about where he really comes from. His father, Mr Ping (James Hong), tells Po that he adopted him when he found him on his doorstep as a baby, but doesn’t know how he came to be there.
As Po searches for answers, a great evil threatens to take over China. Lord Shen (Gary Oldman) has turned his family’s discovery – fireworks – into firepower in the form of cannonballs. He has gathered an army of wolves, which is armed with the one thing that looks like it can stop kung fu. It’s up to Po and the Furious Five to save China. Along the way, though, Po needs to find out who he really is.
Themes
Death; separation from parents; adoption; war
Violence
Kung Fu Panda 2 contains many violent scenes. Fight scenes throughout the movie include kung fu fighting, punches, kicks, swordfights, daggers, flaming arrows, spears, axes, sledgehammers and explosions from cannonballs. It should be noted that this movie is showing in both 3D and 2D versions and that action and fighting scenes in 3D can be very intense for young children. Examples of violence include the following:
Sexual references
This movie has some mild sexual references. For example:
- A male panda flutters an open fan, wears a red fringe on his head and bats his eyes to distract a menacing wolf.
- A male panda tells a female ram with a beard that he thought she was a ‘he’ because of ‘false advertising’.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
This movie shows some use of substances. For example, Po is given acupuncture and medicine when he’s hurt.
Nudity and sexual activity
None of concern
Product placement
There’s no product placement of concern in the movie, but merchandise associated with the movie is being extensively marketed.
Coarse language
This movie has some mild put-downs.
Ideas to discuss with your children
Kung Fu Panda 2 is an action animated sequel to the first Kung Fu Panda movie. The many violent scenes in the movie – particularly in the 3D version – make it too scary for children under five and some children under eight. Younger children might also imitate some of the violence shown.
The main messages from the movie include the following:
- Family is important, but family doesn’t have to be your relatives. Family can be people who love and nurture you.
- A person can choose to leave behind an unhappy past and make a happy future. When Po discovers his true beginnings, he can choose either to hold on to his sadness and anger towards Lord Shen. Or Po can move forward with positive love and support from Mr Ping and his friends.
You might also want to talk with your children about some of the real-life issues raised by the movie, including:
- adoption
- misuse of power
- meditation and ‘inner peace’
- the use of martial arts.