July 16: Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011 -- Jennifer Yuh)

★★★

This is an entertaining  movie that manages to work out a very American theme using very Asian imagery.  Jennifer Yuh has a very deft touch here, satirizing kung fu film style while putting some heart into the characters, at least into Po.  Or maybe it’s that pandas, even animated ones, are just too cute.

I think the animation here helps you get sympathize with the characters.  Somebody has figured out that eyes are expressive, and you can watch the whole film just focusing on the characters’ eyes and how they reinforce what’s happening.  All the characters have active eyes.  And their body language is helpful, too, as the characters lean in when talking or take an upright, rigid stance for confrontation.  Or slump when they’re sad.  There’s a lot of attention to body language in the film.

There’s a nice message in the character arc of Po, too, one that might even be a little beyond some kids – you should know your past, but your life isn’t determined by it.  Your life is what you make of it. Po succeeds in going beyond his past and grows into maturity and success; it’s the tragedy of Shen that he can’t make this transition and broods endlessly into defeat.  This theme doesn’t strike me as very traditional, East Asian since the cultures from that area tend to value family background.  Instead, this idea has validity here in the US with our stress on individualism.  In fact, the theme strikes me as an essential American one. 

But you’d have to watch closely to see Kung Fu Panda 2 as so profoundly an American film because the movie is beautiful interpretation of Asian imagery and color.  I loved seeing the cityscapes, the streets, the clothes and the natural imagery.  And the style of the film goes from Asian kung fu movies in the funny-but-compelling chase scenes to Asian shadow puppet theater in the flashbacks.  It’s almost worth seeing the movie for the visuals alone.