Continuing the adventures of Dragon Warrior, Po the panda (Voiced by Jack Black), the next phase of his training to become a master of kung fu is to attain inner peace. But he can't seem to reach that state. He's conflicted after he finds out that he was adopted as a baby, a truth he learns of after repressed memories finally come forth. On top of this, the disgraced peacock prince Lord Shen (Gary Oldman at his intimidating best) has taken over Gongmen City with a deadly weapon that threatens to destroy China and Kung Fu, and if Po and the Furious Five can't stop him, Shen will accomplish his dark goal.

The first Kung Fu Panda was a really good movie. It opened in 2008 to high critical praise, and to become a smash hit at the worldwide box office. Kung Fu Panda 2 improves upon a lot of the first film's traits, but falters in other ways, basically keeping both movies on a nearly even keel.

The movie covers familiar grounds to those who liked the first movie, and you can detect the clichés of other, better animated movies, but the movie makes up for those things in many ways. A common demise for sequels is that they just keep adding more pretty visuals, more action, and more characters, but fails to give the story proper development, thankfully Kung Fu Panda 2 is not a movie that succumbs to that.

It never loses sight of putting heart first, and continues to properly develop character, and explore sides of them never before seen. Another plus is the incredible voice cast, specifically Gary Oldman. But it is worth pointing out that the jokes in this film weren't as funny as the jokes in the first film, and I feel that one or two action sequences had a bit too much slapstick, but those are only minor gripes. I also thought that the film's third act was really exciting.

It may not be perfect, but it's still a decent movie, so I'm gonna give Kung Fu Panda 2 **1/2 out of ****