Featuring the voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, David Cross, Seth Rogen, Jackie Chan, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Lui, Gary Oldman, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Michelle Yeoh, James Wong
Running time: 90 mins
RatingL ***

THE first Kung Fu Panda was animated fun with an impeccable voice cast and a lot of humour extracted from the tale of a podgy panda with a penchant for martial arts. The second builds on that and, aided by spectacular and beautiful Chinese backgrounds, proves as good – some might say better – than the original.

Jack Black is far less irritating doing his fat guy being humorous schtick when you can’t see him, which makes him the perfect Po as he faces family problems over his background.

It hasn’t escaped our notice, even if it has his, that his father is a goose who runs a fast food restaurant. Unless he’s the result of a Dolly the sheep type experiment that’s gone wrong, Po is clearly adopted. This sequel – the first of six if the audience reaction justifies more movies – finds Po learning of his real parents fate while trying to defeat an evil peacock Lord Shen (Gary Oldman, the villain of choice for many movie-makers) who, it is hinted through Po’s flashbacks to his childhood, is the architect of the panda’s family problems.

Not that Po knows this yet as he goes about learning martial arts skills and seeking inner peace under the watchful eye of his mentor Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and the goose he calls father, Mr Ping (James Wong).

Lord Shen has his own worries – a soothsayer (Michelle Yeoh) warns that he and his army of wolves will be defeated by a panda who, as last time, has impressive help from the Furious Five, namely Crane (David Cross), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Tigress (Angelina Jolie) and Viper (Lucy Liu).

The exciting action sequences are matched by the emotional content of Po’s search for the truth about his family. And the ending tantalisingly sets up Kung Fu Panda 3.