"I'm not freaking out — I'm freaking in!"

REVIEW, TAKE TWO: Further reflections on Kung Fu Panda 2

FRESHNESS RATING: Mild SPOILERS for Kung Fu Panda 2

Writing a movie review tends to be like sifting through a giant pile of a lot of stuff and things. If a movie stirred me up at all, whether to love or loathing, then I've almost always got plenty to say and not much space to say it in. There's a lot of weeding out that happens, frequently without my giving it much conscious thought. So here's a small handful of items that pertain either to something I did write in my review of Kung Fu Panda 2, or to something I didn't. If you haven't read the review yet, here it is.

Kill me now: Nobody actually wants to die to prove a point, but action/adventure movies almost always try to insist the opposite, on at least one character's behalf. Which is why I enjoyed so much the moment where evil Lord Shen says to Po, "Are you willing to die to find out the truth?" Po's stalwart reply: "I am. Though I'd prefer not to."

Still a fanbear: Po has clearly grown both in stature and in spirit since the events of the first film, but I enjoyed seeing that there's still a sense of wonder, or rather, sense of awesomeness, in his heart. The scene of Po getting a knapsack of travel essentials from his father, Mr. Ping, offers one great flash of the giddy panda within, and there's another good one in a scene in which Po is arrested and restrained using a particular means of capture.

Picking on Pixar: I didn't actually hate WALL*E, although I have very little use for almost all of it that happens after WALL*E hooks up with the spaceship full of Really Fat Humans. I'm semi-convinced that there's a version of the movie somewhere, even if only on old storyboards, where the ship is as desolate as planet Earth, and WALL*E spends the rest of the movie trying to convince EVE to make the same choice that he did and rebel against her programming. (I know, I know, robots can't actually do that. It's a fantasy love story, people, not something by Greg Bear.) Here's what I said in my original review of WALL*E.

That might actually work: One of my favorite random lines of dialogue from the movie is something Tigress says to Po: "I hope this turns out better than your plan to cook rice in your stomach by eating it raw and then drinking boiling water." There are always two or three lines that I write down, intending to provide examples of the movie's humor, that don't end up fitting anywhere, for one reason or another.

Oh, and it's in 3D: I've already made some noise on this blog about what I tend to think of 3D. Many film critics, including myself, are of the opinion that it typically works better for animated films than with live action. (You can use Avatar to argue the point either way since it has plenty of scenes filmed on movie sets, but also quite a lot of George Lucasian CGI-scapes.) Just last year, I was blown away by the immersiveness of watching DreamWorks Animation's How To Train You Dragon in 3D. I've read several reviews of Kung Fu Panda 2 that praise its 3D, but my reaction was more along the lines of, "Darn it, these glasses are pinching the sides of my head." Panda 2 is certainly gorgeously animated, but I'm guessing it will look just as captivating in regular ol' 2D ... and I plan to find out soon.

P.S. — Really? Really?! The Hangover Part II is so. good. that $31.7 million worth of moviegoers had to rush out and see it on freaking Thursday? Awww, man. What a way to begin the weekend.