After his surprising success as the "Dragon Warrior", the cheery "Po" is hoping to take it easy. History, though, has no intention of letting him sit on his laurels as it emerges that the slighted peacock villain "Shen" has designs on taking over the globe. We learn from a brief retrospective a bit about the cause of his bitterness and it seems that he and "Po" have an overlapping provenance that might just explain a few things for both of them. Thing is, "Shen" has developed an all-conquering secret weapon that can cause even the most formidable of fortifications to tumble, so it's going to take all that "Po" and his five best friends can muster if they are to thwart the dastardly plan and save the nation from the peacock with feathers as razor sharp as his wit! This is becoming my favourite animated franchise. It successfully mixes some pithy dialogue with loads of characterful and colourful action and it's message of teamwork and inter-reliance is subtly delivered amidst a sea of entertaining mythology and adventure. It's quickly paced from start to finish and though I could have been doing with a little more of the sceptically sagely "Shifu" it's still just about as good as the first film from 2008. Great fun.
