Movie Review – Kung Fu Panda 2 (English) - 2011

Let me get this out of the way, the awesomeness is back!

I was looking forward to Kung Fu Panda 2 with great anticipation since I had loved the first instalment. A panda conjures up visions of cute and cuddly and the choice of Jack Black as a voice actor was probably the most inspired bit of casting in recent times. Whatever you can call him, cute and cuddly, Jack Black is not! The first part was a runaway hit and the only fault one could find in it was that the Furious Five did not get enough time for themselves. Part 2 settles the issue.

The first movie ends with Po proving that he indeed was the right choice as the Dragon Warrior and fulfilling Oogway's prediction. Part 2 gives us some insight into Po's back story, how his father is a goose must have been a question that all of us have asked ourselves, and this movie answers it. We also get a brand new villain in Lord Shen, and while Tai Lung was a mean leopard, Lord Shen is a peacock, but far from being a preening dandy, this peacock is one mean dude. Knowing that his Kung Fu might not cut it, he goes ahead and creates a WMD and has plans of taking over the whole of China.

It is upto Po and his trusty Furious Five to thwart the ambitions of Lord Shen and ensure that peace again returns to the land. One of my favourites from the first part, Master Shifu (voiced with just the right pitch by Dustin Hoffman), does not have too much of a role to play in Part 2, however he does make his presence felt, saying more will be saying too much.

Though the Furious Five do figure in Part 2, Master Tigress has the lion's (or should I say tiger's!) share of the action. One also sees shades of the Jedi in the way the masters of kung fu are shaping up, call it homage, or maybe aligning with universal themes of a band of protectors benignly offering protection to common citizens.

Po's back story is tied up with Lord Shen and involves the search for his birth parents, as he learns that he has been adopted. Lord Shen has parental issues of his own. But Po can prevail only if he learns to achieve Inner Peace, which Master Shifu has himself learnt only as recently as Part One. How Po and the Five with their allies Master Ox and Master Croc, battle Lord Shen and his WMD, forms the major chunk of the movie.

Part 2 has some good Kung Fu action and has been shot in 3D. However as is the case with most 3D movies, being in 3D does not seem to add much to the experience. IMHO, Avatar is the only movie in which 3D has been used so well that it is a completely immersive experience. Based on the box office numbers, James Cameron does know a thing or two about film making J

As with all successful animation movies, Kung Fu Panda 2 can be enjoyed by children of all ages as well as adults. The animation is uniformly excellent and the voice acting good with Jack Black and Gary Oldman (as Lord Shen) standing out. The movie is relatively short (under 90 minutes) which helps to keep the story moving. This is one of the better movies in recent times and gets a big thumbs up from me.

Should you go ahead and watch it? Go today! I can't wait for the DVD to come out (but I will buy the 2D version).

Movie Review – Dum Maaro Dum (Hindi) - 2011

I was on a quick trip to Gurgaon where my work got done a day early and given that it was too expensive to change my flight, I found myself with a day to kill. I had previously seen a couple of Gurgaon malls, however they were mostly sad, empty affairs where I seriously doubt that anyone goes to shop (I must have visited the wrong malls as Gurgaon is bursting at its seams with malls). However, this time I did some research and found myself at the Ambience Mall in Gurgaon. The mall is pretty large by any standard and is full of premium outlets (when you have a BMW dealer in the mall then you know which kind of mall you are in!). I had a quick lunch of Shish Taouk at the food court (the outlet promising Mexican, Lebanese and European food should have warned me that authenticity was not likely to be on offer) which was the strangest Shish Taouk I have eaten in my life. It was served with a reasonable pita bread and a side of raita and tomato chutney. The chicken kabab itself was ok, though it was clearly nowhere close to being authentic but the icing on the cake was that it was also served with nachos (aah, the tomato chutney was probably supposed to be salsa). Anyway, I am digressing, in order to kill time, I wanted to see a movie and given that the other choices did not appeal (Chalo Dilli, Shor in the City, I Am, whatever), I decided to watch Dum Maaro Dum.

Right from the beginning the movie caught my attention with the story of Prateik (Babbar). A fair amount of time elapses before one realises that the stars of the movie, Abhishek Bachchan and Bipasha Basu are nowhere on the scene. AB Jr. does make his appearance in due course, however Ms. Basu is introduced into the plot when the movie is more than 40 minutes in the running. The movie is about Goa and drugs which are inextricably linked to each other (at least in the movie). Abhishek Bachchan is a cop who is seeking redemption in elimination of the drug mafia and has been given a mandate by his political boss to spare no one (AB Jr's motivation is established however why his politician boss wants the drug scene cleaned up is never made clear).

AB assembles an unlikely team of a young police officer, Mercy (I couldn't find the name of the guy, even the film's official site does not list him), and Rane (Govind Namdeo). There is also Bipasha Basu's ex-boyfriend floating about, who is the new kid on the block, Rana Dagubatti (yes, that's a mouthful!). Lording over everyone is a sleazy character called Lorsa (no kidding, where do they dream up these names from!) Biscuita, played woodenly by Aditya Pancholi. The stage is set when Prateik is being used by the drug mafia as a courier to send drugs between India and the US (hang on a minute, I thought drugs move from South America, Afghanistan and the Far East to everywhere around the world, but what do I know). The drugs are supposed to be carried in a suitcase with a false bottom (come on, the plot really loses it here, is this the most that the script can come up with?) and our boy Prateik is the conduit.

The movie takes all of the first half to set itself up to this stage with various back stories being filled in till the time Prateik and AB are brought together.

The first half moves reasonably quickly, though not at the frenetic pace that one associates with out and out thrillers (like say a Kaminey). There are interludes for songs, a couple could have been cut out without any loss to the narrative. The movie is shot very stylishly and though Goa is clearly the focus, we are never distracted with eye candy shots of beaches, etc. Of all the actors, Abhishek Bachchan gives a measured performance, Prateik is convincing, Mercy (the mystery actor) steals almost every scene he is in and Govind Namdeo is competent, as the cautious veteran. Though, Bipasha Basu's character is quite critical to the script, she has very little screen time, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Rana Dagubatti is a surprise package and one could easily imagine him in Abhishek Bachchan's shoes in this movie. He can act and assuming his dialogue is not dubbed by someone else, his delivery is also good. Aditya Pancholi is best forgotten.

The final plot resolution is too pat and quite unconvincing. The unmasking of the kingpin Michael Barbarosa is also quite obvious and one can see it coming from a mile away. Deepika Padukone duly makes her 'special' appearance almost at the end of the movie, maybe to ensure that the audience doesn't walk out mid-way! Actually, I am being a bit unfair, the movie is not that bad and definitely worth one viewing. So, in the final reckoning, all the style and great plot setup is squandered in the last 20 minutes of the movie. A more imaginative script probably could have made a big difference. But, do go and watch it .. once.