Kung fu panda

In 2008 Jeffrey Katzenberg's Dreamworks Animation pulled off a brilliantly brazen Hollywood heist, one so in-your-face that the Weinstein brothers must have doffed their caps in salutation. The company bought sufficient voting memberships in the Animated Film Association to ensure that its Kung Fu Panda swept the board in Annie awards and completely shut out Pixar's Wall-E (which won that year's Oscar and Golden Globe). The rules have been changed since then, but Dreamworks did a cruel disservice to its charming animated feature. It can stand in its own right as a good animation film.

It has an attractive hand-drawn opening sequence, and the whole sequel has been entrusted to its acclaimed director, Jennifer Yuh Nelson. Her inspiration (other than the all-inspiring Fantasias, of course) was Chinese shadow puppetry, and the CGI in the main film are also clearly drawn from recent Chinese action-adventure martial-arts movies as well as the older generations of kung fu and wuxia classics. The foremost influence, for the comic tone, was Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle.

Jack Black voiced (inoffensively) the bumbling obese panda, Po, who works in the noodle cafe of his father, a goose (James Hong), and is a kung fu aficionado. Eager to watch the selection of the Dragon Warrior by the local temple master (a wise-headed old tortoise), Po lands up being chosen by ordained accident and sent to train with Master Shifu, a red panda (Dustin Hoffman, playing it straight).

Shifu already has a traditional team of trained Masters: Tigress (self-effacing Angelina Jolie), Golden Langur (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Green Tree Viper (Lucy Liu) and Crane (David Cross). His former protege, Tai Lung, a snow leopard (Ian McShane), had tried to be Dragon Warrior and ended up in chains, guarded by rhinocerosi (led by Michael Clarke Duncan). When he escapes and seeks revenge, Po must learn the secret ingredient of the Dragon Warrior's power, which proves to be a mirage just like his father's secret noodle recipe.

Being five very varied sizes and shapes, the five Masters cannot be given detailed characters, and much of the storyline and banter is borne by the tortoise and two pandas. The fast-paced energy of the film is provided by a barrage of animation effects that leave few moments of uneventful visuals during which audiences can notice the relative 2D flatness of the characters. The customary Hans Zimmer soundtrack completes the captivating cinematic package.

The usual mix of animation tricks is unusually rich, taking good advantage of Chinese motifs (lanterns, bamboo sticks, bowls, dumplings, noodles and more) while showing off many arts and crafts of special animation effects (water, smoke, mirrors, shadows, fire). Big-screen close-ups are effective too, and it will be interesting to see how the sequel incorporates the by-now obligatory 3D and IMAX systems.

Dreamworks is reuniting the chorus of well-paid voices for Kung Fu Panda 2, adding a quintet of extra star voices, including Gary Oldman as the new Brit-voiced bad guy. Guillermo del Toro is its executive producer (also his role for the studio's Puss in Boots spin-off), and the budget will be astronomical. So was the profit on the first film: no wonder six sequels have been talked of by Katzenberg.