After the whole Shrek franchise started sucking horribly—around the second or third films—I wrote off DreamWorks animated films. That is, until Kung Fu Panda came around. Normally I find Jack Black cloying and obnoxious, but Kung Fu Panda was the perfect vehicle for his over-the-top comedy, and the film was incredibly infectious, funny, and adorable. While Kung Fu Panda 2 isn’t quite as good as its predecessor, the film is just as loose and fun as the original with pitch-perfect voiceover work from Dustin Hoffman and Gary Oldman.

Kung Fu Panda 2 starts with Po (Black) and the Furious Five, Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Viper (Lucy Liu), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Crane (David Cross), and Mantis (Seth Rogen), keeping the…uh…peace in the Valley of Peace. Little do they know that Lord Shen (Oldman), the albino son of the Peacock Emperors of China is slowly building an army of wolves to defeat the kung fu masters and rule all of China by harnessing the power of gunpowder. Po must master inner peace from his old Master Shifu (Hoffman) by tapping into his past and learning about his family before he can defeat the evil Lord Shen.

The sequel might not be treading new territory: the first film was all about fitting in and discovering your destiny, and the sequel follows the same themes. But Kung Fu Panda 2 is just as delightful as the first film and offers innovative fight choreography you wouldn’t expect from family friendly fare. It’s also one of the first movies this summer that I would recommend upgrading to 3D for—the animation was beautiful and dynamic and truly added to the film.  

Kung Fu Panda 2 left me with a smile on my face and is a sequel that lives up to its predecessor in a summer where sequels are being churned out like Big Macs. Don’t let the Shrek franchise keep you from flocking to Kung Fu Panda 2—it’s definitely worth visiting the Dragon Warrior again.

--Darcie Duttweiler

Have you ever sat down to the exact same meal you’ve previously loved and realized that it just does NOT measure up? That’s The Hangover Part II. Sometimes two of the same thing is great, like two whiskeys or two kittens, but apparently two of the EXACT SAME movie is not-so great. Part II is the exact same movie as its predecessor but shifted to a different location. It’s not sorta similar or has the same elements and themes—it’s the exact same movie, but, much like that meal redux I described above, it’s just not the same the second go-round. It’s less funny, more strained, and almost even boring.

Go figure that two Hangovers aren’t better than one.

Read more after the jump.

What does it mean when something is better than something else that sucks major ass? That’s how I would describe Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. It’s infinitely better than the third film, a movie I couldn’t even follow plot-wise, but it still lacks the excitement and adventure of  The Curse of the Black Pearl and the fun and wacky fight scenes of Dead Man’s Chest (remember the water wheel fight scene?!).  So, what do you call something that didn’t make you want to claw your eyes out, but doesn’t engage you in any way (meaningful or otherwise)? I’d call it On Stranger Tides.

Read more after the jump.

Yeah, yeah, I know. This post is like two whole months overdue. But now I’ve had to marinate over my thoughts and feelings of all the SXSW movies I saw all those months ago. I’m better prepared now to recommend you towards a film (or completely sway you from never seeing such atrocious filth). So, really, I waited this long for YOU.

Let’s start with the Merely Meh Films:

Are women as funny as men? Sexist as it sounds, the idea lives on that women aren’t as funny as their penis-equipped counterparts in the comedy department. [1] 

Bridesmaids has been touted as a breakthrough — a raunchy female response to a decade of dude-driven comedies and bromances. (Does that make Bridesmaids a “womance?” And, if it does and the term “womance” enters into regular rotation, I expect credit for it.) But does Bridesmaids live up to the hype?

More after the jump!

Much like the heavy metal and flames that seem to surround Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the eponymous character, the film itself is basically a punch in the face without any emotional follow-through.  Hesher is about a young boy whose mother recently died in a horrible car crash and his deadbeat dad (Rainn Wilson) who can’t seem to get his shit together for his young son. So, when a transient bad boy named Hesher ends up crashing on their couch, the two grieving men have their tragic lives shaken up.

Gordon-Levitt is a talented actor, but, as Hesher, he is slightly show-offy and one-note, even if he’s trying desperately to succeed in a role no one would have most likely cast him in. Natalie Portman pops up as a local grocery cash register in a brief role. Wilson does a decent job of playing depressed well.

Hesher is worth a look if you’re trying to get artier films in before the blockbuster smorgasbord that is the next couple of months, but don’t expect it to get all deep and profound on you—it really is about a dude who loves porn, beer, Metallica, and lighting shit on fire.

--Darcie Duttweiler

“Your ancestors called it magic, and you call it science; I come from a place where they’re one in the same.” So the God of Thunder himself explains how he can exist in the Marvel Comics film universe, a world populated by a billionaire playboy with a flying robotic suit, a real-life Jekyll and Hyde, and a frozen human guinea pig from World War II.

You see, Thor’s eponymous hero and his Norse mythology brethren aren’t gods per se, but super-powered aliens mistaken for gods by ignorant Vikings. No, it certainly doesn’t make for the most plausible of Marvel’s origin stories, but, of the company’s stable of stinkers, Thor is the most entertaining bit of comic book cinema since 2008’s Iron Man.

Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, a one-eyed Anthony Hopkins and more after the jump.