'Kung Fu Panda 2' bests the original

An unfortunate coincidence happens in DreamWorks' “Kung Fu Panda 2” when the roly-poly panda Po (voiced by Jack Black) gets stuck on a conveyor belt that's about to dump him into a fiery incinerator.

The scene begs comparison with a similar sequence in Pixar's animated masterpiece “Toy Story 3” where Woody and the gang are nearly fried to the nubs in the same manner.

The “Toy Story 3” scene was as intense and heart-stopping as an animated feature can get.

The one in “Kung Fu Panda 2”? Just one in a series of cartoony, strobe-edited, 3-D action sequences in which you never seriously worry that the characters might actually be killed or critically injured.

Which, of course, they never are. Not really.

Nonetheless, “Kung Fu Panda 2” makes for an engaging, kid-safe adventure that's visually superior to and quicker paced than its 2008 original box-office hit.

Po also gets to tangle with an impressively evil villain, a deadly and graceful peacock named Lord Shen (diabolically voiced by “Harry Potter” staple Gary Oldman).

Shen really disappoints his parents when he figures out how to convert the beautiful magic of fireworks into deadly weapons: cannons powered by gunpowder.

Armed with those, he intends to take over China, and wipe out all its kung fu for good measure.

Meanwhile, poor Po suffers from chronic flashback syndrome. He imagines seeing his parents when he was a baby, and — Oh, no! — he remembers Shen was there, too!

Turns out that a seer (voiced by martial arts star Michelle Yeoh) predicted Shen would be undone by something black and white, and so, taking a tip from the Moses story, Shen orders all pandas be whacked.

Baby Po escapes, and now, years later, his father Mr. Ping the goose (comically voiced by James Hong) must tell him the truth: Po is adopted!

Po tries to put aside his personal soap opera and reunite with the Furious Five — Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Crane (David Cross) and Viper (Lucy Liu) — to stop the insane Shen.

But Po is immobilized by self-doubt. How can he be the dragon master if he doesn't know his true identity? Will he be able to understand the advice of his master, Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), to be at peace with himself?

Before it's too late?

“Kung Fu Panda 2” is directed with flash and flair by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who served as story editor on the original “Panda.”

This sequel has lots of fun satirizing martial arts action films that use excessive slow-motion shots. It also cleverly utilizes a delicate, paper-puppet form of animation in the flashback scenes.

But, the 3-D fight scenes are frequently frenetic and garbled, and many night scenes are difficult to see clearly. (The print I saw Tuesday night in Chicago appeared excessively dark through 3-D glasses.)

Tigress is still the weakest kitty in the cast. Her eyes lack the illusion of life and Jolie's flatter-than-a-pancake line readings are way out of sync with the animation-tuned voices of her co-stars.

But she'll have many opportunities to improve. DreamWorks reportedly has greenlighted five or six more “Kung Fu Panda” sequels.

<b>“Kung Fu Panda 2”</b>

★ ★ ★

<b>Starring: </b>Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Gary Oldman, Lucy Liu, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Michelle Yeoh, James Hong

<b>Directed by: </b>Jennifer Yuh Nelson

<b>Other: </b>A Paramount Pictures release. Rated PG. 91 minutes.