NOT QUITE SEQUEL WORTHY

Maybe they should be called extensions, not sequels because this movie seemed more to expand on the first Kung Fu Panda movie (albeit not as well) rather than cover any new ground. You know these days that if a movie does even slightly well there will likely be a sequel, some feel forced and unnecessary, some feel warranted even needed to continue a story and characters we have grown to love. For me, Kung Fu Panda 2 falls somewhere in the middle. It was charming and funny and the characters are still loveable, but I didn't love this movie.

The central theme this time is family and Po somehow just now realizing that his true father is not a goose (don't ask how just go with it). Po battles with this revelation throughout while the action for the furious five takes place this time in China, where they face new villain Lord Shen (Gary Oldman). Po is trying to figure out where he really came from and it turns out that Lord Shen played a key part. There are some good fight sequences and we see Po as a full kung fu warrior, even though one of the funnier bits still involves food as he tries to put as many wontons in his mouth as possible. My daughters favorite parts involved Lord Shen and his cannons as we see Po go up against him while finding his much sought after "inner peace". There are funny moments, even touching ones as we see a softer side of Anglelina Jolie's Tigress.

It was the message of appreciating where your life takes you not just how it starts off though, that was worth it for me. Po learns that had his specific journey and been born under the circumstances he was, he would not have been adopted, had to strive to overcome and ultimately become part of the furious five.Po's father (Mr. Goose) should be the one to have the sequel as his scenes in both movies are the best parts. To see him be so overprotective and worried about his grown panda son at three times his size and bearing no genetic similarities is hilarious. I also enjoyed the depiction of what it truly means to be a father, that they are not born but are made and that Po's father became his father the moment he saw him.

In the end though, there was nothing memorable enough about the sequel to recommend it, but that's not to say you will leave disappointed either. I just think it would be easier and cheaper to rent the original and stay home

2 out of 5 (see it if you must, but don't expect to much)

On DVD Now: Alarm (2008)

Foreign Thriller Hits the Spot!

Set in Ireland, this independent gem while keep you thinking long after the credits roll. Reminiscent of Bentley Little's book "The Association", Alarm centers on Molly (Ruth Bradley) a young woman still greiving the death of her father a short time ago. Now living with older friends, she is eager to get out on her own and get back to an independent life.

Intent on buying a home, she falls in love with the last in a new development outside of Dublin. Taking her time to decide, she is devestated when she finds out it has been bought up when she goes to make her offer the next day. The realtor suggests she uses gazumping, a trick where you essentially buy the house from under the other buyer by offering more money. Thinking all should now be idealic, she soon moves into her new cookie cutter home. The realtor offers to hook her up with a good deal on an alarm, but Molly turns the offer down.

At first it all seems idillyc, Molly throws a housewarming party and all her old school friends come to celebrate. Reconnecting with an old classmate she crushed on in school, she feels like her life is finally looking up. It's then that things turn bad, strange things start to happen to the house and her belongings, but ONLY hers. The neighborhood is otherwise a literal ghost town where she only sees her other neighbors on their way to work and on their way back home.

Soon the now boyfriend moves in after helping to calm her nerves after the first incident. None of this prevents Molly's slow spiral into paranoia as she begins to question everything and everyone around her.

There are no big special effects or know stars, but this film has a slow intensity that builds to a satisfying conclusion while providing us with new twists and turns along the way.

3 1/2 out of 5 (see it when you can, try to go to a matinee or rent if possible)

X- Men: First Class; Prequel Outshines Franchise

It's hard not to love a sequel that is done well and has a legitimate reason for being. To often, sequels are made for no other reason than money and it cheapens the franchise. Not so with X -Men: First Class, the whole production is first class, from the casting to the script.

We start off in WWII Germany and a young Erik Lehnsherr (before he was Magneto). While being taken to a concentration camp, Erik is separated from his parents and his anger causes him to use his powers. Being able to bend metal is appealing to the Nazi's and so he is forced to make use of his powers for their benefit. In the process his mother is murdered and his desire for revenge sets the stage for his life focus.

Elsewhere, young Charles Xavier (before being dubbed Professor X), is in college and trying to finish his thesis on genetic mutation. It's this level of expertise on the subject that leads a CIA agent to seek him out for consulting on behavior she has recently seen but can't explain.

Kevin Bacon is protagonist Sebastin Shaw and almost steals the show (hard to do with McAvoy and Belcher in top form). You can see the glee Bacon is having in playing the bad guy, an energy absorber assisted by telepath Emma Frost (January Jones).

It's a quick history lesson in origins and as such we are given alot of background on many of the characters we've already becoming familiar with in the first four movies. Even a few of our favorites make brief cameo appearances (namely Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Rebecca Romijn's Mystique).

Both leads are so well portrayed by McAvoy and Belcher that you soon forget about the portrayls by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan. For a comic book novice like myself, a movie like this is like a secret decoder key, making it easier for me to understand how it all came together. I also liked learning things like where Magneto's helmet originated or why Mystique was ... well, Mystique.

I loved this movie from beginning to end and would recommend it highly whether or not you'd already seen the previous X-Men movies.

4 out of 5 (run and see!!)

Super 8 is Mystery Wrapped in 80's Nostalgia

From the first scenes in Super 8, I could tell I was going to love this movie... alot. Wrapped in early 80's nostaglia, it was liking getting a 2hr cinematic gift. A trip back to my childhood and my favorite Speilberg movies of the era; Goonies, ET, Poltergeist and a little of JJ Abrams "Cloverfield".

The story is centered around a group of young teens spending a summer making a zombie movie together after the death of main character Joe's (Joel Courtney) mom in an accident at the plant where she and Alice's (Elle Fanning) dad (the always good Ron Eldard) work. Joe's dad wants him to go to a 6 week summer camp, as he's having trouble dealing with being a full time dad, but he is determined to stay home and hang with his group of six friends and help finish the movie they started before his mom died. Right away you feel a sense of deja vu watching their suburban neighborhood unfold... the way all the kids hang out at each others houses, enter through bedroom windows and staying out until dark only to sneak out again later to meet up. Trying to guess the year this all takes place in is half the fun (hey! theres a rubik's cube.. but no microwave). It is on such a night that the movie sets up the real plotline.. while filming a scene for their movie at a railroad station, where Charles, wanting to get "production value" wants to shoot a scene while the actual train is coming in.

While doing so, Joe observes a car drive onto the tracks and the train derail and explode. Scared and confused, they are told by the driver of the truck (a teacher at their school), to never speak of what happened. No one can forget or believe what happened though, and afterwards, very strange things start to happen in their small town. Cars become mangled for no reason, dogs disappear and then finally people. I loved the stories within the story, especially the touching interaction between Alice and Joe who devlop a sweet friendship/first love during the making of their movie. Fanning has the ability to speak volumes with just her eyes and has the same wise beyond her years persona as her older sister Dakota. There is a scene with Joe and Alice watching old home movies of his mom that literally brought me to tears.

There is plenty of humor throughout as well, courtesy mostly of bossy Charles who is the director and writer of the movie their shooting. His constant stress about getting just the right shot as well as his interaction with a hapless stoner who works at the local film store is priceless. After the strange happenings begin, the remainder of the movie is the search for it's origin and why things just aren't adding up. Yes, this is a definite homage to Speilberg films of the 80's Abrams is making, but I didn't mind for a minute, and neither will you. It's a great time to revisit and a reminder of when films were better at showing the angst of preteens in a funny yet still respectful way, with no nudity or cliches. Make sure to stay until after the credits roll, you'll be rewarded with a viewing of their finished super 8 zombie movie and it is well worth the wait.

5 out of 5