WorldNetDaily movie reviewer Drew Zahn, who we saw last complaining that the Disney movie “Tangled” teaches children to think for themselves, finds something objectionable in the new movie “Kung Fu Panda 2.” Namely, that a movie about a panda living in China doesn’t try to shove a Christian agenda down the throats of its viewers.
In his review, Zahn grumbles that the film is “distinctly Eastern” in its presentation of the idea that you must find your own path to inner peace:
For Po’s desire to know where he came from and what happened to his birth parents is a quest put before him by his Kung Fu master, who tells him “every master must find his path to inner peace,” some through meditation, some through fasting and some through pain.
“Once I found inner peace,” his master explains, “I was able to harness the power of the universe.”
This Eastern, mystic, New Age-like blather, unfortunately, pervades the film. It’s the protagonist panda’s prime motivation. It’s the underlying religion upon which the movie builds its otherwise positive message.
Yet no matter how pretty and positive the film’s message may be, building a pretty pagoda on such a sandy foundation makes the entire structure in danger of falling down (Matthew 7:24-27). Indeed, the absence of real meat in the storyline, depth in the characters or truth in the moral of the story make “Kung Fu Panda 2” a sequel worth skipping.
Zahn adds: “Forgiveness might have been a nice touch, but perhaps that’s a bit ‘too Christian’ for this distinctly Eastern film.”