Kung Fu Panda 2 Review - will the adopted kids be alright?

Spoiler Alert:  This isn't a suspense movie, and I don't believe spoilers would make you enjoy it any less.  However, if you don't want to know what happens, then don't read this review.  So many people I know are wondering if it's a good movie for their adopted children to watch, so this review will hopefully answer that question.

Bottom line up front:  I recommend this one for the adopted kids.  Skip to the penultimate paragraph for why.  I loved this movie.  I loved the first KFP too, and this one was at least as good.  I loved the visuals, the story line, the characters.  The child in me loved it, as did the adult, the adult adoptee, and adoptive mother, and the biological mother.

It was nearly impossible for me not to view the story through the eyes of Po, the adopted child.  I tried hard not to, but his perspective was so clear and compelling - and accurate in my opinion - that I couldn't resist feeling that adoptee connection.  Po is an accomplished, revered warrior.  He has achieved his dreams through Kung Fu, he has his loving father (the goose), and his Furious Five family.  Yet, when he "discovers" that he is adopted, he is immediately reduced to a vulnerable, abandoned baby.  He finds it impossible to deny his desire to learn the truth.  That desire eats at him, it shapes the nature of his Kung Fu, his missions, and his relationships. Boy do I understand this.

We follow Po's journey through the various stages of adoptee grief, acceptance, etc.  It's a pretty quick hop from the shock of discovering his adoptee status to finding inner peace, but this is a kid's movie so I'll let that one slide.  I imagine his journey would not have been so entertaining if he had to live with a lifetime of that inner struggle, plus he wouldn't have been able to save China until he found inner peace so we'll go with that.  Although the storyline zipped right through his adoptee struggle, it did provide some illuminating moments.  There was the stereotypical "your parents didn't love you" line thrown at Po by the bad guy, which hurt until Po learned the truth.  Po had some moments of anger and self-loathing, but they were mild and brief.  In reality, adoptees have quite a bit more time to simmer over these emotions.  There were feelings of alienation and inadequacy that Po experienced through both movies as a result of being a different species and being physically different, and not having the same background as the other kung fu warriors.

I adored the soothsayer, voiced by one of my favorites Michelle Yeoh.  Some viewers may take exception to her policy of not dwelling on the past.  She insists that one must accept the events of the past and choose which path to take forward.  What some viewers may hear is a message that an adopted child's history doesn't matter, but what I understand is that is really the only way that anyone can move beyond tragedy.  We must accept the facts of our history, embrace them, and honor them while at the same time avoid clinging to them.  This of course is quintessentially Eastern and Buddhist philosophy that is written in the story for cultural authenticity, so I don't take it as an insult to adoptees' histories or birth families.  I have come to realize that this is the only way that I can ever find peace with my own unsolved history, because unlike Po I will probably never have the answers to my own questions.

Serendipitously, Po does learn why he was abandoned.  He learns that his parents were persecuted and that he was abandoned in order to save his life.  (His abandonment echoes the story of Moses, and I wonder if such a big deal was made about the adoption themes in Prince of Egypt.  Doubtful, since Moses' adoption was accepted as God's will and part of the Bibilical truth of God's deliverance of His people.  I digress.)  I appreciate that Po's abandonment was a result of political forces, because I believe in most cases this is true.  I believe that most families would not choose to relinquish children if they had the political, cultural, and social support to raise their own children.  Sadly, our world forces some families apart.  I am grateful that Po's family was not portrayed as poor or inferior.  In fact, Po's dad turns out to be badass!  Of course the ending of this movie left plenty of room for a KFP3 - presumably with a bio family reunion and a better look into Tigress' own abandoment story.

Were there triggers?  Of course there were.  Are triggers necessarily a bad thing?  I think no.  On the contrary, more normalizing media such as KFP2 will give our adopted kids some small bites to process and some sense of cultural normalcy.  Is it ever normal to be separated from one's biological family, transported to another country (at least Po got to keep his nationality), placed with a family of a different race (or species), and then expected to just find inner peace without some intense soul searching?  Hell no.  Is it okay to address these things at an early age so that a child does not feel like a freak in their own home and their own skin, to know that asking these questions is not only normal, but healthy?  Certainly.  Were those the longest run-on sentences I've ever written?  Likely.

So I really did adore this movie.  I laughed out loud.  I cried more than a grown woman should.  The abandonment/adoption story was handled with dignity, and hopefully creates context for not only adoption families, but the greater community as well.  BTW, I did have a discussion with my Chinese daughter about her reactions.  But that is private, it is between us.  Let me just say that if the movie had been injurious to her in any way, I would not endorse it one tiny bit.