Jack Black Plays a Furry Luke Skywalker in 'Kung Fu Panda 2'

Like young Luke Skywalker on the desert planet of Tatooine, Po, a good-hearted panda, has a mystical, almost religious destiny to fulfill in the "Kung Fu Panda" franchise. Voiced by the totally awesome Jack Black, Po comes across like a furry Jedi Knight with a little Chris Farley thrown in for good measure.

In the original "Kung Fu Panda," Po, like Luke, is stuck in a place where he doesn't want to be, making noodles and serving customers at his adopted father's restaurant. Although his dad (James Hong) hopes he has the "noodle dream", the panda's true passion is kung fu. He even collects souvenirs of the Furious Five, the most awesome kung fu fighters in the land.

Chosen by a wise master to become the legendary Dragon Warrior, Po begins training with Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), another master of the martial arts. As Yoda did when Luke showed up on the planet Dagobah, Shifu provokes Po and discourages him from undergoing kung fu training. No one is more surprised than Po, though, when he achieves his rightful destiny as Dragon Warrior, saving his friends and family in the process.

"Kung Fu Panda 2" picks up the story as Po, now fighting alongside the Furious Five, learns more about his true heritage. Now bearing the mantle of the Dragon Warrior, Po wants to find out where he came from and who his birth parents were. All his father can tell him, though, is that he arrived with a shipment of radishes one day at the restaurant.

Po also has flashbacks about his parents, which sometimes inhibit his fighting abilities.

"Kung Fu Panda 2" even gives Po his own Darth Vader in Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), a malicious peacock. Like Lord Vader, Shen has created a weapon that not even the greatest kung fu masters can defeat. A frustrated Po wonders how he can use his own kung fu skills against a machine that can neutralize kung fu.

Destiny plays a huge part in both the "Star Wars" saga and the "Kung Fu Panda" series. Po learns that Shen had something to do with his becoming an orphan, which means the destinies of the panda and the peacock are forever linked. As Luke Skywalker did in "Return of the Jedi," Po has to control his anger and learn the way of inner peace in order to defeat Lord Shen.

Though he tries to deny it, Shen knows that Po is destined to stop his reign of terror. No matter how many times Lord Shen attempts to kill Po, however, the plucky panda keeps coming back for more.

"Kung Fu Panda 2," rated PG for sequences of martial arts actions and mild violence, is now playing in theaters.