A hit movie can live on in a commemorative iPad book, but this app takes the experience a step further. The world of Kung Fu Panda 2 is now open for cooking classes! This app presents 'how-to' videos for 19 Asian-themed recipes along with a bundle of extra features and several clips from the movie.

Each video is presented in a straight forward way with a professional cook narrating as she prepares each dish with the help of a young boy. The videos are useful but the book also has a play button that narrates the written recipe, highlighting as it reads. Most of the dishes are simple enough for children to assist in the preparation, although picky eaters might not find much on the menu they'd like to eat if they are not familiar with Asian cuisine (with the exception of cheesecake).

The app itself is well made with ample settings, including the ability to bookmark a favorite recipe, send yourself a shopping list, measure ingredients based on US or European units, use a built-in kitchen timer and even record your own narration. There isn't anything else particularly 'interactive' about this book, but it offers a lot of utilitarian features, although it does this using a lot of memory (over 300 MB).

In addition to the regular cooking videos, 4 of the recipes feature an extended video clip from the movie instead, totaling over 16 minutes of footage. All of the video clips are shown in a small 2 x 3 inch window that can be expanded to the full screen. The picture quality does suffer in the larger window somewhat.

Overall, this is a well-made cookbook app that will be a treat for fans of the Kung Fu Panda movies. Every page features illustrations of favorite characters from the film alongside a small photo of the dish and all the necessary information for its preparation. This app would be a fun way to inspire kids to be more involved with cooking and might even get them to try something new.

All reviews are of the app, not the platform/device. Based originally on iPad versions. Minor technical details may vary.