Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016) Review

An actual good third installment of a series by Dreamworks? A good movie in January, the month where movies go to die? What is going on around here?! I'll tell you what is going on: it's a movie that defies the January curse. So what if there is a bigger focus on Oscar-bait movies at this time? Audiences shouldn't have to wait the first few months before getting great movies.

Anyways, I love the Kung Fu Panda series. The first two installments are easily some of Dreamworks' greatest films. I could sense a lot of passion put through these movies and I could say the same about Kung Fu Panda 3.

The story revolves around Po (voiced by Jack Black) who reunites with his biological father, Li Shan (voiced by Bryan Cranston). It's there that Po travels with him and arrives at a village full of pandas and trying to live among them, even learning how to be lazy and eating with two hands. Meanwhile, an evil villain named Kai (voiced by J.K. Simmons) arrives to steal the chi of every kung fu master, and Po is his next target.

The great thing about the Kung Fu Panda series is that Po always has a distinct character arc so that his journey is not retconned or rehashed, but keeping to his clumsy personality without overstating it. In the first film, Po was a student overcoming the doubts of his peers and learning the ways of kung fu. In the second, he was a warrior trying to let go of the past and attain inner peace. Here, he is trying to be a great teacher since Master Shifu (once again voiced by Dustin Hoffman) retires and passes the role onto him. As expected, it doesn't go well. This is something I can relate to because I find myself more as learner than a teacher.

It's also a fish-out-of-water story, but it's justified since Po has not seen another one of his kind for a long time, and tries his darnedest to fit in. The pandas are pretty fun to watch, too, all coming in different shapes and sizes, despite not adding too much to their characters.

I also thought the film did a good job handling both Mr. Ping and Li Shan with their relationship to Po. I enjoyed Mr. Ping as a character, but liked him even more when we saw some hidden depths in second movie as we saw how much he loved Po as his adoptive son. Upon meeting Li Shan, he gets a little bitter after entering Po's life, but starts to grow on him. It's not every day when we see two different parents work off one another to make a bit of an emotional connection.

I also liked Kai as a villain. Right off the bat, I take it that the animators have played God of War because his chained weapons remind me of the chained blades that Kratos carries. There was this one weapon in God of War III where you can separate souls from enemies' bodies, and here Kai has the ability to steal someone's chi and use the spirit of that master as a pawn, which I thought was pretty cool. He seems to come across as this ruthless and power-hungry villain, but Simmons manages to add a lot of subtlety in his performance, not being in-your-face evil or revenge-driven, but just... casual. He also has a compelling backstory that makes him a slightly interesting character, but not as much as Tai Lung or Lord Shen.

The movie is also as genuinely funny as its predecessors. The jokes all hit the right marks and they're never too obnoxious to the point where it's just going to appeal to little children. Adults will laugh just as much, which is part of why the best family movies can be enjoyed for all ages.

The animation overall, as usual, is gorgeous to watch, especially all the fight scenes. I don't want to reveal much, but when certain fight scenes came up, my eyes widened in amazement, because the animators took them up to eleven due to the sheer size and scope. Like the previous films, it even has its share of mundane moments made awesome since the animators took advantage of the movie being animated. Some of the fights even end up having a lot of funny slapstick, since it does not forget that it's a comedy.

It's also really bright and colorful. Heck, in this one montage scene, I thought it was painted because of the way it was lit and rendered, meaning Dreamworks is seriously taking their animation to a whole new level. There is also a lot of green being present, which I guess is the main color scheme for this movie. Is it me, or are cartoons seriously turning green into an evil color? That's one thing I noticed in some episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and now it's being carried over here.

The voice acting is also great, especially Jack Black as Po who, despite having a recognizable voice, was actually playing a character. It's also great that I did not even recognize both Bryan Cranston and J. K. Simmons in their roles. I haven't seen Cranston in a lot of things, except for what little I saw in Breaking Bad, which kind of benefits from that. Simmons, on the other hand, I was even more impressed with, since he's done voice-over roles in Portal 2, The Legend of Korra, and Gravity Falls. While I'm all for actual veteran voice actors, I must congratulate the both of them for being very dedicated to their roles and not feel like obvious celebrity casting for marketing purposes, even though it kind of is.

Is the movie perfect? Not at all, as does every movie in the world. I felt that it went by pretty fast, even more so than the previous two, making it a lot to take in for a 95 minute movie. The Furious Five are also kind of underused, though Tigress has a fair amount of screen-time. I also saw some wasted potential with the character of Mei-Mei (voiced by Kate Hudson). Not a lot was built-up for whatever relationship there might have been between her and Po, so what's the purpose of her being there?

Also, I think the relationship between Po and Li could have been a little stronger. They do have a lot of funny moments together, but I think more quiet moments would have worked as well. After all, they haven't seen each other for years, so it has to be a big deal for both of them.

Nevertheless, I had a great time with Kung Fu Panda 3. It might not reach the emotional heights of Kung Fu Panda 2, but it succeeds in its main characters, acting, genuinely funny scenes, action sequences, and visuals. It is another great installment, offering us what we liked in the previous two movies. It definitely is...

WORTH CHECKING OUT

Kung Fu Panda is now a trilogy; an animated trilogy where all installments are consistently good like Toy Story. Hopefully, How to Train Your Dragon will follow that path, too, when the third installment comes out in 2018. If Dreamworks doesn't make more Kung Fu Panda movies, I would be perfectly fine with it, since I think it has a decent conclusion. After all, where else can they go after this one?

This is CJF94 saying "Skadoosh!"