After such franchises as Shrek and Madagascar, the Kung Fu Panda series has proven to be yet another major money maker for famed animation studio Dreamworks with the first movie becoming a surprise hit and its first sequel surpassing it. But recently, Dreamworks has gone through some massive restructuring with many animators being laid off and many of their movies jumping back and forth between release dates.
So when this movie finally landed in the dreaded month of January, I (and possibly others) was concerned. Not that every movie that comes out in January is bad, but the month itself is notorious for being the dumping grounds for some of the worst cinematic dog shit people have to suffer through (I'm looking at you Norm of the North and Fifty Shades of Black). But, now that Kung Fu Panda 3 has come along, will it carry on the proud legacy of its predecessors or will it be an embarrassment on the same level as Shrek the Third? Well, let's take a look.
So Kung Fu Panda 3 follows Po as Master Shifu passes on the mantle of teacher to him, only for him to prove to be terrible at teaching. Po also gets a surprise visit from his long lost father who takes him to a hidden panda sanctuary. But trouble is on the horizon as an evil spirit named Kai has broken out of the Spirit Realm after collecting the chi of former Kung Fu masters and it's up to Po to teach his fellow pandas about Kung Fu in order to take on Kai.
Now it's been almost a full 5 years since we last had a Kung Fu Panda movie and I was really excited to see where the story was going to head after the cliffhanger ending of the last one. So what were my thoughts on the movie? It's actually a really great addition to the series.
The story works out much in the same way that Kung Fu Panda 2 did as it furthers the story rather than just rehashing details that we've already seen before like most other sequels do. But, at the same time, it also throws in plenty of nods and references to its predecessors that I found to be very entertaining.
Moving on to the animation in the movie, it is GORGEOUS to look at. I've noticed over the course of each movie that the animation gets increasingly better with each entry. They don't even just use CG animation but also incorporate silk screen art and paintings for several scenes. I also really loved the animation that they used to portray the Spirit Realm it's just too beautiful to put into words. This movie was a co-production between Dreamworks Animation and Shanghai based company Oriental Dreamworks and the animation really shows the collaboration.
The action, like in the first 2 movies, is great as usual as well as an important message about being yourself rather than trying to be like others. The movie even delves into some Eastern teachings regarding "chi" as the life force that flows through living things. The comedy was well on point as one would come to expect from Kung Fu Panda. I was laughing well throughout the majority of this movie.
And finally, the villain, Kai, proved to be a very formidable adversary as an ancient spirit who has the ability to take away a Kung Fu master's chi and summon them as, as Po calls them, "Jade Zombies" or "Jombies". For my money, I still think that Lord Shen was a better villain overall but Kai was definitely better than Tai Lung from the first one. I remembered reading from somewhere that the creators were trying to go with a different class of villain for each movie. The first movie had Tai Lung, the brawler villain, the second one had Lord Shen, the cunning villain, and this had Kai, the supernatural villain. I feel like this was very intelligent planning on their part.
However, even with these positive things to say about it, this movie isn't without its faults. There was one scene early on where, after Po failed with teaching, certain characters were making fun of him behind his back. I couldn't help but think to myself "Didn't we already get this out of our system in the first one with the Furious 5 making fun of him failing training? Haven't the last 2 movies proven how great he is? Why are we going through this again?" It just seemed very repetitive and unnecessary.
There's also another moment later on where they use the "Liar Revealed" cliche, which I believe to be the poison of kid's movies, and it is soo annoying to endure. I would've mentioned this as a spoiler except for the fact that I saw it coming from a mile away and I was just waiting and waiting for it to finally come up and for them to get over it.
And the last issue that I had with it, and this is really pretty minor, was this message that comes in close to the end about doing bad things as a way of what's best for someone. I dunno. Something about that kind of rubs me the wrong way and maybe some others feel pretty similar about it. Still, I'm not them.
Overall, Kung Fu Panda 3 is another solid entry in the franchise, continuing the story properly while giving us the same great action, comedy, and characters we've come to expect from the series. I've heard Dreamworks' CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg, say that there are plans to make 3 more sequels to bring the series to a total of 6 films and, if this movie does really well, I'd like to see where they decide to go next. For those reasons, I give Kung Fu Panda 3 a 4/5 stars. Don't let the fact that this movie came out in January fool you. Take the kids, take a date, hell, go see it by yourself if you have the free time. This movie deserves all the support it can get.
And that was my review of Kung Fu Panda 3 and, as usual, I'd like to know what your thoughts are about this movie. Feel free to comment below and stay tuned. In 2 weeks, I'll be releasing my review for the long anticipated Deadpool movie. Until then, keep loving movies you guys. Later.
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