Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)

Genre

Action | Adventure | Animation | Comedy

Directors

Jennifer Yuh Nelson | Alessandro Carloni

Country

USA

Voice Cast

Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, J.K. Simmons, Lucy Liu, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Bryan Cranston, Kate Hudson, James Hong, Randall Duk Kim, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Fred Tatasciore, Stephen Kearin, Steele Gagnon, Barbara Dirickson, Al Roker, Willie Geist, Radzi Chinyanganya, Pax Jolie-Pitt, Knox Jolie-Pitt, Zahara Jolie-Pitt, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, Liam Knight, Lindsey Russell

Storyline

When Po's long-lost panda father (Bryan Cranston) suddenly reappears, the reunited duo travels to a secret panda paradise to meet scores of hilarious new panda characters. But when the supernatural villain Kai (J.K. Simmons) begins to sweep across China defeating all the kung fu masters, Po (Jack Black) must do the impossible-learn to train a village full of his fun-loving, clumsy brethren to become the ultimate band of Kung Fu Pandas.

Opinion

Skadoosh! After five long years of waiting, the Dragon Warrior is back for the third installment of the franchise, "Kung Fu Panda 3", a humorous, entertaining and visually beautiful animated flick.

The storyline is again on the same lines of good vs evil, and at first sight it may seem complicated, but the well-constructed narrative allows the youngest to understand and follow the story quite easily. 

Another important factor that helps kids is the lightness with which the film addresses some pretty heavy philosophical issues. Unfortunately, while it is inspirational, the eastern philosophy gets repetitive and very similar to previous ones, still dealing with obstacles and dilemmas of finding yourself and going beyond your limits. I really appreciate DreamWorks Animation for taking Chinese philosophy seriously, but maybe they should try find some other issue to address.

The jokes are mostly good, and made me - and the rest of the audience - laugh out loud multiple times, but some lines are really not suitable for a youngish audience.

Working with the same characters for the third time isn't certainly easy, but the team actually did a great job with all those characters we already know. A lot more could have been done with the new ones. Po's father is probably the most sympathetic character in the whole film, and Bryan Cranston does a good voice work. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about the villain Kai, which, despite J.K. Simmon's voice, isn't much memorable with his weak personality and motivation. The same goes with the majority of the pandas, as they are completely forgettable.

Like in the previous films, the animation is stunning. Once again the beautiful CGI/3D animation is cleverly paired with gorgeous 2D animation sequences.

Overall, "Kung Fu Panda 3" is worth watching, especially for the fans of Po.