Kung Fu Panda 3

For some reason, I'm not really the biggest fan of animated films. 

Which is weird because I'm fairly certain that the average score of the animated movies on this site is probably greater than 8. So I guess when I say that I mean more along the lines of: I don't necessarily get super excited for new animated films. 

A few outstanding sequels aside *cough LEGO Movie 2 cough cough*, I'm never incredibly eager to rush out to the newest animated flick, and usually less so if it's not Pixar or Disney Animation. Sorry Dreamworks. 

Though I've never reviewed them on this site, I've seen both of the previous Kung Fu Pandas and while I enjoyed each, I didn't love them, nor do I remember much about them many years later (the last one released in 2011). If I were to categorize them, I'd say they're Dreamworks' "B" team to the How to Train Your Dragon series, aka the "A" team. 

While they may be immensely enjoyable, I always found them to be heavily aimed toward children. You may be thinking, "Yeah no s**t, Jordan." but I find that some of the absolute best animated films also have a lot to say for adults too. Up, The LEGO Movie, and last year's Inside Out are perfect examples of films that the kids will go bonkers over, but that adults will almost always come away from with the same amount of joy. At least in my eyes, that's the mark of a truly great animated feature. 

So yeah, Kung Fu Panda isn't necessarily my animated series of choice. Taking that into consideration, it should be high praise then that I enjoyed the hell out of this third installment. Perhaps it was a complete lack of expectations to a certain degree, but I attribute it more to the fact that it's just a really fun, well done movie. 

Panda nudity! Oh my!

Makes me want that God of War
film that much more...

Kung Fu Panda 3 picks up after the first two with Po (Jack Black) and his kung fu friends protecting their home and living their day to day lives. Long story short, a new threat arises and Po must travel to a secret land and learn who he really is. It's not a mind blowing original story by any means, but it's hard to think of how this series so rooted in tradition would really shake up that formula. Anyway, I found the tale to be entertaining regardless and it does have some great aspects to it. For starters, and I know I've mentioned this before, but animated films live or die by their characters. If you have memorable characters then that's half the battle. Kung Fu Panda certainly does in Jack Black as Po and he's so good in this role that I can't really imagine anyone else taking it over. Bryan Cranston has a significant role as Li, another panda, and brings both his signature voice and gravitas to the film. The rest of the side cast are pretty famous (Seth Rogen, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, David Cross, and Kate Hudson) but their characters are somewhat background noise if you take the entire runtime into consideration. What I was really impressed by was the villain. And that's not a statement I feel like I say very often. J.K. Simmons voices Kai, a violent warrior ox, who has some great character design including a pair of glowing, jade, Kratos-esque chain blades. For a children's film, he's a pretty formidable force to be reckoned with and I thought he stole the show each time he was on screen. 

With these characters, Panda achieves some amazing (and really cool) action sequences. There are a couple highlights throughout but the opening one which occurs in the immortal realm -- meaning physics are even further thrown out the window -- is absolutely incredible. The animation is of a AAA videogame cutscene quality throughout and while it's always impressive, the action sequences are where it's more so. I always enjoy a great amount of color in my animated films and Kung Fu Panda 3 is filled to the brim with greens, blues, purples, pinks, yellows...it's really a pretty film to look at and a lot of this is because of the honoring of its Chinese culture. 

"Hello from the other side!...of the room."

The film isn't perfect though and over the course of its 95 minutes I do wish it would have broken the mold a bit more as it's awfully predictable. Additionally, I think the film earned some really poignant moments, especially near the end, but they're often "ruined" by Po being, well, Po. It makes the kids laugh every time, sure, but there were a couple times I just wish the film would have let its dramatic beats settle before trying to be playful again...something I think the How To Train Your Dragon films do really well if we want to keep this a Dreamworks comparison. 

Kung Fu Panda 3 still won't make the series one of my favorite animated ones, but for a third installment of a nearly 10 year old franchise, it's stronger than one might believe thanks to a great lead character, well designed villain, some awesome action, and a little humor and heart along the way. A solid way to wrap up a rather quiet month!

CONS:

• Predictable and unoriginal story
• Not as funny as one might hope
• Many of the side characters don't get much to do
• It doesn't take the time to simmer it's more dramatic portions that it earns
• Much more heavily aimed at children than adults

PROS:

• Jack Black is still great as Po and the character is a well written, fun one
• Bryan Cranston has a great supporting role
• Kai is an awesome villain and J.K. Simmons does a solid job making him menacing
• Superb animation and awesome action sequences, especially that first one
• There are some solid laughs here and there
• Sports a few heartfelt moments despite the predictable nature
• Colorful and pays a lot of homage to Chinese culture
• Highly enjoyable and short + sweet

Rath's Review Score: 8/10