Kung Fu Panda 3

Kung Fu Panda is yet another solid entry in the Kung Fu Panda film series. It should be noted that while it's subjective, my opinion is that Kung Fu Panda 3 is ever so slightly the weakest of the franchise, but that's not a knock on the film. Kung Fu Panda 3 is often funny, beautifully animated, and features great characters. This is another great animated film for the entire family, that will surely delight people of all ages.

The tone of Kung Fu Panda 3 is a somewhat silly one, much like the other Kung Fu Panda films, however it does a good job of balancing mature themes with silly humor. The film also does a good job of balancing both subtle and witty humor with more bombastic and silly humor. The humor is bolstered by the terrific voice acting of the entire cast, which is as per usual great. Many times throughout this film I found myself laughing hysterically.

Another impressive element of the film is the amazing animation in this film. It may seem like every animated film features beautiful animation, but the animation in this film is truly amazing. Another impressive element of the animation is the action, which in an animated film may not seem like something to watch for, but the action sequences in Kung Fu Panda 3 are amazing. Many times watching this film the animation is so good it looks real, which is in it's own right an amazing accomplishment.

The film's pacing is great, but what's even better is the character development. With a story that isn't the strongest, the characters keep the film entertaining. Besides the villain, a character who feels like a forced conflict thrown in just to give the film drama, all of the characters in this film have some kind of development. Many of the characters are relatable, which helps the audience care about them. With characters that the audience can relate to and root for, the consequences of the film feel even heavier.

In Conclusion Kung Fu Panda 3 is a great fun film for the entire film with a little bit of something for everyone. The film is gorgeously animated, features well developed characters, great action sequences, good voice acting, and a terrific sense of humor. Despite the weak villain, occasionally silly tone, and some clichés the film is still very enjoyable. If you have some young kids take them to this film you'll all enjoy it.

The first 'Kung Fu Panda' film is a solid film, colourful and fun with thrilling action and engaging characters. The second film is even better, darker and more emotional while never forgetting to be entertaining, with the best villain in the series.

'Kung Fu Panda 3' is not as good as the previous two films but there is plenty to make it well worth watching. It does contain three big flaws. As funny as the film is and how often hilarious the gags and dialogue are, 'Kung Fu Panda 3' does go overboard with the silliness and it does feel like it takes over everything else. Even in moments that are meant to be tense, like the confrontation between Po and Kai, they don't quite have the impact due to the humour getting in the way and it does jar.

The film's villain Kai is the least interesting and least developed of the 'Kung Fu Panda' franchise, a huge disappointment after the previous film did such a wonderful job with Shen, one of those villains where you can understand why he's a threat but also to some extent understand his point of view. Kai certainly had potential. His first appearance was cool, suspenseful and wonderfully animated, the music in this scene fitted perfectly with the scene and a contender for the highlight of the soundtrack and JK Simmons clearly has a ball, booms ominously and demonstrates that he was born to play villains. However Kai compared to the previous two villains is rather one-dimensional, the Oogway conflict is forced and not enough is done with it and his motivations are not interesting or clear enough (not to mention clichéd).

Lastly, the secondary characters and Po's friends are rather sidelined at the expense of the relationship between Po and his father, which admittedly is very nicely done, with their personalities somewhat bland. Tigress is the least wasted, showing some personality, but Shifu and Viper are especially wronged and criminally underused.

However, the animation is really superb and some of the best and most inventive of the franchise. It is so vibrantly coloured, the backgrounds are fluid and very meticulously detailed, the editing has much finesse and the characters are well designed and modelled. The jombies, the nickname of the jade zombies, are splendidly realised in animation and personality. The soundtrack is incredibly dynamic, but also provides some tension and emotional depth, Kai's first entrance music is my personal favourite.

Dialogue is zany and hilarious, loved the rapport between Po and his father, and the gags are cleverly animated and mostly are incredibly funny, apart from a few going on for too long and a bit too silly. The action is thrilling and filled with so much energy and the repartee is sharp. The story is admittedly predictable, but is efficiently paced, a lot of fun and provides plenty of thrills and emotional depth (the latter especially applies to the relationship between Po and his father). The life-lessons are well incorporated and never feel shoe-forced, I just wish that the humour despite being very entertaining was toned down. Loved the homage to 'Seven Samurai' too.

While the characters and their developments are among the weakest assets of the film, they do engage enough. Po is still likable and Li Shan is a welcome addition. Mei Mei avoids being too annoying while not necessarily adding to the plot. The voice acting is terrific, Po has always been one of Jack Black's most tolerable and likable roles and he still delivers, Bryan Cranston shies away from his usual persona and entertains hugely and as aforementioned JK Simmons really impresses as Kai. The others, with Angelina Jolie being the standout, are solid though their material could have been much better.

Overall, while the weakest of the 'Kung Fu Panda' films, 'Kung Fu Panda 3' is good solid fun, the 'Kung Fu Panda' films being one of those rare film franchises where all the films so far are good. 7/10 Bethany Cox

The third chapter in DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda series may have the effervescent wit, lighthearted flavour & exciting kung fu action of the earlier chapters but it lacks a compelling story, weighty character evolution & the awareness of where to draw the line for this latest entry fails to find the near-perfect balance between its genre elements, something its predecessors excelled at with relative ease.

The story of Kung Fu Panda 3 continues the awesome journey of the Dragon Warrior as we find Po reuniting with his biological father in addition to being bestowed with the role of teacher, following Master Shifu's retirement. But when an ancient spirit warrior with the ability to steal other warriors' chi returns to the mortal world & hunts the Dragon Warrior, Po travels with his father to their secret panda village to master ways of defeating the enemy.

Co-directed by Jennifer Yuh & Alessandro Carloni, the issue I have with this feature is that its story lacks a coherent structure, it is difficult to connect with any of the characters for their arcs needed a lot more refinement, and there are plenty of moments that add nothing to the story. The previous chapters were able to find outrageous moments of hilarity in a well-timed & clever fashion but here its attempt at humour feels a bit too forced, needlessly silly & uneven for the most part.

Comedy when done right can amuse both the kids & grown-ups but the filmmakers have chosen to target the younger audience more this time. There are still plenty of laugh-out-loud moments that are done well but for the most part, it neither enriches the overall experience nor moves the story forward. The computer animation is still worthy of praise and retains the rich, colourful textures of past two instalments. Editing is a letdown for the narrative lacks a smooth, uniform flow. And Hans Zimmer's score isn't striking either.

On an overall scale, Kung Fu Panda 3 is an overkill for its emphasis on desperately finding ways to make its audience laugh ultimately backfires and while it works as a quite relaxing, enjoyable & amusing flick, it fails to duplicate the high scores that the previous chapters garnered in all departments of filmmaking. Certainly not worth the five year wait, exhibiting signs of weariness & marred by lazy writing, Kung Fu Panda 3 fails to properly implement the formula that turned the first two films of the franchise into instant classics right away.

After the fantastic first movie where Po is a classic hero after being a loser, where the villain has his own story and where the others play a role making Po the character he is, came a second movie with a dark, deep and personal story greatly told, and now we have just an excuse to make Po even more bada** fighting a villain nobody cares for and who came out of nowhere. This makes me sad because it was getting more "mature". But I understand it is a kids movie, so it's still entertaining and pleasant to watch, and I'm pretty sure the kids love this movie.

The Good Stuff (in order of awesomeness)

1. Superb animation and various art styles used. Hits are emphasized well with excellent sound design and voice acting. Good action.

2. Jokes are (mostly) good, made me laugh out loud multiple times.

3. The plot and pacing is pretty good and character development is adequate.

The Bad Stuff (in order of amplitude)

1. Antagonist is not really memorable with vanilla personality and motivation.

2. Film is obviously meant for a young-ish audience and contains some irritating slapstick and bad jokes.

3. 99% of Panda characters are completely forgettable.

Should you watch it: Probably, yes. I can't stress enough how good some of the visuals are.