Kung Fu Panda 3

Now here is a real and very pleasant surprise.  You would expect the latest installment of a beloved franchise like Kung Fu Panda being released in the dreary early days of the year would be a sign of trouble for the franchise.  Instead, Kung Fu Panda 3 is utterly charming, and just as likable as the previous two.  This is a series that has really grown on me over time, and has easily become my favorite films to come out from Dreamworks' fledgling animation studio.

We once again follow Po, the rotund and extremely likable martial arts panda hero.  He is also once again voiced by Jack Black, whose performance has easily made Po one of the most endearing animated heroes in recent memory in the past films, and is even better here.  Over the years, Po has embraced his place as the "Dragon Warrior", the legendary hero chosen by the wise and benevolent tortoise mentor Oogway (voice by Randall Duk Kim) to protect his village, and lead the Furious Five, a band of animal martial artists which includes the quick Monkey (Jackie Chan) and the stoic Tigress (Angelina Jolie).  But when his patient and sometimes long-suffering teacher, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), suddenly and unexpectedly tells Po that the time has come to teach the other students in the art of Kung Fu, it quickly seems that Po may be in over his head.  He may be the Dragon Warrior, but that doesn't mean he has the skill to successfully teach others.

Poor Po feels defeated, until he gets an unexpected surprise when his long-lost father, Li (Bryan Cranston), arrives in town to seek out his son.  The two are reunited and instantly bond.  Followers of the franchise know that over the years, Po has lived under the care and guidance of his adoptive father, the noodle shop owner Mr. Ping (James Hong), who just happens to be a goose.  Now that his adoptive son's biological father has returned, Ping feels threatened, and fears that he will lose Po.  This family triangle between Po and his two fathers generates some honestly emotional moments, as well as laughs, and is one of my favorite new angles that this sequel introduces to the main character.  However, Li's return also coincides with the return of another much more-menacing figure.  The brutal ox warlord Kai (J.K. Simmons) has found a way to return to the land of the living after being trapped in the spirit world for the past 500 years.  He plots to capture the spirit essence and energy (or "chi") of all the great Kung Fu masters, absorb their power and become invincible. 

All of this is mixed in with Po returning with Li to where he came from - a hidden village up in the mountains comprised entirely of pandas.  All this time, Po thought he was the only panda left in the world, and encountering an entire village of his kind is a total shock to the guy's very beliefs.  He plans to lead a relatively carefree life learning about the ways pandas move (they prefer to roll instead of walk), eat and generally live.  This is interrupted when the evil Kai arrives, seeking Po's chi.  It's at this point that Po must accept responsibility and teach his panda brothers and sisters the art of fighting so that they can protect their kind and way of life.  If Kung Fu Panda 3 sounds a bit plot heavy as I described it, especially for an animated family film, that's because it certainly can be at times.  But the swift screenplay by returning writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger never once gets bogged down.  It's generally funny with quite a few laugh out loud moments, very touching and endearing when it needs to be, and never once feels like its overreaching.

This is also just a simply beautiful movie to look at.  The film has a unique art style that mixes 2D and computer generated 3D animation at certain moments which really looks like nothing else out there.  Even the better stuff from Disney and Pixar doesn't often reach this level of detail and clarity.  There are also some wonderfully designed settings in the film, particularly the lost Panda Village and the ethereal Spirit Realm.  Directors Jennifer Yuh (who also directed Panda 2) and Alessandro Carloni fill the screen with so much detail, color and energy, but it never once becomes overwhelming.  They know how to perfectly balance the humor and fast paced action with more quiet moments.  The end result is the first animated feature since last year's Inside Out that can truly be enjoyed just as much, if not more so, by adults as it can be by kids.  The level of quality and care displayed here is probably what Dreamworks should have been doing all along.  If they had been doing stuff more of this quality, instead of forgettable fluff like Penguins of Madagascar and Home, they probably wouldn't be in the financial difficulty that they have been experiencing the past year or so.

It's rare to see such a top quality production like this in January, so I urge all families and fans of animation to support it.  Not only just so this wonderful franchise can continue, but also so that maybe we can get some other quality animated films this time of the year in the future, instead of disposable garbage like Norm of the North.  Kung Fu Panda 3 is filled with so much life, humor and spirit that it immediately becomes the first great film of 2016.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

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