Jasonic's Favorites: Kung Fu Panda 3
Hello, and good evening, Internet!
Kung Fu Panda 1-3 are a perfect trilogy in my mind and though I have yet to see the 4th one, I am thankful for this series now.
Released in 2016, Kung Fu Panda 3 was the inevitable third installment in the Kung Fu Panda trilogy -- now quadrilogy as of last year. After the second one succeeded in the eyes of many kids and adults, expectations for were high for this one to do well, if not surpass its predecessors. Financially, it did great despite being the lowest-grossing film in the series according to Wikipedia. Critical responses were certainly close to the other movies and while fan and audience opinions may vary, there are plenty who believe this caps off the original trilogy of Kung Fu Panda pretty neatly. While I didn't get to see this movie immediately due to being deep in college studies when it came out, I eventually watched it due to a renewed interest in Kung Fu Panda in recent years and I see where some people are coming from as far as it being an enjoyable movie and "conclusion" to its predecessors as well as how it doesn't quite live up to standards set by the second movie. I, personally, don't mind as I am a firm believer in "the trilogy" structure popularized by Star Wars, Back to the Future, The Dark Knight, and other prime examples; that said, while the second movie was certainly The Empire Strikes Back of its trilogy, this one is no doubt Return of the Jedi with its lighter tone while maintaining serious themes, its major focus on a village full of cuddly animals, Po's development, and the rounding out of its trilogy arc while leaving potential room to continue the story. Comparisons to Star Wars aside, I do believe it works well as its own movie, a continuation of the previous two movies, and a third movie conclusion. With that said, do I believe it deserves any of the criticisms people give it when comparing it to the previous movies as well as a trilogy conclusion and a movie on its own? To find out, I believe this movie is worth a visit to the movie's Spirit Realm; without further adieu, let's warm up our kung fu instincts, gather all the chi we can, and skadoosh our way into the third movie of Kung Fu Panda!
*SPOILERS* (unless you don't care about that for animated movies, in which case, be my guest)
The movie picks up a while after Kung Fu Panda 2 left off; in it, Master Oogway (voiced by Randall Duk Kim) does is best to find inner peace in the Spirit Realm before being greeted by an evil spirit warrior, his brother-in-arms from 500 years ago, General Kai (voiced by J.K. Simmons). Kai manages to overpower Oogway who warns Kai of the one destined to defeat him before Kai steals his chi and returns to the mortal world. Meanwhile, in the Valley of Peace, the panda Dragon Warrior, Po (voiced by Jack Black), and the Furious Five are going about their daily lives only to find out that their longtime kung fu teacher, Master Shifu (voiced by Dustin Hoffman), is retiring as their teacher and leaving his duties in the hands of Po who feels unfit to teach anyone. Things go expectedly unwell -- "humiliating" according to Po -- when Po attempts to imitate Shifu's teaching style and everyone mocks him for it; funny enough, Shifu anticipated this and informs Po that he must learn to be less like him (Shifu) and more like himself in order to unlock his true potential. In the process, he learns of the concept of chi, the spiritual energy that Oogway learned to master in a cave for 30 years by himself, which Shifu demonstrates by restoring a flower to life. While Kai attempts to go collect the chi of the current kung fu masters in the mortal realm, Po is unexpectedly reunited with his birth father, Li Shan (voiced by Bryan Cranston), who received a message from the universe to come to the Valley of Peace, meet Po, and teach him the power of chi in order to defeat Kai. Po and Li Shan bond by playing around in the Jade Palace before Shifu and the Furious Five learn of the presence of jade zombies as they attack the village; together they manage to overpower them, learning of their connection to Kai as well as his plan to steal all chi from every living kung fu master. Shifu and the Five then find a scroll on Kai and Oogway's history and how they learned of chi from a village of pandas before Kai chose to steal it for himself, Oogway being forced to banish his friend to the Spirit Realm. Li Shan then informs Po that the secret panda village he hails from can teach Po how to master chi as well as learn how to be a proper panda; still struggling to know who he really is, Po accepts his invite, his adoptive goose dad, Mr. Ping (voiced by James Hong), stowing away in hopes to get between Po and his real dad out of jealousy. Upon the panda village greeting Po with open arms, Po learns over time what it really means to be a panda while anticipating that soon enough his birth dad will teach him the process of perfecting his chi. What he and the other pandas learn soon enough is that to perfect such spiritual energy involves learning less about imitating someone else and more about being true to oneself.
Right off the bat, the setup maintains some seriousness while focusing mostly on lighthearted scenarios for at least the first half of the movie. Some say that after the deeper, more reflective seriousness of Kung Fu Panda 2 that this is to the movie's detriment as a sequel to it; however, as a fan of this franchise and "the trilogy" format I mentioned earlier, I honestly don't mind. Everything from Po doing his best attempt to imitate Shifu's training style, to bonding with his birth dad, to the antics around the panda village has that signature Kung Fu Panda humor and charm that it honestly makes me laugh more than any other movie in the series so far. Star Wars demonstrated with Return of the Jedi that some levity in the third installment after the darkness of the second is necessary and I believe it works okay here in setting up Po's eventual lesson for himself and everyone else about perfecting the element of chi in his world of kung fu. It's actually quite the subversion in the sense that you would expect the lazy, comedic antics of pandas to be their downfall unless they manned up and started taking themselves and kung fu seriously in order to defeat Kai; the writers ensured this type of cliche could be avoided by making the lesson about being true to yourself just as potent as the morals of the previous two movies. I watched a YouTube video predating Kung Fu Panda 4 called "Why Kung Fu Panda is a Pefect Trilogy" and it honestly explained better how well the first three movies work thematically better than I could initially. Basically, what the video said was that Kung Fu Panda 1 was about mastering the body, Kung Fu Panda 2 was about mastering the mind, and Kung Fu Panda 3 was about mastering the spirit. With those three elements linking the trilogy in Po's journey to master being the Dragon Warrior, the initial three movies at least are the perfect trifecta, which is why I believe that storywise, Kung Fu Panda 3 rounds out its trilogy well. I'd even argue that starting off with mostly lighthearted comedic elements sets up for some more serious ideas in the second half; starting at the midway point, Po's birth dad reminisces about the wife/mother they both lost, effectively reminding Po and the audience of the trauma that surfaced that he learned to accept by the end of the second movie. The placement of this scene does a great job of reminding us where Po came from and what he came to terms with without completely retreading that plot point as we are given the additional perspective of his father sharing what his mother was like, if not only protective of her son. Certainly, this wouldn't have helped if the whole movie wasted time dwelling on the past that Po learned to let go of and for that I'm thankful that the movie is more about embracing the future despite its uncertainties.
While all the movies have fantastic animation for both the computer animated an stylized hand drawn segments, this movie honestly takes the cake in terms of how well it creates art with animation. The film unexpectedly opens with what YouTuber CinemaWins can only describe as a "Kung Fu Panda style DreamWorks logo"; basically, it's a hand drawn segment where Po is doing his least favorite thing -- climbing stairs -- to reach the half moon and sit upon it with a fishing rod much like the regular DreamWorks boy in their standard logo. A striking feature I didn't notice until rewatching his video was that the logo Po transitions into cherry blossom petals that swirl around a yin and yang symbol, effecitvely foreshadowing Po's transition to the Spirit Realm with the same symbolism at the climax of the movie; this was one of a few 2D to 3D animation transitions in the opening alone. That said, following Oogway and Kai's opening confrontation, we are treated to an epic introduction/entrance of Po and the Furious Five making their way across the valley, which subtly transitions between 3D computer animation and 2D hand drawn animation as they race across a sunset landscape with comic styled panels showcasing them running and leaping across rooftops. This action intro along got me hyped for the movie to come. The 3D to 2D transitions continue throughout the montages such as the one at the 30-minute mark that color codes each area and time of day as Po and his dads are venturing across China to find the secret panda village -- Mr. Ping is stowing away in Po's food sack for most of it, but still, Po is traveling with both his dads. For the sake of not sounding like a broken record, this stylized form of animation is repeated once more in Po's training montage of the entire panda village -- a whole sequence that comedically leaves Tigress (voiced by Angelina Jolie) in an increasingly more progressive state of disbelief. Perhaps the best example of animation in the entire movie is the climactic battle between Po commanding a chi dragon to battle Kai one final time in the Spirit Realm. The sequence starts off with the realm's backdrop coated in green, displaying that the conflict is in Kai's favor before Po unlocks his true form and the backdrop transitions to his standard color of yellowish gold. It's a moment where one would expect Po to start acting serious for the sake of a more epic climax and yet the moment the chi dragon forms around him, he laughs in excitement. As he laughs, the projected dragon bouncily laughs with him, showing that while Po has unlocked his full potential as the Dragon Warrior, he still finds all sorts of reasons and ways to be the jovial guy he is. The subsequent spirit battle with Po in his dragon form showcases all sorts of Po's epic ways in which he utilizes his panda anatomy to slap Kai around with both his belly and butt and they even throw in the typical Kung Fu Panda slow mo villain face smashing trend that started with Tai Lung -- Lord Shen did not have a moment like that, come to think of it, but each Kung Fu Panda has comedic slow motion segments no less. It's all these stylized animation elements getting progressively more creative with each movie being the reason why I think Kung Fu Panda 3 has the best animation in the series -- so far from what I've seen.
As with every Kung Fu Panda, the all-star voice cast does a stellar job of bringing their characters to life and even disappearing into their roles all without making their inclusion an oversaturated selling point of the movie. Jack Black still blends well with Po, becoming the character throughout his various emotions; whether he's comical, jovial, fanboying, or resentful of his birth father, he hits all the right notes and brings him to life in a meaningful way. Dustin Hoffman once more is an excellent Master Shifu with his genuine wisdom he imprints onto Po to his more comical moments like the "Dramatic Exit" and, as always, he never misses a beat. Angelina Jolie is still a great Tigress, her voice and personality disappearing so well into her role that she feels like a totally different person in it. As with every Kung Fu Panda movie thus far, the Furious Five and their actors aren't given much to do, but do a great job with what they're given with fun roles like Lucy Liu as Viper, Jackie Chan as Monkey, Seth Rogen as Mantis, and David Cross as Crane. The latter two are actually given a small bit more screentime and interaction with each other, going on a brief side mission to track down Kai and apprehend him while having silly interactions about their animal traits starting with Crane saying "Wings of Surveillance"; this results in a comical discussion with Mantis chastising Crane for trying to sound cool and it's some much needed interaction between characters who haven't had much screentime -- outside of maybe the Kung Fu Panda shows, but I have never seen them. Most certainly though, there are some great additions to the cast this time around starting with Bryan Cranston as Li Shan; I saw a bit of Malcolm in the Middle growing up and lemme tell ya, a lot of Cranston's comedic roots from that show and elsewhere are present here. After a whole generation knew him for the much more depressing and dramatic Breaking Bad, having him be the fun, silly and even genuine and hearfelt birth dad of Po allowed for him to show more familiar ranges he's known for. Perhaps the best addition would be J.K. Simmons as General Kai; as one of my favorite actors for his brilliance in live action (J. Jonah Jameson especially), J.K. Simmons knows how to bring comedic energy and charisma to his animated roles just as well. Kai is certainly the most threatening presence yet in the Kung Fu Panda series what with his spirit warrior capabilities and while Simmons' acting certainly reflects that when needed, his standard comedic energy also shows in moments like towards the beginning when the farmers he encounters don't know who he is while he's explaining himself as well as right at the climax when he "thanks" Po for remembering him by his titles. The way he also laughs in Po's face for attempting the Wuxi Finger Hold on him exudes the usual J.K. Simmons energy as well, making Kai a formidable presence who knows how to have fun when necessary. And I absolutely canNOT go without saying that Randall Duk Kim's smaller, but still significant performance as Oogway is certainly a win; the humility and golden energy of Oogway's wisdom makes a grand return here when he wasn't in the second movie in any way, but regardless, Kung Fu Panda wouldn't have the story it does without Oogway and the character's return was a great opportunity for the actor to return with his usual energy.
If there's anything else I actually enjoy about this movie besides the music (Kai's theme being a prime example), it would have to be the action and gags. Some have complained that there isn't enough kung fu fist fighting in this movie, but I don't see it as much of a detriment; the fight scene combatants, for one, are not inherently evil like Lord Shen's wolves were and are instead good kung fu master corrupted by Kai's influence so as a result, Po and most others are trying not to hurt them so much as keep them at bay. This especially becomes apparent when the corrupted green Master Shifu goes for Po and Po keeps away not wanting to hurt him at all out of pure respect before his two dads come at him (the corrupted Shifu) with their "Double Dad Defense". My aforementioned praise of the climactic Spirit Realm battle also applies here as Po with his chi dragon and Kai are exchanging spiritual energy blows with each other, tying in neatly to the themes of mastering the spirit. That said, even if the kung fu fighting isn't as prevalent here as it was in past installments, I don't mind it thematically or storywise at all because it makes sense for what they're trying to portray. DreamWorks films are also known for their fun, memorable gags throughout and Kung Fu Panda 3 is no exception; I mentioned earlier how Crane and Mantis had a comical argument about Crane trying to sound like he had cool powers by adding "Wings of..." to the front of his actions to which Mantis tells him essentially that that's lame because it's like if he were to say "Antenna of Power" when no such power emits from his antenna. And the funniest part about that is when he attempts to use that imaginary power to combat Kai in their encounter inside the wrecked ship, Mantis panicking that it didn't work; Crane then follows that by attempting to combat Kai himself only to get wrangled up and exclaim, "Wings of... Regret!" and immediately have his chi stolen. It's moments like this that turn what would be a purely dire situation in non-comedy movies into moments of laughter for kids and adults. I'm also just as fond of some of the gags that the panda villagers have, the cutest no doubt being the young panda girl who repeatedly calls Po's Tigress action figure "stripy baby". The way that young panda also makes the connection upon seeing the real Tigress is just as adorable when she hugs Tigress and says "big stripy baby" and it's even more heartfelt when she uses the "stripy baby" phrase again as her proclamation of her identity when the whole village bands together to save Po with their chi powers. These particular gags and comedy bits among others are certainly more noticeable upon a second viewing, which this was mine for this movie and while that's not a knock against this movie, that shows that some fun movies are worth a second viewing for better appreciation of the content they have. With all that said, I do believe that Kung Fu Panda 3, even if not the absolute best of its series, is just as worthwhile as the previous movies and I enjoy all of what I've seen very much.
As a more recent Kung Fu Panda fan, I have grown to appreciate at least the first three movies for what they are, the third film being no exception. This one, while a lot lighter with its comedic tone, still finds ways to be genuine, potent, and heartfelt, it has the best animation in the series thus far, continues to make great use of its actors old and returning, and has more unique action setpieces and great comedic gags. While I still believe that the second film is the best in the series with the first one being my second favorite, I still believe that all the films have merit, this one especially for closing out the original trilogy of films as well as it did. Watching it again when I still haven't seen the fourth movie as of yet makes me want to actually see where it continues and whether or not I'll think it's actually good; sure, I have heard mixed reviews about the fourth installment, which is to be expected with most animated serieses that go beyond a trilogy, but because I love the initial trilogy of films so much, I'm willing to give it a chance. Even if it I don't think it's good, at least I'll still have this perfect trifecta of an animated trilogy to enjoy and, if I ever feel like it, there's still more Kung Fu Panda content to consume with the shows, games, and other stuff. So what do I think of this movie at the end of the day? Well, despite it being underrated by the general concensus, I firmly give it an A- and recommend it to fans of the first two films, enjoyers of kid and family films, fans of animation -- DreamWorks or otherwise -- and those who enjoy the many great films of Jack Black.
Thank you all for reading and I will see you in the next review!
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