Kung Fu Panda 3 - directed by Alessandro Carloni & Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Starring: Jack Black, Bryan Cranston, Angelina Jole, J.K Simmons, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Wayne Knight, Kate Hudson, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong, Randall Duk Kim, Jean-Claude Van Damme
Screenplay: Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger
Music Score by: Hans Zimmer
Cinematography: n/a (animated)
Edited by: Clare De Chenu
Running Time: 95 minutes
Rated: PG - Animated, kid friendly Violence
While not a huge fan of the Kung Fu Panda movies I was reasonably excited for this one simple because the second one was a step up from the first and there is always the hope that this is a trend.
Plus the voice cast is pretty damned good with the already impressive crew of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross and James hong now joined by Bryan Cranston, J.K Simmons and Wayne Knight for this third outing.
Traditionally one of the first things that I look for with animated movies is how impressive the visuals are.
While not necessarily indicative of the overall quality I am nonetheless always fascinated by how far things have come since the first Toy Story.
Sure enough Kung Fu Pand is quite a looker.
The fur shaders, colour pallette, alpha effects and character animations are all top notch.
We don't really get to see this until the movie proper kicks in as this one begins with a prologue sequence set in the spirit world where we see the villainous Kai (Simmons) taking on and defeating Oogway (randall Duk Kim)
It is still a visually pleasing sequence but pales next to the 'real' world environments that include misty mountains, waterfalls, sprawling green fields and stunning blue blossom orchards.
It is in the real world that the victorious Kai is now able to appear intent on ruling the entire land of China.
To do this he must absorb the Chi (think of it as the lifeforce) of the other masters.
That would be Tigress, Shifu, Mantis, Monkey and Crane.
Oh, and of course Po - the Kung Fu Panda himself.
Complicating matters is the arrival of Po's real Father (excellent voice work from Bryan Cranston)
It is this scene a good twenty minutes in that provides the first decent laugh.
There was the sneaking suspicion up until then that one wasn't going to arrive and frankly this does turn out to be the least funny of the three movies overall.
It is also the least dramatically compelling and comes with the feeling that they are stretching this franchise well beyond the limits of its premise.
Po must be a bungling figure and yet still masterful when the need for a hero arises.
There is only so much you can do with that.
"Kung Fu Panda 3" simply drops in some previously unknown history, a new character or two including the revelation of Po's Father and makes a new conflict out of it.
In this case that is that Po must re-train as a Panda (whatever that means!) and learn to master Chi in order to defeat Kai.
He doesn't know this as Kai arrives after his new Father has already whisked him away to a remote and allegedly secret Panda village to perfect the arts of rolling down hills, eating vastly more dumplings than ever before and sleeping until after noon.
(I say allegedly secret village because another character is easily able to locate it later when required to)
So, yes- they are basically undoing all that Po learned in the first two movies so that he can learn again to defeat Kai.
I am not suggesting that story is the secret to the success of these films but there is no doubt that it is weaker here than previously.
This combined with fewer laughs make "Kung Fu Panda 3" easily the least of the three.
I found myself enjoying it more and more as it went on to be fair but that was down more to the expanded role of Mr Ping- Po's bird Father and the new character Li - Po's Panda Father.
Thanks to the brilliant voice work from James Hong as Ping and Bryan Cranston as Li the much needed laughs missing from the first half return at least to a degree in the latter half.
"Kung Fu Panda 3" is a decent animated film - in fact it is a good one.
It is entertaining and the quality of the animation is right up there.
It suffers from franchise fatigue and the good old indicators that going along with it.
Namely the feeling that the writers struggled to find an angle and resorted to adding stuff that was never previously mentioned.
I wasn't bored by this film after a worrying fifteen or so minutes at the start but I can't imagine that I will watch it again anytime soon.
It is a well executed piece of animation that needs a stronger story but it gets by on the good will generated by the previous two movies and by the talents of the voice cast.
RATING: 70 / 100
CONCLUSION: A solid entry that while disappointing set next to its predecessors is still fun enough. Thanks to James Hong and Bryan Cranston the laughs - although scarce- are good.
Screenplay: Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger
Music Score by: Hans Zimmer
Cinematography: n/a (animated)
Edited by: Clare De Chenu
Running Time: 95 minutes
Rated: PG - Animated, kid friendly Violence
While not a huge fan of the Kung Fu Panda movies I was reasonably excited for this one simple because the second one was a step up from the first and there is always the hope that this is a trend.
Plus the voice cast is pretty damned good with the already impressive crew of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross and James hong now joined by Bryan Cranston, J.K Simmons and Wayne Knight for this third outing.
Traditionally one of the first things that I look for with animated movies is how impressive the visuals are.
While not necessarily indicative of the overall quality I am nonetheless always fascinated by how far things have come since the first Toy Story.
Sure enough Kung Fu Pand is quite a looker.
The fur shaders, colour pallette, alpha effects and character animations are all top notch.
We don't really get to see this until the movie proper kicks in as this one begins with a prologue sequence set in the spirit world where we see the villainous Kai (Simmons) taking on and defeating Oogway (randall Duk Kim)
It is still a visually pleasing sequence but pales next to the 'real' world environments that include misty mountains, waterfalls, sprawling green fields and stunning blue blossom orchards.
 |
| Bryan Cranston as Li and James Hong as Mr Ping - superb voice work |
To do this he must absorb the Chi (think of it as the lifeforce) of the other masters.
That would be Tigress, Shifu, Mantis, Monkey and Crane.
Oh, and of course Po - the Kung Fu Panda himself.
Complicating matters is the arrival of Po's real Father (excellent voice work from Bryan Cranston)
It is this scene a good twenty minutes in that provides the first decent laugh.
There was the sneaking suspicion up until then that one wasn't going to arrive and frankly this does turn out to be the least funny of the three movies overall.
It is also the least dramatically compelling and comes with the feeling that they are stretching this franchise well beyond the limits of its premise.
Po must be a bungling figure and yet still masterful when the need for a hero arises.
There is only so much you can do with that.
"Kung Fu Panda 3" simply drops in some previously unknown history, a new character or two including the revelation of Po's Father and makes a new conflict out of it.
In this case that is that Po must re-train as a Panda (whatever that means!) and learn to master Chi in order to defeat Kai.
He doesn't know this as Kai arrives after his new Father has already whisked him away to a remote and allegedly secret Panda village to perfect the arts of rolling down hills, eating vastly more dumplings than ever before and sleeping until after noon.
(I say allegedly secret village because another character is easily able to locate it later when required to)
So, yes- they are basically undoing all that Po learned in the first two movies so that he can learn again to defeat Kai.
 |
| J.K Simmons voices Kai (the villain - in case you couldn't tell) |
This combined with fewer laughs make "Kung Fu Panda 3" easily the least of the three.
I found myself enjoying it more and more as it went on to be fair but that was down more to the expanded role of Mr Ping- Po's bird Father and the new character Li - Po's Panda Father.
Thanks to the brilliant voice work from James Hong as Ping and Bryan Cranston as Li the much needed laughs missing from the first half return at least to a degree in the latter half.
"Kung Fu Panda 3" is a decent animated film - in fact it is a good one.
It is entertaining and the quality of the animation is right up there.
It suffers from franchise fatigue and the good old indicators that going along with it.
Namely the feeling that the writers struggled to find an angle and resorted to adding stuff that was never previously mentioned.
I wasn't bored by this film after a worrying fifteen or so minutes at the start but I can't imagine that I will watch it again anytime soon.
It is a well executed piece of animation that needs a stronger story but it gets by on the good will generated by the previous two movies and by the talents of the voice cast.
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