Review of Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016) by Jesse O — 15 Jul 2016

You know, I don't remember much about the first Kung Fu Panda, but I remember not being overly in love with it. I mean, I gave it three stars, but it wasn't the type of movie that, at the time, would've overtaken Pixar's best works, and it still doesn't.

Because of that, I genuinely wasn't really that interested in Kung Fu Panda 2, even though it probably would've been another movie I enjoyed. So, I don't know why I even bothered renting this movie, call it more of an impulse rental.

I know I probably didn't need to have watched the second movie to find enjoyment out of this one. And that's pretty much the case, because I thought this film was quite a bit of fun. I don't know much about Kung Fu Panda 2, I really don't, but what I liked about this film is that there are obvious steps taken to grow the character.

Whether that is by having Po finally meet his birth father, to going back to the panda village, to him mastering chi. I think, at the very least, there's a concerted effort to make sure that this movie doesn't, essentially, repeat what came before it.

From reading the description of the second movie, it might have felt a little familiar to the first one, so, at the very least, the effort was made to expand this. And with Chinese and martial arts mythology, there's literally (not literally) an endless number of ways to continue this franchise.

That was one of the things I lamented when I reviewed the first movie, the fact that they planned this out to be six movies. And I thought that was lame, because Shrek was still going on at the time and this was Shrek on its last legs so I figured how they'll avoid the same issues plaguing this franchise.

But, color me surprised, when I find out that they've managed to keep this franchise going without any real creative fatigue. With that said, as much as I did enjoy this movie, Bryan Cranston is always a more than welcome addition to any movie, even if it's just voice acting, it's not like this is Dreamworks at its best.

Dreamworks at its best has always been, to me, How to Train Your Dragon. While the Dragon franchise has its funny moments, Panda is meant to be the more casual of the two, with more of a focus comedy and less on serious narratives, which the Dragon films have dealt with.

And there's no problem with that, every film has their intended audience and tone, but I don't feel like this movie truly ever pushes into the realm of greatness. It's certainly better than A Good Dinosaur, Pixar's previous film before Finding Dory.

But I believe that Dreamworks could've made a better movie than that in their sleep. Not that this was made in their sleep, they clearly put in a lot of time and work into the technical aspects of the film, the animation is quite beautiful at times.

But, like I said, it doesn't make the push towards greatness and it's not like it was even close to it either. Realistically speaking, that isn't really much of a problem, because I still found myself really enjoying the movie.

I liked its tone, it was fast-paced and the action was actually kind of cool. I mean, for a CGi film anyway, it's not like this is The Raid of animated films. The voice acting is solid, though the Furious Five themselves take somewhat of a backseat.

I don't know if this was a good or bad decision, I haven't seen the second movie, so I can't really know if they were that interesting in the sequel to begin with. And, since I don't remember the first movie much, I can't really tell you if they were great or not.

I'd have liked to have seen more of them, to be sure, but it is what it is. At least there's a renewed focus on a more personal story, like Po's relationship with both of his fathers, his adoptive and biological one.

It's a simple story, but it works well. And, like I said, Bryan Cranston is great at anything he does. The climax in the spirit realm, to me, is one of the highlights of the film. It's just a cool climax, to me.

Someone may disagree with me and they're well within their rights to, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. Can't really say much else about this movie. It takes steps in the right directions in order to ensure that the film can continue for, perhaps, another movie or two.

With Chinese mythology being as vast as it is, they can pretty much borrow from that continue to franchise. Here's to hoping they keep making the right decisions. This was a good movie and I would definitely recommend it as a rental.