Review of Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016) by Diogomendes — 23 Mar 2016

As expected, this movie was inferior to its predecessors, making it a very mediocre output in DreamWork's track record. Maybe entertaining for the little kids, but not so much for the more matured. I didn't laugh more than five times during my viewing of this film, and yep, that is a pretty bad signal. Having in consideration that Kung Fu Panda 3 was relying on slapstick and cheap humor every minute and then - even with the non-Po related scenes - it's really sad to see this kind of work being this dull, especially when Jack Black is voicing a dork, big panda and J.K. Simmons the bad guy. If something, that allowed for some great casting choice. Some of the actors meant to portray the rest of the Furious Five were underused, per usual, leaving the fantastic Bryan Cranston as Po's biological father to do the heavy lifting. His performance wasn't stellar, but he did good given the material involved.

The plot is thinner and a stupid excuse to show off more bright animation, but even the latter didn't stand out quite as much as it did in previous installments. The fight scenes looked more like concept arts than real animation, which I deeply loathed. Logically, this movie is necessary, but if the plot is something like: "Bad guy wants to destroy character X because he adores power", then you know what you're getting into. It sounded really vague and not in the least interesting.

The comedy is repetitive, the plot is half-baked, and really there isn't anything worth mentioning besides the cast and animation. There few laughs in the theater I was in, and some moments of dullness. It's rare but I almost fell asleep during it. Almost. Watching a panda cracking jokes and going from one place to another is not my idea for entertainment. But then again, who cares? It is a movie made for children.