KUNG FU PANDA 3 (Theatrical Release USA 2016)

Ben Meyers’ rating: 4.0|5.0 Starsìììì

Kung Fu Panda 3—much better than the last two, some flat dialog spots—overall, is a fairly good animated movie.

Film Poster Courtesy of Wikipedia

Storyline

Po (voice of Jack Black) becomes the new teacher of Master Shifu’s school, but becomes unsure of his abilities due to injuries sustained by the Furious Five under his tutelage. He goes home to Mr. Ping (voice of James Hong) and meets a panda named Li Shan (voice of Bryan Cranston) who has broken Po’s record for eating dumplings. Po finds out that Li Shan is his biological father. Kai (voice of J.K. Simmons), a spiritual being who is told he will be defeated by a Dragon Warrior, becomes mortal and begins searching for Po. Po needs to learn Chi in order to fight this new evil. Po’s biological father says he can teach Po this skill. They travel to a panda village where Po discovers his biological father knows nothing about Chi. Po begins training for the fight with Kai. Villagers say they will help him fight. Po realizes the best teacher/warriors are those who use their innate abilities and assets to wage necessary war. His friends unite to successfully battle Kai.

Additional Thanks

 Great Work for Director Alessandro Carloni and Jennifer Yuh Nelson. Thank you to Executive Producers Guillermo del Toro, Mike Mitchell, La Peikang, and Rui Gang Li for making the film possible.  Additional characters/cast include: Master Shifu (voice Dustin Hoffman), Tigress (voice Angelina Jolie-Pitt), Monkey (voice of Jackie Chan), Mantis (voice of Seth Rogen), Viper (voice of Lucy Liu), Crane (voice of David Cross), Mei Mei (voice of Kate Hudson), Bao (voice Steele Gagnon), Lei Lei (voice of Liam Knight), Master Oogway (voice of Randall Duk Kim), Big Fun/Hom-Lee ( voice of Wayne Knight), Grandma Panda (voice of Barbara Dirickson), and Sum (voice of Al Roker).

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?

Yes. Even though this is a sequel in a series of three, it stands on its own as a story and  can be shared by the child and adult with equal enjoyment. If you have to see one film of the series, this movie is the best of three.

Video Critique Available Here:

Ben Meyers