Kung Fu Panda 3

After the fantastic first movie where Po is a classic hero after being a loser, where the villain has his own story and where the others play a role making Po the character he is, came a second movie with a dark, deep and personal story greatly told, and now we have just an excuse to make Po even more bada** fighting a villain nobody cares for and who came out of nowhere. This makes me sad because it was getting more "mature". But I understand it is a kids movie, so it's still entertaining and pleasant to watch, and I'm pretty sure the kids love this movie.

Kung fu panda is a concept so ridiculous that we think to ourselves.. it is actually genius. Jack Black returns as the lovable Po, and shows us just why we missed him so much in the years we had to wait. These films always deal with acceptance and Kung Fu Panda 3 is no exception, with an added family element. I give praise for this for the simple reason that Bryan Cranston is AWESOME and really stands out in a movie that already has some brilliant stars, he was so funny and heartwarming as Po's biological father and makes a welcome addition to the cast.

The story follows Po as he is asked to teach the furious 5 so Shifu can retire and master 'Chi'. After a bad session he meets his father by chance and finds out about a new supernatural threat from the spirit realm, played by the brilliant J.K Simmons. He adds his own stamp to this character and gives us a badass villain, like Cranston becoming a welcome edition. Po embarks on a journey to a secret panda village to himself master 'Chi' and take out Kai for good. So for a start the story is brilliant, it keeps everyone entertained and never lingers on for too long. The members of the furious 5 however do get less screen time, even Angelina Jolie's Tigress although she does play the biggest role of the 5. The standout for the limited screen time he has is Seth Rogen's Mantis. I don't know what it is but i love this character and wanted more of him.

If you are a fan of the other films in the Kung Fu Panda franchise like i am then you won't be disappointed. The film manages to stay on par with both previous films and has all the humour and kung fu action you can expect from it. If the franchise ended here i would be happy, i would love more from the characters and the world built around them, but i really don't want the franchise to outstay it's welcome at the same time. But anyway, go see Kung Fu Panda 3. It is much better than the forgettable London has Fallen and you won't regret it!

The Good Stuff (in order of awesomeness)

1. Superb animation and various art styles used. Hits are emphasized well with excellent sound design and voice acting. Good action.

2. Jokes are (mostly) good, made me laugh out loud multiple times.

3. The plot and pacing is pretty good and character development is adequate.

The Bad Stuff (in order of amplitude)

1. Antagonist is not really memorable with vanilla personality and motivation.

2. Film is obviously meant for a young-ish audience and contains some irritating slapstick and bad jokes.

3. 99% of Panda characters are completely forgettable.

Should you watch it: Probably, yes. I can't stress enough how good some of the visuals are.

The first 'Kung Fu Panda' film is a solid film, colourful and fun with thrilling action and engaging characters. The second film is even better, darker and more emotional while never forgetting to be entertaining, with the best villain in the series.

'Kung Fu Panda 3' is not as good as the previous two films but there is plenty to make it well worth watching. It does contain three big flaws. As funny as the film is and how often hilarious the gags and dialogue are, 'Kung Fu Panda 3' does go overboard with the silliness and it does feel like it takes over everything else. Even in moments that are meant to be tense, like the confrontation between Po and Kai, they don't quite have the impact due to the humour getting in the way and it does jar.

The film's villain Kai is the least interesting and least developed of the 'Kung Fu Panda' franchise, a huge disappointment after the previous film did such a wonderful job with Shen, one of those villains where you can understand why he's a threat but also to some extent understand his point of view. Kai certainly had potential. His first appearance was cool, suspenseful and wonderfully animated, the music in this scene fitted perfectly with the scene and a contender for the highlight of the soundtrack and JK Simmons clearly has a ball, booms ominously and demonstrates that he was born to play villains. However Kai compared to the previous two villains is rather one-dimensional, the Oogway conflict is forced and not enough is done with it and his motivations are not interesting or clear enough (not to mention clichéd).

Lastly, the secondary characters and Po's friends are rather sidelined at the expense of the relationship between Po and his father, which admittedly is very nicely done, with their personalities somewhat bland. Tigress is the least wasted, showing some personality, but Shifu and Viper are especially wronged and criminally underused.

However, the animation is really superb and some of the best and most inventive of the franchise. It is so vibrantly coloured, the backgrounds are fluid and very meticulously detailed, the editing has much finesse and the characters are well designed and modelled. The jombies, the nickname of the jade zombies, are splendidly realised in animation and personality. The soundtrack is incredibly dynamic, but also provides some tension and emotional depth, Kai's first entrance music is my personal favourite.

Dialogue is zany and hilarious, loved the rapport between Po and his father, and the gags are cleverly animated and mostly are incredibly funny, apart from a few going on for too long and a bit too silly. The action is thrilling and filled with so much energy and the repartee is sharp. The story is admittedly predictable, but is efficiently paced, a lot of fun and provides plenty of thrills and emotional depth (the latter especially applies to the relationship between Po and his father). The life-lessons are well incorporated and never feel shoe-forced, I just wish that the humour despite being very entertaining was toned down. Loved the homage to 'Seven Samurai' too.

While the characters and their developments are among the weakest assets of the film, they do engage enough. Po is still likable and Li Shan is a welcome addition. Mei Mei avoids being too annoying while not necessarily adding to the plot. The voice acting is terrific, Po has always been one of Jack Black's most tolerable and likable roles and he still delivers, Bryan Cranston shies away from his usual persona and entertains hugely and as aforementioned JK Simmons really impresses as Kai. The others, with Angelina Jolie being the standout, are solid though their material could have been much better.

Overall, while the weakest of the 'Kung Fu Panda' films, 'Kung Fu Panda 3' is good solid fun, the 'Kung Fu Panda' films being one of those rare film franchises where all the films so far are good. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I went with my 14-year old son to watch Kung Fu Panda 3. We both loved it. It's definitely a feel-good movie. We've watched every Kung Fu Panda movie, and we are definitely fans. The cast is incredible! Jack Black is awesome as Po, as usual. We particularly enjoyed the music score (which nicely emphasized the emotional parts) and the artwork. I appreciated that there were morals woven into this movie, especially with regard to finding your true self, appreciation of what it means to be a family and the importance of family, and Po's learning about chi, the life force in all living things. This all added depth to Po's character. There were, of course, many funny moments in the movie that made us both laugh. At the end of the movie (and we always stay to the very end, reading all the credits), the artwork was particularly beautiful, where they took images from the movie and made it look like an ancient, Chinese watercolor. We left feeling very good about having spent time together at this movie!