Review: Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)
After having successfully defended the Valley of Peace in the previous two films and justified his title of Dragon Warrior, the panda Po (Jack Black) finds himself uneasily pushed into the position of kung fu teacher when his biological father, Li Shan (Bryan Cranston), arrives and whisks him away to a hidden mountain village where the last of the pandas remain. However, Po’s departure coincides with the escape of the dangerous Kai (J.K. Simmons) from the spirit realm who seeks to absorb the chi of every kung fu master in China. Po finds himself torn between the idle life of his heritage and his destiny as the greatest kung fu fighter in China as Kai threatens to destroy all of kung fu.
The Kung Fu Panda films are remarkably sturdy—at least for Dreamworks affairs. While never attaining the emotional complexity of Pixar’s best films, the Kung Fu Panda films have proven to be enjoyable blends of old-school chopsocky action films and modern fantasy blockbusters. They’re mostly aimed at children with their constant fat jokes and lovably dim protagonist, but at least they don’t insult a kid’s intelligence, nor bury tasteless innuendo in a bid to court parents. Kung Fu Panda 3 softens a bit of the darkness that drove the previous installment and replaces that with a focus on family. The colours are vibrant, the action scenes are coherent, and the emotional throughline hits surprisingly hard.
The secret weapon of these films has always been James Hong as Po’s adoptive father, the noodle-cooking goose Mr. Ping. Kung Fu Panda 3 leans hard on Hong’s expressive voicework, letting him provide the film with its biggest laughs and its most surprising moments of profundity. The first film played the long joke of Po, a panda, thinking Mr. Ping, a goose, was his biological father, and the second film used the revelation of Po’s heritage as its emotional fuel. This third film directly engages with Ping’s relationship with Po, exploring his desire to protect Po and his growing maturity in being a father to him. In one shared moment with Li Shan, Ping comments on his early hostility towards Li, saying that he didn’t want less Po in his life. But over the course of the film, he comes to realize that Po having his biological father in his life didn’t mean less for him, it meant more for Po. This is the sort of reflective comment on family that isn’t expected from a goofy children’s adventure, and the result is genuinely touching.
Unfortunately all this focus on family means sidelining Po’s kung fu allies, the Furious Five, Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Viper (Lucy Liu), Crane (David Cross), and Mantis (Seth Rogen). The sidelining of Tigress hurts in particular, as she has played Po’s primary foil in both previous films, first as rival, and then as reluctant partner. Here she’s relegated to overprotective female friend. The change robs the character of her fiery edge—it declaws her, so to speak. As for the film’s action plot, it’s par for the course. The ending is predictable from the moment Kai is introduced.
Narrative anticipation and reveal don’t provide Kung Fu Panda 3 with its pleasures. It’s more the finely observed particulars along the way that give the film its strength.
6 out of 10
Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016, USA/China)
Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni; written by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger; starring Jack Black, Bryan Cranston, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, J.K. Simmons, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Kate Hudson, James Hong, Randall Duk Kim, Jackie Chan.
This article was originally published on the now-defunct Toronto Film Scene.