‘Kung Fu Panda 3’ review: Emotional, serious tale in a fun adventure with plenty of laughs
The third Kung Fu Panda film surprised fans with a serious theme in a heartwarming and effective manner. Jack Black’s Po identity crisis as a Panda takes are stark turn to the left when his long-lost biological father (voiced by Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston) shows up.
Kung Fu Panda 3 introduces another bad guy named Kai, this time voiced by J.K. Simmons, but the real conflict is emotional and relationship tension.
As Po’s adventure begins, his noodle cooking surrogate father, a goose named Mr. Ping (James Hong) steals scenes as the intrusion of Li into Po’s life and what a Panda’s life should be create massive tension. Po is forced to master his own chi to have a shot at defeating Kai, Po decides to return with Li to the secret mountain village where members of their species now reside, having taken refuge after the terrible panda genocide recounted in the second film.
Po’s faithful friends Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and the Furious Five — aka Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Crane (David Cross) — are mostly immediately overtaken by the warlord’s brutal chi spree.
Like previous films, KF3 never takes itself too seriously as new Panda characters join the foray in amusing and clever ways. There are plenty of laughs for the kids and jokes for the adults.
Risen receives 4 stars out of 5 stars
