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The Legend of the Dragon Warrior Concludes


A series with a name like Kung Fu Panda really shouldn’t be a success. But the hard effort DreamWorks put in to enrich the world, story, and characters made it one of the best animated film series of the past decade! Each film is great on its own, but they’ve built on one another and on the character of Po. Kung Fu Panda 3 concludes his story and does so in the best way possible.
Kai (J.K. Simmons) a great warrior, has left the spirit world with the goal of attaining the chi of all the world’s kung fu masters and specifically, he’s coming for the Dragon Warrior a.k.a Po (Jack Black) protector of the Valley of Peace, who’s just been appointed by Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) to be the new teacher of the Furious Five. At the same time, Po’s long-lost father Li (Bryan Cranston) arrives having been sent to seek out his son. Upon discovering that Kai can only be defeated by a master of chi and that pandas were once such ancient masters, Po returns with Li to a secret panda village to master chi, learn about his people and himself.
Each film in this franchise has had a particular arc for Po: mastering kung fu, finding inner peace, and now mastering chi. But alongside all that has been a greater arc of learning who he is and developing as a character. While it’s very much the traditional hero’s journey, Po is not a traditional hero, but his enthusiasm, dedication, and courage makes his journey so much more endearing. The series has always had a profound influence of East Asian philosophy and morals, and it really shows best in this film. Chi, which is an essential principle in martial arts and Chinese spirituality, is characterized here as both a life force and a representation of Po’s final understanding of who he is. And the trials he goes through to achieve it and finish his journey are remarkable, and why these movies are so good. It’s something that though not mentioned much in the other films, feels they were building toward. And that’s pretty awesome.
Kung Fu Panda 3 brings back the regular cast. In addition to Black and Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, David Cross, and Lucy Liu return as the Furious Five, but also James Hong as Po’s adoptive father Mr. Ping and Randall Duk Kim as Grand Master Oogway, both of whom are very welcome. Kim just brings a natural wisdom to the part and Hong is wonderfully funny. As to the new cast, Cranston is pretty good, but Simmons is terrific. He’s an accomplished actor both in live-action and voice work and delivers the most on every line! The character relationships are still as gold as ever, particularly between Po and Shifu, and Po and Tigress. And the new relationship between Po and his father is very heart-warming. There’s an important theme of family to this movie and it’s really solid.
The animation is breathtakingly beautiful. Kung Fu Panda was the first movie that convinced me there was beauty in 3D animation, and the imagery in this film is some of the richest I’ve ever seen. Every setting is just oozing with a radiant atmosphere that really does take you back to ancient China. And this series still has the best fight choreography ever in animated film, being fast, thrilling, and absolutely captivating, leaving you glued to every movement.
There are a few shortcomings to the movie though. Like there’s a character voiced by Kate Hudson who doesn’t do anything and really didn’t need to be there. And of course with the introduction of baby pandas comes way too many moments of forced cuteness.
But regardless of that, Kung Fu Panda 3 is a resounding success. It may be the best of an already tremendous series! It's exhilarating, engrossing, atmospheric, and funny! But it's also deep in its themes, characters, and Asian philosophy, is outstandingly beautiful and stunningly kinetic in its visuals! And in short, is a perfect final chapter in a series no one thought a decade ago would be one of the best in animation!
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