Movie Review: Kung Fu Panda 3

This weeks movie is one that I was really looking forward to after watching two bad movies in a row. I had the bar set high for Kung Fu Panda 3 after the other two movies in the series.

The movie starts in the spirit realm, where Master Oogway (voiced by Randall Duk Kim) is enjoying his peace. Suddenly, he is confronted by Kai (voiced by J.K. Simmons), an old enemy he defeated 500 years ago. The two battle it out, but Oogway eventually gets defeated. Kai begins turning Oogway into a jade statue, and Oogway tells Kai that he will be defeated by a master of chi. Oogway and his chi turn into jade, which Kai has been collecting from all the masters. Kai is now able to return to the mortal realm with all the chi he has collected, and is determined to defeat this "master of chi".

In the mortal realm, we find Po (voiced by Jack Black), Tigress (voiced by Angelina Jolie), Crane (voiced by David Cross), Monkey (voiced by Jackie Chan), Mantis (voiced by Seth Rogan), and Viper (voiced by Lucy Liu) running and jumping across roof tops in a dramatic fashion. They land in front of Mr. Ping's (voiced by James Hong) noodle shop in dramatic poses just to order lunch. The locals cheer as Po runs past, giving high fives to each of them, accidentally setting one pigs hand on fire. They head back to the jade palace where Po lands in a dramatic pose again, but realizes the others did not. He tells them not to underestimate the value of a dramatic entrance, and to watch as he goes to kick the door of the Jade Palace open. He stops when Master Shifu (voiced by Dustin Hoffman) opens the door just enough for them to see him. Master Shifu reinforces what Po is saying by giving a great example of it. He then tells them that this will be the last time he teaches them, which Po takes as Shifu dying, but Shifu quickly denies, saying that Po must become the teacher instead.

The voice acting was excellent, and with such a great cast of actors, you would expect nothing less. I also have to give credit to the writers too, the running gags and the other jokes were all very funny, and even more so with the voice actors. The interaction between everyone almost makes you forget it's an animation.

The story plot and the scenes tied together really well with the other movies. Alongside the great animation, this was the best Kung Fu Panda movie they've made. It is nice how they have a familiar feel to it, with Po learning something new about himself, but has a fresh story line at the same time. They always improve with every installment, and I don't know where they could go from here.

Overall, the movie had a great story line and voice actors, alongside some funny jokes and great animation. For these reasons above I would rate this movie 9.6/10.