Review: Kung Fu Panda 3

I remember in 2008 seeing the title for the first film. It definitely sounded silly and I thought would not be entertaining viewing.

However, many positive reviews got me intrigued. When I finally saw it, I was proved so wrong.

Now, I cannot get enough of these films. Most of them might not be anything exceptional or have deep substance. But they are great fun that everyone in the family can enjoy and has the most amazing fight sequences and visuals in any animation film.

This third installment never fails. It is another welcomed addition to what is now an accomplished trilogy.
It is everything you would expect in a Kung Fu Panda feature. The story is an expected one. But the pacing is solid, the comedy made me laugh at regular intervals and the villain is a memorable one. The style of comedy has that subtle mix of silliness with maturity.

Like with every other Kung Fu Panda, the style of animation is just gorgeous. A lot of it is paying homage to the Asian art style. It is like watching those Japanese anime cartoons with that mix of clear and crisp of the modern American animation style.
The voice performances by everyone involved are good all-round that is full of surprisingly stellar cast. The names that appear during the end credits doing the voices will amaze you.

One technical aspect that managed to surpass itself from its previous installments was the score. As usual, it is done by Hans Zimmer. The style you associate with martial arts films is noticeable and it is put to great use. It is a soundtrack that I will definitely listen to during the year.

The only reason why I am not ranking it highly is that the concept and premise is pretty predictable and not exceptional. It does not challenge you with interesting themes. But thankfully, it is not a negative that I would heavily criticize as these are not the type of films to argue about. Especially when the positives are strong enough to ignore it.

Dreamworks Animation has always been considered as a poor man's Pixar. Most of the time, you would be right. But there are the odd occasions where some of their films are as good or better then some of the leading animation studios.

Kung Fu Panda 3 is not an instant classic by any means. But it is still really good fun and definitely worth watching, especially if you liked the previous two. Like I said, the action is great, there is a pleasing amount of well executed character development, the visuals are so striking and there are gags in here that can definitely appeal to kids and adults. I would rank it in the middle of three.

This will surely have a chance of getting an Oscar nomination at the end of the year, I will never get tired of seeing these films. Keep 'em coming.

Rating: 7/10