Review: 'Kung Fu Panda 3', fart jokes 0

Good Work, you made me want to see Kung Fu Panda 2 & 3.

People need to stop expecting something better when watching sequels. You cannot improve past a certain point. After that point, "better" stops, and "different" begins.

I literally wrote a wall of text, and then deleted it in favor of three sentences. I'll copy+paste the wall of text on my blog instead.

I don't think I ever saw the second one but I don't remember the first being that amazing. I can only recall a few scenes and I'm probably missing part of the plot. It evidently didn't make an impressions.

Although I do now I'm not a huge fan of movies in general. I often find them too long for casual watching and the short time-frame of the narrative makes any sort of believable character development difficult. It's usually, "These people like each other now, just accept it!"

I assumed from the posters that this was going to be a terrible babies-ever-after instalment (loved the first movie, haven't caught up with the second yet). But now I want to see it!

Good review! :D

I'm kinda happy they shoved the female panda a bit into the background, I can only imagine what kind of dynamic she would've had if voiced by Rebel Wilson instead. I think that would've been kinda funny to give Po a female version of himself to joke with, and become friends with as opposed to a love interest. I was a bit upset that Tigress got the background treatment, but I liked her and Po's little spat when he's training.

The villain was definitely weaker, but I guess that was to be expected.

One thing I was kinda looking for was a loose end for a fourth film. The second one ended pretty well with big hints at the sequel but I didn't see a sequel hinted at here unless I missed something.

The callbacks were great, the jokes were great, the animation was great, I hope this movie kills it at the box office, DreamWorks not only needs it, but they're seriously gonna have to make a large profit so they don't get hit too hard when Trolls bombs at the box office later in the year. And trust me, if you heard the groan in the audience when the teaser came on, you'd have been stifling a laugh like I was. XD

Also, no Zootopia trailer when I saw it. But I did see the new Angry Birds trailer with the infamous 'pee' joke that people were getting upset about. Honestly it was pretty hilarious. It's one thing to have characters act stupid just cause, but to actually have untold consequences for their stupidity just makes the cause and effect humor more punchy. I'm really excited to see it now.

Great movie, pretty much awesome, but my favorite is still #2. :3

Honestly I was a bit disappointed with KFP3. So many of the jokes felt... stale, especially the beginning with the "I'm looking for my father, well I'm looking for my son!" There might not have been as much crude humor in this one but I never felt that was really an issue with the KFP series though my memories of the earlier films are not fresh. And yeah, kept waiting for the Po/Tigress relationship to get some attention but even during obvious opportunities they let it slide.

Although it was enjoyable, I would not put it in the same category as the first two and I'll put two big disappointing items below: warning of course that they contain some Spoilers.

1. The Villain Kai. The introduction of this character had immense potential, I really liked the epic battle scenes and especially how it started off between him vs Oogway. But then didn't you start to feel that this character was a tad bland? What was really his motivation? Forget the timing issues which I thought didn't quite make sense - Oogway has been around for five hundred+ years? Why did Kai suddenly decide to go on a killing spree even against a friend he risked his life to save, and why/how did he also learn the chi technique and why did he need to go after the Pandas? Some of the nicknames he went by gave him a more sinister sounding feel but up until he betrayed Oogway and was killed shortly after, he was a brother in arms to the turtle so would he have been evil? The sudden switch from love to hate didn't feel well thought out as more than a cheap plot device.

Both Tai Lung and Lord Shen had very relateable motivations - they sought approval from their parents and were ultimately rejected. So there's a very easy to understand motivation for them to become the villain. You get the feeling Kai has a similar motivation (at one point he rants about his "brother" betraying him) but it's not well laid out or given more than a passing comment.

In hindsight there wasn't much to Kai's technique either, it was mainly his weapons which defined him. And is anyone else disappointed he didn't activate Jade Oogway? I kept waiting for it but... didn't happen.

2. The ending. Oh gawd the end of every single KFP movie is exactly the same - Po gets a brief view of an ancient technique and ultimately figures it out on his own and uses it. How boring! Could they not have come up with something different this time? Maybe... actually use the Furious Five with their wealth of kung fu training and knowledge over Po's gut instinct (pardon the pun)?

A third missed opportunity I'll point out - wouldn't it have been fantastic if Kai had brought up the captured spirits of Tai Lung and Shen also? Shen especially, I loved the brief scenes where he actually fought - he had such an elegant technique. Considering it's a kids movie, I felt like they should have made it more obvious that using the spirits did exactly what Oogway hinted at - it divided Kai's attention and ultimately split his ability over multiple fights, taking more than it added. I would have liked to learn more about the masters he used -the porcupine using his own quills as arrows was more interesting than Mantis I think :)

This movie seemed to wrap things up nicely for the series, I sorta hope there isn't another sequel.

I didn't see KFP 1 or 2... I would prefer to avoid this one but gotta love going out with nephews. It made for a bad movie experience. I'd love to judge it on it's own merits as a story. Some sequels stand up like that, but not this one.

The weak first act left no impression beyond what you get from 'tude poses on the posters. It got going in the second act when Po's two fathers had conflict and resolved it. That was the high point of the movie. The rest of the hero wish fulfillment story was completely by the numbers. It made me roll my eyes because I want villains with motivation to be on screen besides just deserving an ass kicking.

I've seen some great kung fu movies full of inventive physical choreography and editing. Animation made that feel like no challenge. Everyone has magic strength while they fly around super-busy overcooked visuals. I didn't see much reason to anthropomorphize. The best use I saw was extra cartoony expression of the various bird characters and their designs. A lot of the background art felt too busy and overdesigned, I most liked some of the quieter exterior scenes.

I went in with low expectation and it didn't beat them or make me want to see the first two. I felt like this was for fans who love the previous ones enough to wear the shirt. That's probably a decent chunk of kids so whatever.

For the record, my sister Sherry took me in my wheelchair to see "Kung Fu Panda 3" this morning. I liked it better than 1 or 2. It was preceded by the teaser trailer for "Trolls". I agree with Cassidy; it's fortunate that DreamWorks Animation has "KFP 3" this year because "Trolls" looks like a bomb. Sherry liked it, though.