A Raving Review for Kung Fu Panda 3

With a heartfelt message and spectacular animation, pandas are once again kicking and punching their way to the big screen.

A+Raving+Review+for+Kung+Fu+Panda+3

Warning: this review contains spoilers.

The continuation of everyone’s favorite kung fu fighting panda was released to theaters on January 29th, 2016. Kung Fu Panda 3 revolves around Po the Panda’s next adventure after becoming the Dragon Warrior. The movie starts with a new villain, named Kai, being introduced. All the needed backstory to understand who Kai is happens to be included in the film, so while seeing the two previous movies might help you appreciate Po’s journey in accepting his adopted father and his biological father into his life, Kung Fu Panda 3 is still an excellent stand alone movie.

The inclusion of Po’s biological father sets up the film to be less violent than the previous two films and focuses more on the importance of learning to accept family and friends.

While in the second film, Po (voiced by Jack Black) had to learn to attain inner peace, the third installment requires Po to become a teacher in order to master Chi and defeat Kai.

The texture is an animation fanatics dream. Throughout the entire movie, movie watchers can look at practically any part of the movie and see gorgeously defined textures, such as the fur on the main characters and the cracks on the walls.

The color scheme is simply breathtaking. Rich greens and blues are used to distinguish scenes that involve the main villain Kai, and warm reds and yellows are used when the story focuses more on the good guys.

The exquisite lighting helps sell the realism of the film, despite the very cartoony characters.

The cherry on top is that the movie utilizes three different animation styles. The majority of the film is animated in the three dimensional style seen in the previous two films. However, during dramatic moments, the audience was treated to Chinese style and comic book style animations.

The only thing that is annoying about the movie is the portrayal of the love interest, Mei Mei. Most would support women expressing themselves, but Mei Mei comes on way too strong. Immediately upon meeting Po, she’s already acting like he’s the love of her life. While according to the internet there is supposedly an arranged marriage between Mei Mei and Po, such an arrangement is not very clear in the movie, so Mei Mei just seems crazy.

The movie also makes a mockery of a panda with bad teeth. There is a moment towards the end of the movie where the panda’s teeth get straightened out and another panda immediately makes it clear she finds him more attractive. The movie is supposed to be about discovering yourself, but then there’s this character whose happy ending is getting his teeth fixed. It feels like the movie is sending children the message that they can’t be themselves unless they get rid of their imperfections.

Overall, Kung Fu Panda 3 has been one of the best animated films of the year. After the many highly anticipated films being released this year are out, it will be interesting to see how it stacks up. Until then it is strongly suggested that you go see this movie, if not for the story, then at least the visual eye candy.