Review

Quite a kick

Script with personality, dazzling artwork and fluid 3-D surprise skeptical adult at Panda 3 screening

Po (voice of Jack Black) is reunited with his biological father, the larger-than-life Li (Bryan Cranston), in DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 3, which continues the story of the unlikely ursine Dragon Warrior.
Po (voice of Jack Black) is reunited with his biological father, the larger-than-life Li (Bryan Cranston), in DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 3, which continues the story of the unlikely ursine Dragon Warrior.

I might have had better things to do on a Saturday afternoon than drive 32.5 miles to attend a simulcast "world premiere event" of DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda 3 at the Cinemark Towne Center in Conway. I'm not sure grown-ups should attend these things unaccompanied by a member of the target demographic, and there were no little kids available for shanghaiing. I was glad when my wife, Karen, agreed to accompany me on the outing, because you don't want to be a grown man showing up alone at one of the matinees. Mothers glare at you like you're Jerry Sandusky at the Chuck E. Cheese.

photo

Abetted by the stolen essences of dozens of martial arts masters, Kai (voice of J.K. Simmons) returns from the spirit realm to ravage China in Kung Fu Panda 3.

photo

Mei Mei (voice of Kate Hudson) does some fancy ribbon dancing, hoping to catch the attention of Dragon Warrior Po in Kung Fu Panda 3.

And I don't especially like animated children's movies. I didn't like them even when I was a child. And have I told you lately how much I loathe 3-D gimmickry? But anyway, duty. Kung Fu Panda 3.

Kung Fu Panda 3

87 Cast: Jack Black, Bryan Cranston, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie Pitt, J.K. Simmons, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Kate Hudson, James Hong

Directors: Jennifer Yuh, Alessandro Carloni

Rating: PG, for martial arts action and some mild rude humor

Running time: 95 minutes

But if I was cynical about the movie going in -- and I was -- actually watching it changed my mind. Kung Fu Panda 3 is delightful, even if the story is ordinary and some of the medium-big names attached to do voice work (like Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu) speak only a few words. This is a visually impressive film that integrates a lot of Asian art tropes in clever and organic ways, and it represents a huge advance in 3-D imagery in that instead of being experienced as a series of distinct, flat planes located at fixed intervals -- the stereoscopic effect we associate with View-Master toys -- the frame appears to have real depth.

And while, for me anyway, the sensation still isn't worth the dorky glasses, I understood that the animators were serious about making the best use of the illusion. Quite a bit of care went into making the movie look and feel special. They're not just grinding out another movie of obligation for parents to be dragged to, they're engaged in making a quality diversion that might be enjoyed by all members of the family.

While DreamWorks originally envisioned the Kung Fu Panda series as a six-parter, all of the films so far have been satisfyingly self-contained. I'd seen the first two but could only vaguely remember the plot of the first one, which was released in 2008. The second one -- 2011 -- has slipped completely from my mind. That posed no problem; there are plenty of contextual clues here, as well as a refreshing lack of direct exposition.

What you might need to know is that the main character, portly (is there any other kind?) panda Po, voiced by Jack Black, was for some reason separated from his tribe and raised by Mr. Ping (James Hong), a kindly goose who cooks noodles. Po seemed destined to follow in the footsteps of his adoptive father but fate intervened, and despite his apparent klutziness and questionable fitness he became the Dragon Warrior, a martial arts champion who leads a team called the Furious Five, anthropomorphic animals voiced by relatively high-profile movie stars (Angelina Jolie Pitt, Liu, Seth Rogen, Chan and David Cross). They are advised and mentored by Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), a pint-size red panda kung fu master.

This installment opens with a battle in the spirit realm between old tortoise Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) -- who identified Po as the Dragon Warrior in the first Kung Fu Panda before vanishing in a swirl of rose petals at the film's end -- and his ancient nemesis Kai (J.K. Simmons), a yaklike creature who fought alongside Oogway before succumbing to the dark side. Banished to the spirit realm by Oogway hundreds of years before, Kai has spent his time battling kung fu masters and stealing their chi (a life essence not dissimilar to mojo) as he prepares to return to the world of the living to face the Dragon Warrior, whose chi he also covets.

Meanwhile, back in the Valley of Peace, Po learns that part of his Dragon Warrior gig involves him taking over Shifu's role in the Furious Five, a job for which he feels particularly ill-suited. And then Po's biological father Li (Bryan Cranston) shows up, all swagger and full of panda-ness, a development that upsets the doting Mr. Ping.

After the threat's revealed, it's not long before Po ends up in a hidden panda village, ostensibly to be trained by his father in a lost martial art that will enable him to send Kai back to the spirit realm and save China. Along the way, points are made about the importance of staying true to oneself, and how disparate beings can come together to somehow form a family.

But the mildly didactic life lessons don't really seem to be the point here. While movie actors generally like to do animated movies because, relative to the work involved, the paychecks are lucrative, there's no sense that any of them here are (literally or figuratively) phoning their parts in. Black, Cranston, Simmons and Hong are all outstanding, and Kate Hudson scores in an underwritten but lively animated part as Mei Mei, a panda ballerina who functions sort of like a Miss Piggy to Po's reluctant Kermit.

Returning director Jennifer Yuh and newcomer Alessandro Carloni manage to balance character-driven humor with action sequences so the movie never drags, even in its most predictable moments. Not too much of the humor depends on embarrassing bodily functions. And while the commercial imperatives of franchise cartooning dictate that things end happily, we can sense that Po and his posse will inevitably ride again in a few years, that a new threat will inevitably arise.

I'll probably be reluctant to see that one too. But there are worse ways to spend a Saturday afternoon.

MovieStyle on 01/29/2016

Upcoming Events