I am very disappointed.
When I heard Kung Fu Panda 3 was being released in January—the month used for post-Oscar “junk” releases—rather than December (aka Oscar season), I couldn’t comprehend why. 2008’s Kung Fu Panda is an amazing film that stood out in one of the most impressively packed years in film history. Its sequel, Kung Fu Panda 2, is equally as impressive, holding a spot on my top ten animated films thisdecade (so far). My previously surpassed expectations gave me blissfully ignorant hope for the upcoming third film, and so I ignored the telling warning signs (including a remarkably subpar trailer). After finally seeing Kung Fu Panda 3, I now completely understand why it was released in January, though having such knowledge doesn’t make the disappointment any less dismaying. Both Kung Fu Panda and its sequel are two of DreamWorks best animated features, so when I state Kung Fu Panda 3 ranks in DreamWorks top ten…no, top FIVE worst animated films, you know something has gone horribly, horribly wrong.
So what exactly is the film’s main issue? There’s an overabundance of comedy, and it’s ALL UNFUNNY. Long gone is the series’s beauty, serenity and dramatic weight, instead replaced with scenes of Po vomiting and saying he “peed a little”. The series has gone from a well-balanced mix between comedy and drama to being primarily about slapstick and wacky comedy. The entire premise of the original Kung Fu Panda is to never judge a book by its cover, a concept that applies both in film and to the audience. Po is a fat, goofy panda voiced by a well-known comedian (Jack Black) in a martial arts story—as such, the film’s audience expect a comedy satire (the film’s title Kung Fu Panda sounds straight up parody), while the film’s characters view Po as a joke not worthy of the title Dragon Warrior. What ends up happening is a fine balance between comedy about a big, fat panda, and emotionally satisfying character development about “The big, fat panda”—a wonderful mix that takes Po’s “flaws” and reveals their true practicality to the martial arts world while still utilizing witty comedy. This odd, yet effective stability allows Kung Fu Panda to be taken surprisingly earnestly, investing viewers in a world where anamorphic animals use martial arts as well as any high-quality martial arts film before or after.
Here such balance is gone. Po is now a complete bumbling goof who, even in his most serious moments, always has time for some unnecessary wacky antics (not to mention he PEES HIMSELF). The remaining characters are likewise not immune to such flanderization, getting hit hard with slapstick antics—especially Mantis (Seth Rogen) who despite being one of the Furious Five, is overpowered by a small child. Most of the beautiful, artistic fight sequences have been replaced with ill-choreographed buffoonery even when Po isn’t around. The fight between Mantis, Crane and several master martial artists vs Kai is used as a joke battle with the masters easily beaten and barely any punches thrown (Master Chicken’s there purely to make a “being chicken” pun). Magic now straight up exists in the Kung Fu Panda universe, replacing the subtle indications of spirituality from the first two. The film tries pulling it off as “powerful chi”, aka their life force, but it’s clearly magical abilities—such as transforming the animals into zombified jade statues and the Wuxi Finger Hold now a magical ability that sends animals to the spirit world. Compared to the last film, the villain is entirely bland and forgettable…and he’s played by J.K. Simmons—something that should never happen when a character is played by J.K. Simmons (even his “We Are Farmers” persona is more memorable)! Also Bryan Cranston voices Po’s biological dad, yet he too is a forgettable addition, along with all the other pandas introduced.
Kung Fu Panda 3 ditches everything beautiful and dramatic from the first two films in exchange for an excessive amount of stupid slapstick comedy. It’s almost as bad as the Nickelodeon TV show tie-in Kung Fu Panda: The Legend of Awesomeness—in-fact, Kung Fu Panda 3 acts more similar to a film based off the TV series rather than a sequel to the film franchise. The movie is nothing more than a shallow skeleton of its former glorious predecessors—a cash in with little thought and dedication put into its creation other than to mooch off the others’s success and make money. I expected great things from Kung Fu Panda 3, yet what I got was utter disappointment.
