review: KUNG FU PANDA 3

More Dumplings! More Skidoosh! More Tummy Rumblings!


3 stars

Mini Review:

The Dragon Warrior everyone loves is back. And everyone's Kung Fu fighting one more time! This time it is with a big, ugly warrior Kai from the spirit world who wants to steal your chi and destroy Jade Palace and everything Master Oogway built. It's an awesome fun ride both for grown-ups and kids!

Main Review:

The production house alas has delayed bringing this fun film too late to India. The neighborhood Jack Sparrows were selling the dvds already. But nothing, nothing can stop this film from being great fun.

The new voices to the already amazing cast are Bryan Cranston (who plays Po's dad Panda Li) Kate Hudson as Panda Mei Mei, and JK Simmons (who plays the evil Kai). Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu join Jack Black again to make this film as amazing as the earlier parts.

This time Po and his friends face a new challenge. Kai, the evil bull is back from the spirit world to destroy Master Oogway's legacy. He's evil, but not as scary as the peacock in part 2 of the movie series. He is shown to be a tad daft and his reaction to 'who are you?' is funny every time.

The art is phenomenal, and Dreamworks animation adds that wow factor from the very start by putting Po on the moon with the fishing line.

There's more dumplings and tummy rumblings than ever before and dada goose still displays jealousy when Po's real dad, Panda Li shows up to claim his son. The secret Panda village is so much fun with Panda babies and ugly Panda and sexy Panda and all the others. With so many Pandas around, can there be anything less than super fun?

The concept of having two fathers is so calmly shown, without making it a huge thing to put inside children's heads, given the state of family structures today. Also the fact that it does take a village to help itself rid the big bad guy at the doorstep is amply illustrated.

Lessons apart, the Kung Fu franchise does not step away from giving us fabulous action set pieces. Kai and his twin lasso action moments make you watch with bated breath. You hope Master Oogway's statue won't be destroyed and you are angry when it does. So angry, you want Po and his pals to beat the warrior from the spirit world. You want to clap when the Pandas seem to foil Kai's plans and gasp when they seem to fail.

The movie has enough 'Kung Fu'isms to make any Kung Fu movie fan happy.

I loved the way things from the earlier films have been cleverly incorporated: when Shifu opens another scroll and it seems empty, he says, 'Not again!' And you too will love Master Oogway's 'Inner peace! Inner peace!'

The dialog is sparkling, 'So much wisdom here, I can't find anything!' to... Watch the film before I am tempted to tell you more of the story. You'll love the last line of dialog spoken by Mr. Ping (Po's goose dad) and it will turn you into mush as it did me.