Review: When there’s seemingly no more major story worth a non-spin-off full feature, helmers of Kung Fu Panda 2 bring the story into a new light in Kung Fu Panda 3. It’s less formulaic and, at the same time, less grand in scale than its predecessors. However, it pumps out a lot of fun energy effectively in close out the unstructured trilogy.

Inter-tangling 3 different story arcs into one solid episode, Kung Fu Panda 3 sees Po (Jack Black), now a panda Dragon Warrior, deals with 1) his new status as a master after appointed by Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), 2) the return of his long-lost father, Li Shan (Bryan Cranston), and 3) the emergence of a lethal nemesis from Spirit Realm, Kai (J.K. Simmons). Only Po’s quest of qi mastery binds those three arcs into a sweet conclusion of Po’s legacy.

Surprisingly, Kung Fu Panda 3 isn’t too slogged with too many plot points, although it in fact has a lot of things to tell resulting in shallow conflict development. To compensate, each arc is stitched smoothly into others warmly; thanks to Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger’s sympathetic script filled with light, family-friendly humors although lack of profoundness.

At the surface, Kung Fu Panda 3 doesn’t look as spectacular as its predecessors in terms of spirit. However, it’s still visually stunning with detailed animation upon striking oriental palette background. In addition, it’s action packed with fighting scenes editing which almost resemble Bourne Trilogy’s action hip-hop montage.

As for a conclusion of an unstructured trilogy, Kung Fu Panda 3 might suffer from shallow development and simplicity, however, it’s worth the visual spectacles and the action-packed dynamic.

Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)

Animation, Action, Comedy, Adventure Directed by: Alessandro Carloni, Jennifer Yuh Nelson Written by: Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger Starred by: Jack Black, Bryan Cranston, Dustin Hoffman, J.K. Simmons Runtime: 95 mins Rated PG

IMDb