Kung Fu Panda 3

KUNG FU PANDA 3

Director : Jennifer Luh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni

Year : 2016

Genre : Animation

Rating : ****

After 2 Academy Award nominations, numerous Annie Awards and many other critical accolades, the marvellous 'Kung Fu Panda' series comes to a triumphant end with the aptly named 'Kung Fu Panda 3' - a joyous celebration of colour, movement and emotion that could prove the saving grace for the now beleaguered Dreamworks studio. Once again featuring the vocal talents of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Seth Rogen, Angelina Jolie and Lucy Liu to name just a few, 'Kung Fu Panda 3' sees Dragon Warrior and dumpling enthusiast Po (Black) joining forces with his long lost father Li Shan (Bryan Cranston) and his newly discovered panda relatives to overcome the mighty forces of the villainous spirit demon Kai (J.K Simmons) who is sequentially defeating all of the kung fu masters of China and stealing all of their powerful chi to create his own army of jade zombies. 

Running consistent with the other films in the series, 'Kung Fu Panda 3' continually boasts stunning animation, fluid movements, gorgeous textures and beautifully designed environments, making it the best looking film of the year so far. The voice cast is also terrific with the Oscar winning and all-round awesome J.K Simmons adding a great deal of comedic menace to his characterisation of the horned antagonist while the always fantastic Cranston is at his cuddly best as Po's clumsy yet devoted Dad. But as has always been the case with these movies, the greatest strength of  'Kung Fu Panda 3' is it's emotional core, perfectly exploring the themes of family, loss and psychological development in a way that is both incredibly entertaining and, at times, beautifully poignant. Funny, well told and possessing a great big black and white heart, 'Kung Fu Panda 3' proves to be a bright Chinese lantern in this otherwise dark post-Oscars pre-blockbuster season lull.