OK, maybe I didn’t review the Kung Fu Panda movies in order, but I did see them in order. I found I rather liked the series, even the fourth one. They’re fun, silly, visually exciting, and Jack Black is just a great choice for the voice of any enthusiastic cartoon character.
Look, since I reviewed the fourth, I’m not sure what I’m going to say here, so this might be a short one.
The first movie showed the old tortoise Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) went to the Spirit World. He’s still there, dead I suppose, when he confronted from a face from his own past, the bull Kai (J.K. Simmons). Oogway had banished Kai to this spirit realm due to Kai’s warped desire to take power he shouldn’t have. But now Kai has found a way to harness the chi of Kung Fu Masters, stealing them away in Jade statues that allow him to create mindless Jade zombie doubles of any Kung Fu Master he defeats, whether they are alive or in the spirit world. With Oogway, Kai can move back to the real world to take over China, starting with the Valley of Peace and the many martial artists there.
However, something has come up: Po’s biological father Li Shan (Bryan Cranston) just turned up after a voice told him his lost son was still alive. The Giant Pandas actually had a skill with chi that could defeat Kai, so Po and Li–with Po’s adoptive father, the insecure Mr. Ping (James Hong) stowing away–head off to the hidden panda enclave where Po will finally meet people who look like him. But even with Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and the Furious Five doing their best to hold Kai off, it won’t be long before Kai finds the village. Po will need to find a way to defeat another unbeatable for, this time through his ability to teach others…an ability Po doesn’t seem to possess.
OK, bottom line: this was fun. Po, as with other movies, is given a new challenge, but he’s reluctant to take it on. Here, Shifu entrusts him as the new teacher for the Furious Five and anyone else who needs to learn things. Po doesn’t think he has it in him, but he’ll figure it out. The question of his parentage is answered well as both Ping and Li come to be the fathers that Po needs, and even Tigress (Angelina Jolie) considers Po a friend now. Really, this one works well as an end to the trilogy…you know, until a fourth one came out eight years later.
What really worked for me this time around that was new was J.K. Simmons as Kai. Simmons, despite being an Oscar winner, is more of a character actor and may seem like a step down from a big movie star like Kung Fu Panda 2‘s Gary Oldman, but he’s actually done a lot of cartoon work and infuses his character with good menace and good human. Cranston isn’t a bad addition either, but casting for this series has never been the problem. Knowing when to quit, well…that might be another story.
Grade: B
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