MOVIE OF THE WEEK #2 (1/29/16): KUNG FU PANDA 3

"Hey! Let's see if we can see what cousins Yogi and Paddington are up to on TV!" Po (left, voiced by Jack Black) shares a moment with his long-lost birth father Li (voiced by Bryan Cranston) in a scene from DreamWorks Animation's KUNG FU PANDA 3. Credit: © 20154 DreamWorks Animation LLC. All rights reserved.

WATCH THE TRAILER(S) HERE: 

KEY VOICE CAST MEMBERS: Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong, Jackie Chan, Randall Duk Kim, Bryan Cranston, J. K. Simmons and Kate Hudson

WRITER(S): Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger

DIRECTOR(S): Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni

WEB SITE: www.dreamworks.com/kungfupanda/movies/kung-fu-panda-3

60 SECOND PLOT SUMMARY (OR AS CLOSE TO THAT TIME AS ONE CAN MAKE IT): The third (and possibly final?) installment in the animated franchise, Kung Fu Panda 3 once again stars Jack Black as Po, the lovable adopted son of noodle peddler Mr. Ping (James Hong). Having proven himself through various battles along side Mantis (Seth Rogen), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Viper (Lucy Liu) and Crane (David Cross) – a.k.a. the Furious Five – Po has become a fine student under the tutelage his mentors Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) and Shifu's elder teacher Oogway (Randall Duk Kim). All in all, life is quite good these days for Po as life in the Valley of Peace is seemingly calm and happy.

Then Po gets an unexpected surprise visit from Li (Bryan Cranston), a.k.a. his long-lost birth father.

Jubilant at meeting his birth father – no one is going to keep him from calling Mr. Ping "dad" – Po quickly learns of a new threat coming to the valley in the form of Kai (J.K. Simmons), a villainous bull banished to the spirit realm 500 years ago. Now, Kai has found a way out and wants revenge of Oogway and all of his disciples en route to becoming the ruler of all the land – which means he must harness and capture the chi of every kung fu master in the Valley of Peace.

Li, however, says he knows of just the place to take Po to help him learn how to harness chi so he can defeat Kai: the secret village of the pandas, where his son can also learn how to be the one thing that should have come naturally to him: How to be a panda. But once Kai makes his presence know, Po quickly realizes that he is going to have to learn one thing in particular if he is truly is the famed "dragon warrior" to realize his true destiny.

And that is how to be himself ...

WHO WILL LIKE THIS FILM THE MOST? People who enjoyed the first two Kung Fu Panda films; aspiring animation artists; Jack Black fans; people who like cartoons that actually feel respectful of the foreign culture they largely feature; those who enjoyed animated films where the story ties its various conventional elements together to create a complete story but with a few nuances to make it come into its own.

WHO WILL LIKE THIS FILM THE MOST? People who don't like animated movies and/or find the Kung Fu Panda concept uninteresting; those who would like the other characters to be more developed to the same or nearly equal a level as Po is.

SO, IS IT GOOD, BAD OR ABSOLUTELY AWFUL? In a year where sequels are going to dominate the movie landscape, one could be forgiven for hearing the words "Kung Fu Panda 3" and going "really?" But, here's the thing that may be really surprising to anyone who has that reaction: Kung Fu Panda 3 is not only pretty good, it's possibly the best one in the franchise's history. 

Panda 3 does everything you'd really want an animated sequel, well, any sequel really, to do: Come up with a chapter that not only continues to move it the overall story forward, but also advance the characters and make the story feel incomplete without it (see Shrek 2 vs. Shrek Forever After ... OK, don't see Shrek Forever After unless you have to). Black's performance as Po is seemingly about the times when the character is being clumsy, awkward or somehow generally aloof, but as Panda 3 proves, Po comes full circle as a character who embraces all aspects of his persona, overcoming his own personal fears/problems to achieve his destiny. 

It works in teaching children a moral without deliberately trying to do so and conversely works for adult viewers to keep them just as engaged and emotionally invested. Hong and Cranston equally provide a a nice heartfelt element as Po's dueling dads learning how to adjust to their new respective roles in his life while Duk Kim provides a highly commendable performance as the wise Oogway that thankfully does not come off like a stereotypical martial arts master. 

Co-directors Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni likewise deserve credit for making everything work so well. For not only are they responsible for bringing the best out of all of their voice talent but also bringing to life Po's world in a way that it is engaging. The integration of both Po's father and the panda village flows pretty seamlessly into the Panda cannon without losing any of the humor which, when taken in account with the gorgeous visuals, make for a really compelling presentation. Whereas the development of the villain and secondary characters could be a just a little better and the rest of the Furious Five could have been used a little more, but overall Kung Fu Panda 3 delivers a solid 90+ minutes of entertainment to entertain adults and children alike.

And during a time when most of the movies released in theaters lack any punch, Kung Fu Panda 3 is a welcome addition to the conversation of "what do you want to see tonight?"

OVERALL RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):