The panda kicked back into theaters this February. On Po’s journey of finding his father, they finally met when Li, Po’s birth father, came to the village in search for his son. Po was raised by his adoptive father, a goose named Mr. Ping, and throughout the movie, Po learns that he can have two fathers. Po realized that he still had a lot to practice if he was going to defeat the enemy, Kai, who was from a different universe with superpowers. Many of the smaller lessons in the movie may be hard for younger folks to understand. Kung Fu Panda 3 brushes on issues of adoption, being true to yourself, diversity, and community.
“Po is so cute and makes the movie so loveable. I hope they make a fourth movie because they always make me laugh,” Nicole Aleman, freshman, said.
Po’s birth father takes Po back to his “hometown” where he sees pandas just like him, which is different for him considering he lived with a goose and other pigs, ducks, tigers, etc. for his entire life. I liked when Po realized there were more of his kind, he didn’t get attached to them and act like he only belonged there. He acted like they were anyone else, but the fact that they were the same did give them a connection. He treated them and taught them kung fu as if they were his best friends. This shows the audience that Po has grown up in a diverse culture and learned to be nice to everyone. Po takes the role of being the little pandas teacher, instead of him being the student himself, although he continues to learn from Master Shifu, his master, throughout.
Aside from being “back home,” Po and his friends have to defeat the villain again. I think that the villain in this movie wasn’t as interesting as the first two movies because he has supernatural powers, so it makes us question if traditional martial arts can defeat the new technology. I enjoyed the first two movies where the antagonist had an army and they fought “fairly.” I also think that Po’s fighting friends should have been more prominent in the film because they were always so funny, and brought a kind of life to the movie.
Kung Fu Panda 3 had many appealing visuals and sound effects, from the bright colored backgrounds to the action packed sounds. The rich colors of the film made it much more enjoyable for the audience and also gave the story a theme. The colors that stood out to me were the intense red colors, and the rich navy blues. This is me talking as an artist, but blue and red are primary colors which make the movie flow together all the better.
Overall, Kung Fu Panda 3 is a very fun and action-packed. I don’t think that it lives up to the expectation we all thought, they should have ended Kung Fu Panda after the second one because everyone who grew up with Kung Fu Panda are older now and may not be as interested. I would recommend to see the movie if you want to something to do, but it’s not necessary.
Top image by: http://www.kungfupandamovie-ph.com/
