Continuing his "legendary adventures of awesomeness", Po must face two hugely epic, but different threats: one supernatural and the other a little closer to home.Continuing his "legendary adventures of awesomeness", Po must face two hugely epic, but different threats: one supernatural and the other a little closer to home.Continuing his "legendary adventures of awesomeness", Po must face two hugely epic, but different threats: one supernatural and the other a little closer to home.
- Awards
- 1 win & 10 nominations
Jack Black
- Po
- (voice)
Bryan Cranston
- Li
- (voice)
Dustin Hoffman
- Shifu
- (voice)
Angelina Jolie
- Tigress
- (voice)
J.K. Simmons
- Kai
- (voice)
Jackie Chan
- Monkey
- (voice)
Seth Rogen
- Mantis
- (voice)
David Cross
- Crane
- (voice)
Kate Hudson
- Mei Mei
- (voice)
James Hong
- Mr. Ping
- (voice)
Randall Duk Kim
- Oogway
- (voice)
Steele Gagnon
- Bao
- (voice)
Liam Knight
- Lei Lei
- (voice)
Wayne Knight
- Big Fun
- (voice)
- …
Willie Geist
- Dim
- (voice)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDuring the travelling montage, Po and his father endure on their way to the secret panda village, they pass by two large stones that sit on an equally stone-like terrain, and are slanted toward the right of the screen. Shrek and Donkey pass by these same stones on their way to Fiona's castle in Shrek (2001).
- GoofsTigress had no prior knowledge of the location of the panda village, but somehow made it there. When Kai was attacking the temple, Tigress is seen with a scroll about the pandas, which may have helped her find it.
- Crazy creditsInstead of the usual Dreamworks SKG opening with the little boy fishing from a crescent moon in the sky, Po climbs a huge staircase, jumps onto the crescent, and fishes from there.
- Alternate versionsThe FX print begins with the 2013 Universal Pictures logo plastered over the 2010 20th Century Fox logo.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Animation Lookback: Top 4 Best & Worst Animated Films of 2015 (2016)
- SoundtracksAlso Sprach Zarathustra
Written by Richard Strauss
Featured review
From complexity to oversimplification: the journey is complete
As a certain character once said, a James Bond movie is only as good as the villain. The same rule actually applies to just about any story with some kind of confrontation, with the best of such stories having villains which you even want to relate to.
Kung Fu Panda trilogy is no exception. One of the reasons behind the first film's excellence was Tai Lung, a character so intense, conflicted and deeply rooted in the history of the KFP universe, that his story managed to combine the vibes of two great confrontations: Obi-Wan vs Darth Vader and Darth Vader vs Luke. So it's no wonder that my greatest wish for every next KFP movie was to have him back somehow. Those vain hopes...
The villain's complexity became the foundation on which the rest of the story could develop. Including the main character. First film's Po was so great because he was a classic "loser with a dream" type of character: confined in his bleak reality but refusing to accept his destiny. Po's power was in finally letting himself pursue the dream he's been having on his own for so long, and in how a true dream can overcome any obstacle in its way.
The problems began when Po was raised to the supreme position. It's where the pursuit of a dream was replaced with a job. Po is not a leader, he's not even a hero, he's just a guy who does what he can because his heart tells him so. But letting him keep that spirit would mean losing pace for the franchise. So each next film was basically creating a new villain out of thin air (or, in this film's case, from the other world, literally) and imposing the duty of defeating him on Po, using it as a justification for granting him another magic ability.
The gods are what we create ourselves. And, at the end of the day, KFP3 finished creating a cult of the Dragon Warrior by transforming Po from a goofus with a heart and spirit into some kind of omnipotent golden Buddha, smiling and just-be-yourself-preaching. The complexity is gone, the humanity, with all its inherent flaws, is gone. The only thing that's left is the divine perfection and invulnerability. Maybe the kids will love such glossy happy ending, just like they love playing video games in god mode: easy win, plain and simple. But for someone more mature, that kind of easy is just boring.
Kung Fu Panda trilogy is no exception. One of the reasons behind the first film's excellence was Tai Lung, a character so intense, conflicted and deeply rooted in the history of the KFP universe, that his story managed to combine the vibes of two great confrontations: Obi-Wan vs Darth Vader and Darth Vader vs Luke. So it's no wonder that my greatest wish for every next KFP movie was to have him back somehow. Those vain hopes...
The villain's complexity became the foundation on which the rest of the story could develop. Including the main character. First film's Po was so great because he was a classic "loser with a dream" type of character: confined in his bleak reality but refusing to accept his destiny. Po's power was in finally letting himself pursue the dream he's been having on his own for so long, and in how a true dream can overcome any obstacle in its way.
The problems began when Po was raised to the supreme position. It's where the pursuit of a dream was replaced with a job. Po is not a leader, he's not even a hero, he's just a guy who does what he can because his heart tells him so. But letting him keep that spirit would mean losing pace for the franchise. So each next film was basically creating a new villain out of thin air (or, in this film's case, from the other world, literally) and imposing the duty of defeating him on Po, using it as a justification for granting him another magic ability.
The gods are what we create ourselves. And, at the end of the day, KFP3 finished creating a cult of the Dragon Warrior by transforming Po from a goofus with a heart and spirit into some kind of omnipotent golden Buddha, smiling and just-be-yourself-preaching. The complexity is gone, the humanity, with all its inherent flaws, is gone. The only thing that's left is the divine perfection and invulnerability. Maybe the kids will love such glossy happy ending, just like they love playing video games in god mode: easy win, plain and simple. But for someone more mature, that kind of easy is just boring.
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $145,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $143,528,619
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $41,282,042
- Jan 31, 2016
- Gross worldwide
- $521,170,825
- Runtime1 hour 35 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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