First Take: Kung Fu Panda 3- DreamWorks are back in town

SYPNOSIS: 

Continuing his “legendary adventures of awesomeness”, Po must face two hugely epic, but different threats: one supernatural and the other a little closer to his home.

DreamWorks have had a varied run over the last few years with many sequels (How To Train Your Dragon 2) mixed with new original properties (The Croods), but this film is their true return to form with a beloved franchise. Kung Fu Panda 3 delivers the same sort of plot seen in the first two films, but this is an effective choice, as the film starts to broaden Po’s backstory over a very tight 95 minutes. It’s directed very well by Jennifer Yuh, the director of the second film and the voice acting is superb, with Jack Black leading the cast with ease and new animation talent like J.K Simmons also putting in some terrific work with a very nice script. The animation is purely cinematic and stylised, with hints of the Chinese artworks that influenced the film evident throughout, even down to Hans Zimmer’s score. It may not be on the level of Shrek, but it’s pretty damn close. This is the perfect way to bring the franchise to a close- and you’ll understand why once you’ve seen it.

Rating- 4/5