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01-16-2016, 05:28 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-16-2016, 05:28 PM by Drunk Monk.)
What's more fun than a Kung fu panda? A whole village of Kung fu pandas. That's going to be the opening line to my official review which is embargoed until kfp3 premieres in 2 weeks.
3 is fun like 2, with grander 3D and even more colorful environments, particularly the psychedelic spirit world where dead Kung fu masters live like Jedi force ghosts. The banter is funny. Jack Black is on point as Po as usual. It's very family. Black's son and a few Jolie-Pitt kids even have small roles. It's painfully predictable from scene one but who cares? The fights are fun. The panda village is a little overdone (Puss big eyes for the pandas? Been there). The ending is drawn out and could have used more laughs like the beginning, but the animation is beautiful throughout. The entire cast returns, even JCVD.
This is poised to do very well in China. It has a completely different cast of A list Chinese voice actors there.
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I went again with Tara. We saw it in 2D because there wasn't a 3D version available in our area anymore. I enjoyed it a lot more the second time around, mostly because my view wasn't tainted by the film's predictability. The first time I saw it, I succinctly predicted the story arc rather early on, which is always disappointing on first viewing. But the second time, I knew full well how the story was going to go, so I could just enjoy the visuals and the comedy. It was much better in 3D however. It's really meant to be seen in 3D. Plus seeing it with Tara was a treat because we seldom go out to movies together anymore. She has her High School friends, which makes it tricky to find a good excuse to watch animated films.
Her childhood went by so fast....
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Saw this on pay per view the other night. Not nearly as good as the first two, but certainly it did look great.
Afterward I thought about it, and I do find it a little disturbing that one thing repeated in all three movies is that you while one can find mastery through practice, like Tiger, Po finds superior mastery simply by being himself and seemingly with minimal effort. That's a shitty message.
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Good to see Ian McShane getting some work.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm
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They just can't stop.
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12-13-2023, 11:43 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-13-2023, 11:44 AM by Drunk Monk.)
Why should they?
Well, there was that awful series...
http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...p?tid=7120
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This feels desperate...
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Cash grab?
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(12-13-2023, 09:26 AM)Drunk Monk Wrote:
This is painful, not because it's that bad really, mostly because it's just flat. Black has lost it. Po recycles old gags like his aversion to stairs and gluttonous urges, but here he's supposed to be a more mature Dragon Warrior, in search of his successor, and that doesn't quite work. It deflates his naïveté, which was fundamental to the humor of the character.
This has a largely Asian voice cast - Awkwafina (a major role), Ronny Chieng. James Hong again of course (what else is he going to do?), Ke, Harry Shum (tiny part) and even Gedde (tinier part). No Jackie. The Furious Five only appears as a cameo in the end, and only Seth has a line.
Again it's the spirit world, which gives an excuse to holla back at all the previous villains. Po's dad returns, making for two dads, which almost feels like some sort of flailing attempt to be LGBTQ inclusive, only it's a birth dad and adopted dad.
The only thing that almost works is the violent baby bunnies in the den of thieves. It's a one-line gag, milked for all its worth. But I would watch a spinoff that was just about these violent bunnies.
Not D00M recommended, so much so I didn't bother to make an indie thread for this.
Seen on Peacock.
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I thought the third one was already weak. But it made money, so a fourth was inevitable.
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If memory serves (and it seldom does anymore) there was a plan for like 6 installments and part 3 was the launch of an overarching story arc. But they seem to have abandoned that with 4 because it doesn't really go anywhere. In fact, it ends with Po potentially passing on his Dragon Warrior title. Feels almost like an epitaph that way.
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