MovieChat Forums > Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016) Discussion > Could have been a masterpiece

Could have been a masterpiece


The biggest issue I had with this was that it couldn't let itself have a serious moment. Several times it had a beautiful thing going but ruined it with silly comedy. I understand that this is a kid's movie, but the first two weren't as cheesy with their humor.
Also, Kai seemed like he wasn't as fleshed out as the other villains.
I wish Mads has stayed on for it, but Simmons did well.

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I agree with you. Next time, they should hire better writers.

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I was afraid of that. First one was okay, loved the second one. But judging from the previews of this one, it looked exactly like that's the direction it was going for. It's so odd because KFP2 was actually a really serious film for what it was.

I ate a pear. I ate three pears. - Lizzie Borden

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I agree with the OP for sure. The opening of the film was so dramatic and breath-taking, and they seemed like they were headed in the right direction.

But then I noticed they skimped on the action. We don't get to see the three masters fight Kai in the ship, and then the second half was all rushed. Po was lazing about and then overcoming the villain was rather too quick and convenient, the whole teaching subplot with the Pandas really took the suspense out of it. The Jombies are supposed to be clones of martial arts masters, and they are getting taken out by Pandas with barely any martial arts skills.

I was hoping for a better finale. They kept leading up to it, and I thought Po would use all the weapons in the Hall of Heroes to fight the Jombies, or use his fandom to defeat them with the five or something.

The finale was very rushed, the best part was the opening and Kai's fight with Shifu. The movie needed to be a bit longer I think, and the chi aspect developed more.

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You said it. I think 2 was the best, had the most depth

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No, but you must be for posting such an immature response. Get off the internet and go do your homework.

I ate a pear. I ate three pears. - Lizzie Borden

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I'm close to reporting you. There's no reason to insult the person who views the film as "deep". It's perception and perspective and the range is wide on the internet. If you disagree, give your reasons instead of trying to shame someone else. If you're as mature as you claim, you will enter into an actual discussion and then the boards will be lively and interesting.

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Opinion does not equal fact. Name calling stops dialog. None of this makes you look like a "lover of actual cinema", but more like a bully.

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Emma, you are a cyber Bully. That needs to be stopped!

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Life is so much more pleasant when you don't judge others. I happen to agree that Kung Fu Panda 2 is a deep film. By standards of most "children's movies" and film in general. This is coming from someone whose favorite movies are Chinatown and Fire Walk With Me.

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I left the theater a very satisfied customer and was blown away by the entire thing. The cheese was good and kept it appropriate for younger audiences and I enjoyed many belly laughs. I was in awe during the final battle (so amazingly beautiful!), in love with all the concepts, and in tears when the characters revealed what they did during the big heart-warming moment. To me, this was a masterpiece.

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This was a masterpiece? It was a very formulaic film. Did I like it? Yes. Was it a masterpiece? No. Don't go overboard here lol.

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he said it COULD HAVE been, not that it was.

And I agree. The first one and especially second had strong themes that ran through it which were deftly handled with the comedic element so that the heart came through but this one felt... I don't know. First two had Po earning his skills but in this one I kind of felt like he was just given it.

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What does "To me, this was a masterpiece" mean? Do you not know how to read? He flat out called it a masterpiece. Which it isn't close to.

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I think you two are mixing up which poster you're responding to. Wiseguyclothing was responding to me and WarpedFX is responding to the OP.

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Well, I was obviously replying to you since I replied to your post. If he can't figure that out, that's not my problem.

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This was a masterpiece? It was a very formulaic film. Did I like it? Yes. Was it a masterpiece? No. Don't go overboard here lol.
Yup, pretty much. The whole franchise is formulaic (but what movies aren't these days - look at Star Wars, every Marvel movie, etc., etc.) - but they've done a good job of taking an amusing idea and still making the characters likable and having lots of little jokes throughout the films.

Part 3 - in my opinion - is at least as good as the other films. It has the most interesting villain and the most interesting finale.

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even tho I overall enjoyed it, I have to agree with you. When Po was fighting Kai and became the dragon warrior I was hoping he was going to take it seriously but he didn't. Still went on with the excessive talking

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I think you missed the whole point of this movie. The only reason Po was able to master chi was because of who he is (sense of humor included). The combination of everything he was in the past and everything he can be in the future. Ying yang. Comprende?

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Well put. If Po had changed into a super serious character like some commenters here wanted, he wouldn't have been the best version of himself. The whole movie was preaching that lesson.

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Spot on and inline with my initial reaction. It had all the right things going for it, but at the end of the day there was this feeling of it being rushed and shying away from the serious and more important elements of the film that should've been given more focus as opposed to humor. I loved the first two films and thought it had a solid balance. I liked this one as well, but felt it was a bit unbalanced. There were a lot of missed opportunities of it really soaring like it could have.

A lot of the good characters were given a backseat(Shifu and the Furious Five), the lost Panda tribe wasn't all that interesting IMHO and should've been given more depth, and while I though Kai was voice cast really well and had a lot of cool and interesting skills, was very underdeveloped. His story with Oogway felt shoehorned and his motivations just didn't feel significant. In fact, it's never made clear why he wanted so much power.

And of course, like others have said, Po's win was too easy. It was too predictable and not enough time went into exploring the development of his new found abilities. He just got them and won with very little effort. The first two films handled the development of his skills far better. Overall though, still not a bad movie. I was a little disappointed but I still enjoyed it and hope to see more of these films.

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Most interesting villain? How? We barely learned anything about him other than that he wanted power.

Shen is, in my opinion, the best of the three. Excellent motivations, well acted, funny without making him less scary.

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I enjoyed it well enough, but yeah, what brings it down below KP2 is the overuse of comedy. And most of that comedy kinda fell flat for me, outside of a few of Ping's bits. But when they do drama... it works. The fireplace scene is as emotional as the last film's Inner Peace sequence. There's just no real tension when Ken attacks the panda village, no real threat in the spirit realm. The final battle is pretty, but

Kai is definitely the weakest villain. There's really no motivation to his character other than "He was my best friend... oh and then he got greedy." It's just a real step-down compared to the tragic backstories of Shen and Tai Lung. If they gave Kai an actual reason for wanting All The Chi, like say, he wanted to prevent future wars, but got corrupted.

That's not to say he was enjoyable, JK Simmons' barking is music to my ears. But the character wouldn't have been any different had Mads Mikkelsen stuck around.

Don't get me wrong, I dug the film. But I coulda dug it more.


"DO NOT WRECK THIS GIGANTIC DOOM."

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Eh, Tai Lung wasn't all that deep as a villain either, I honestly rate 3 as being about on par with the first film, fun, not particularly deep, but better than most.

"From a phylogenetic perspective, we are all fish!"

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What do you mean could have been? It was, best one yet.

"Like my great grandpappy used to say, when life gives you booty, make bootyade!"-Big E of New Day

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