Cert PG
95 mins
BBFC advice: Contains mild martial arts action
Long before Dreamworks came up with their cute opening title, the world had fallen in love with pandas.
Is it because they nearly became extinct or that they are the nearest living creature to resemble a teddy bear?
I don't know but Dreamworks must have thought that it was on to a winner when it created an animation with a innocent, fun-loving panda as its star.
And so it has proved. With Jack Black's bouncing ball energy behind his vocal chords, our hero, Po, could not fail.
This is the third in the Kung Fu Panda franchise and I suspect that this will not be the last time Black will bring his 'awesomeness' to the screen in the guise of Po.
After initial problems mastering kung fu, Po has now graduated to becoming a dragon master but with that title comes a responsibility to which he is totally unsuited.
This is bad news because his friends and guru (voiced by Dustin Hoffman) are all kidnapped by a yak (J.K.Simmons) who also happens to be a fearsome spirit warrior.
Po will have to take on the yak but first he is found by his natural father (Bryan Cranston) and taken back to the panda homeland.
Anyway, the panda eats, makes a fool of himself through clumsiness and then finds his mettle to take on the bad guy.
Sound familiar? Yes, Kung Fu Panda goes for a trusted formula and, by and large, hits the right note with a sprinkling of funny moments.
It does get a bit lost towards the end with a battle scene which drags on but, overall, it is easy to see why Alessandro Carloni and Jennifer Yuh Nelson's film has been one of 2016's hits.
Reasons to watch: funny animation which kids will love
Reasons to avoid: its rather chaotic finale
Laughs: four
Jumps: none
Vomit: yes (off screen)
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 7.5/10
Star tweet
Kung Fu Panda 3 opens today! But the nice folks @MovieTickets are still trying to convince me that Pandas are real.
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