Mr. Movie: Third time’s a charm for ‘Kung Fu Panda’

Kung Fu Panda 3 perfectly defines the classic cliché, “The third time’s a charm.” Here are the basics. Panda Po who — though still woefully inept — is promoted when Master Shifu decides it’s time to step down and smell the roses. Then the adopted Po’s real father shows up. Pandas apparently used to have special powers. Dad says he can show Po how to develop his.

So they trek to a hidden lair to escape a dangerous new villain and to learn how to defeat him.

Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, James Hong and David Cross reprise their roles and are joined by Kate Hudson, J.K. Simmons and Bryan Cranston. All have a blast with a clever, laugh-out-loud script.

And that’s a good thing. After two really boring, slow-moving and ultra-silly flicks, writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger finally got it right. Practice makes perfect. And these two guys are constantly practicing. In addition to the first boring Kung Fu Pandas, Aibel and Berger squeezed out scripts for a so-so SpongeBob Movie, Monsters Vs. Aliens and a couple of Chipmunks sequels that should have gone straight to video.

Another newcomer to the franchise is co-director Alessandro Carloni, who joins the second film’s director Jennifer Yuh Nelson at the helm. They keep the movie moving — which is always good — and pack it with humor and some really terrific effects.

While I like 3-D with animated features, normally seeing a film in 3-D or 2-D doesn’t matter, but here, Yuh and Carloni take the art form to a whole new level. Even though 3-D is often a challenge for really little kids, I highly recommend this one in that format rather than ordinary two-dimensions.

It’s worth it.

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 4:31 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie: Third time’s a charm for ‘Kung Fu Panda’."