Kung Fu Panda 3 is a 2016 animated martial arts comedy film directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni, and written by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. Produced by DreamWorks Animation, it is the third installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise and the sequel to Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011). Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong, Jackie Chan, and Jean-Claude Van Damme reprise their roles from the previous films, with Randall Duk Kim reprising his from the first film. They are joined by Bryan Cranston, J. K. Simmons and Kate Hudson as new characters. In the film, Po is reunited with his birth father, and discovers the existence of a secret panda village, but must learn to master chi and prepare the pandas to fight against General Kai, a spirit warrior intent on destroying Master Oogway's legacy.
Kung Fu Panda 3 premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on January 16, 2016. It received a limited release in China on January 23, and was released by 20th Century Fox in the United States on January 29. The film received generally positive reviews for its visuals and narrative, and grossed $521 million against a $145 million budget. It was followed by two animated television series, Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny, which premiered in 2018, and Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight, which premiered in 2022. A fourth film, Kung Fu Panda 4, was theatrically released in 2024.
Plot
In the Spirit Realm, Master Oogway fights General Kai, who has stolen the chi from every other deceased kung fu master. As Kai steals his chi, Oogway warns him that someone is destined to stop him. Kai uses the stolen chi to return to the Mortal Realm and is enraged to find he has been forgotten from history.
Meanwhile, Master Shifu announces his retirement from teaching and names Po his successor, but Po's first attempts to teach the Furious Five fails. Afterwards, Shifu, who predicted the calamity, advises Po to be himself and master chi. Disheartened, Po returns home, where he meets a panda named Li Shan, who received a message from the universe that his son was alive. Both quickly realize Li is Po's biological father and they immediately bond, much to the dismay and jealousy of Po's adoptive father, Mr. Ping.
After Po introduces Li to Shifu and the Five, they defend the Valley of Peace from Kai's jade zombies, clones of the kung fu masters who had their chi stolen. The group learns that Kai and Oogway were once allies, with Kai saving Oogway after an ambush left him injured by taking him to a hidden panda village in the mountains. There, the pandas taught Oogway the art of giving chi, but Kai began stealing chi for his own gain, prompting Oogway to banish him to the Spirit Realm. Li offers to take Po to the village to learn chi so he can defeat Kai, while Shifu and the Five remain to protect the Valley. Mr. Ping accompanies Po, driven by jealousy toward Li. In the village, Po meets other pandas, and Li tells him he will teach him chi once he has learned to live as a panda.
Determined to eradicate Oogway’s legacy, Kai demolishes the Jade Palace and absorbs the chi of every living kung fu master, sparing only Tigress, who escapes to warn Po of the devastation. When Po urges Li to teach him chi immediately, Li admits he lied about knowing it because he was afraid of losing Po again. Feeling betrayed, Po disowns Li and begins solitary training to confront Kai. Mr. Ping consoles Li, assuring him that Po will one day forgive him. While training, Po plans to get close enough to Kai to put him in a Wuxi Finger Hold and send him back to the Spirit Realm. Li, Mr. Ping, and the pandas ask Po to teach them kung fu so they can take down Kai together. Learning from his previous failures, Po trains them to use their everyday activities as kung fu skills instead of copying his moves. In between training, Po and Li make amends.
Kai arrives at the village with his jade zombies, prompting Li, Mr. Ping, Tigress, and all the pandas to fight back, distracting him just long enough for Po to attempt the Wuxi Finger Hold. Kai reveals it only works on mortals, not spirit warriors like himself, and overpowers Po. To save everyone, Po tricks Kai, leaps onto him, and uses the Wuxi Finger Hold on himself, sending them both to the Spirit Realm. There, an enraged Kai attacks and starts stealing Po’s chi. In the Mortal Realm, Li rallies the others to send their chi to Po, restoring his strength and empowering him. Po then overloads Kai with chi, freeing the kung fu masters and returning their energy.
Po encounters Oogway, who explains he chose Po as the Dragon Warrior for his potential to master kung fu and chi, and names him his successor, endowing him with the Staff of Wisdom. Using it, Po returns to the Mortal Realm, reunites joyfully with his fathers and friends, and embraces his new role at the restored Jade Palace, training the pandas and the Valley of Peace in kung fu and chi.
Voice cast
Jack Black as Po, the panda protagonist and the Dragon Warrior. Bryan Cranston as Li Shan, Po’s biological father. Cranston replaces Fred Tatasciore, who had briefly voiced Li Shan in Kung Fu Panda 2. James Hong as Mr. Ping, Po’s adoptive Chinese goose father. Angelina Jolie as Master Tigress, a female South China tiger. J. K. Simmons as General Kai, a chi-stealing yak spirit warrior, former friend of Oogway, and the film’s main antagonist. Dustin Hoffman as Master Shifu, a red panda and Po’s master. Jackie Chan as Master Monkey, a golden snub-nosed monkey. Seth Rogen as Master Mantis, a Chinese mantis. David Cross as Master Crane, a black-necked crane. Lucy Liu as Master Viper, a green tree-viper Randall Duk Kim as Grand Master Oogway, a wise tortoise and former friend of Kai. Kate Hudson as Mei Mei, a ribbon dancing panda. Steele Gagnon as Bao, a panda cub. Liam Knight as Lei Lei, a panda cub. Knight previously voiced Baby Po in Kung Fu Panda 2. Barbara Dirikson as Grandma Panda. Willie Geist as Sum. Al Roker as Dim. Wayne Knight as Big Fun, Hom-Lee. Pax Jolie-Pitt as Yoo. Knox Jolie-Pitt as Ku Ku. Zahara Jolie-Pitt as Meng Meng. Shiloh Jolie-Pitt as Shuai Shuai. Ming Tsai as Ming. Fred Tatasciore as Master Bear. Tatasciore previously voiced Li Shan in Kung Fu Panda 2 and Master Shifu in the animated series Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness. Stephen Kearin as Master Chicken. Jean-Claude Van Damme as Master Croc. Mike Mitchell as Male Palace Goose, Smart Panda Villager. Kelly Cooney as Female Palace Goose. Mick Wingert as the Goose and Rabbit farmers. Wingert previously voiced Po in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, further reprising the role after Kung Fu Panda 3 in the direct spin-off series Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny.
Production Development In 2010, DreamWorks Animation (DWA) CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg announced that the Kung Fu Panda franchise was planned to have six movies, or "chapters", altogether. In July 2012, Kung Fu Panda 3 was officially confirmed by Bill Damaschke, DWA's chief creative officer.
The film is a co-production between DreamWorks Animation and Oriental DreamWorks, a Shanghai-based animation studio founded in 2012 as a partnership between DreamWorks Animation and Chinese companies. One third of the film was made in China, and the rest in the United States at DWA. This was the first time that any major American animated feature film had been co-produced with a Chinese firm. The filmmakers worked closely with SAPPRFT to ensure the film's release in China. As a film with a co-production status in China, it allowed the production companies to circumvent the country's strict import quota, and take a greater share of box-office revenue than imported films. To ensure the film's success in China, in addition to the English version, the Chinese version of the film was also fully animated, making them the only versions that have the characters' lips synchronized with their voices.
Casting Kung Fu Panda 3 saw the crew from the second film reunite, including director Jennifer Yuh Nelson, producer Melissa Cobb, screenplay writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, and Guillermo del Toro as executive producer. Initially, Nelson was to direct the film alone, but by February 2015, Alessandro Carloni had joined her as a co-director. According to the report, Carloni, who had worked as an animation supervisor on the first film and a story artist on the second, joined Nelson after she requested strengthening "the director's bench" to ensure that the film be completed in a timely manner.
On April 9, 2013, DreamWorks Animation announced that Rebel Wilson, Bryan Cranston and Mads Mikkelsen had joined the cast. By April 2015, J. K. Simmons had replaced Mikkelsen, whose character had been rewritten. Five months later, Wilson was replaced by Kate Hudson due to an extended production schedule. The studio had to reanimate previously completed scenes to reflect Hudson's interpretation of the character.
The film's antagonist, General Kai, is the first supernatural villain of the Kung Fu Panda film series. Described by del Toro as "the most formidable villain yet", the creators wanted him to stand apart from his predecessors. Nelson reasoned, "You can't go brawler because Tai Lung was brawler. You can't go smarter because Shen was smarter. Where can you go? You have to go supernatural, bigger, and even more intimidating."
Music
On July 25, 2014, it was announced that Hans Zimmer, who co-scored the first two Kung Fu Panda movies with John Powell, would return to score the film. The score is performed by the London Session Orchestra, includes choir pieces performed by The Metro Voices and Shanghai Roxi Musical Studio Choirs, and features performances from renowned Asian musicians, such as Chinese pianist Lang Lang, Chinese cellist Jian Wang, erhu musician Guo Gan, Chinese pipa player Wu Man, Taiwanese pop singer Jay Chou, and Canadian-Taiwanese singer Patrick Brasca, who, with Chou, performs the main theme, "Try", in the end credits.
The soundtrack album was released January 29, 2016, on Sony Classical. Powell did not return for the third installment, but, despite this, most of the themes on which he collaborated with Zimmer were worked into the score. Many themes from the score contain portions of the garage rock song, "I'm So Sorry", by the American pop-rock band, Imagine Dragons. For the soundtrack, the song was portioned in the tracks, "The Arrival of Kai", "The Hall of Heroes", "The Legend of Kai", "Jaded", "Po Belongs", "Kai Is Closer", "The Battle of Legends" and "The Spirit Realm". The soundtrack also includes additional music composed by Chinese-American composer Nathan Wang, and Scottish composers Lorne Balfe, and Paul Mounsey. The orchestrator for the ethnic instruments overdub sessions was Derrick Werlé.
Release
Theatrical