Kung Fu Panda 3 | Killing Time

Kung Fu Panda was a film that had to overcome a WHOLE lot with me. First….I thought the concept was stupid. Second, the trailer made the entire film look stupid. Then reviews started rolling in; really positive reviews, but I still didn’t see it in the theater. I did give it a chance at home though, and within the first 2:16, I was on-board. Po’s Dream sequence is over-the-top stupid funny, kung fu awesomeness with enough tongue-in-cheek that it wiped my preconceptions and I genuinely liked the first film very much. I thought the second was lazy and piggy-backed off the first, but the early reviews for the third installment, really the fist 2016 release of any note, are very positive. Should my area thaw by the time it release this weekend, I may even go see it……or Star Wars again.

When Po’s long-lost panda father suddenly reappears, the reunited duo travels to a secret panda paradise.

I am a big fan of the first Kung Fu Panda, which surprised the heck out of me by being as fun as it was (plus it introduced the word “squidoosh” into my already potent vocabulary). I thought KFP2 was ok, but forgettable. I’m hoping the series returns to form, but honestly the thing that worries me the most about it is that Dreamworks has it set for a January 29, 2016, release date. That’s not a place you release something you have confidence in; it’s a time you dump something hoping to make back a fraction of the production costs. We shall see.