Jack Black on ‘Kung Fu Panda’: ‘I love the job’

That’s a fairly fine-grained empowerment message, and directors Jennifer Yuh and Alessandro Carloni weave it so deftly into the story that you can fully ignore it if you’re allergic to inspirational bromides.

Perhaps it’s fitting that Kung Fu Panda 3 is the cinematic equivalent of a fortune cookie. Even if it recycles numerous plot and thematic elements of its predecessors, KFP3 is still reasonably entertaining for kids and other fans of the series, with lush animation and fun, likable characters. In more routine terms, there’s another supervillain – an evil spirit voiced indiscriminately by J.K. Simmons – who has emerged from the “spirit realm” and is set on imprisoning all kung fu masters and absorbing their powers in yet another bid for world domination.

In this entry, Po encounters two new figures: One is his long-lost father, Li (Bryan Cranston), a blustery adventurer who whisks Po away to a magical village full of his roly-poly brethren. (He’s especially excited to learn that other pandas don’t waste time using chopsticks, but stuff dumplings directly into their mouths with their paws.) Meanwhile, Po’s doting adoptive father (James Hong) is understandably anxious that the instant bond between Li and Po will leave no room for a noodle-making goose. Kai will stop at nothing and the only possible way to defeat him is Po. Because of this slight shift in perspective, “Kung Fu Panda 3” evolves the franchise from a simple action show for younger audiences to a touching film fit for the entire family.

Kai knows that the Chosen One is Po, who has returned with his father to the ancestral mountain village of the pandas where Po and Li survived an earlier onslaught by Kai.

Meanwhile, the reliably game Jack Black is back as the voice of Po, and he is, as always, the heart and soul of this movie. We’ll see what happens. As a bumbling, uncoordinated, very large being, Po is constantly embarrassing and disappointing his Master, Shifu (Dustin Hoffman; Tootsie) and fellow warriors.

But the most impressive and distinctive element of “Kung Fu Panda 3” is its animation style that combines traditional elements of 3D CGI with 2D elements that display Asian influences.

Joined by Kate Hudson, Jack Black sat down to chat about “Kung Fu Panda 3”, the second sequel in worldwide hit animated franchise (opening Friday).

Kung Fu Panda 3 provides a welcome reminder of what the talented artists at DreamWorks can do when they’re given worthwhile material.

Kai is coming for the pandas, and so Po must train them to protect themselves.

“But with ‘Kung Fu Panda, ‘ we took her and a bunch of her friends to see this”. These are serious themes wrapped in a story about a goofy panda that bounces his belly, tells bad jokes, and is more of a clumsy goofball than a charismatic hero.

Speaking ahead of the release of Kung Fu Panda 3 – in which he reprises the voice role of Master Shifu – the 78-year-old star admitted that he didn’t even realise his character wasn’t a bear like the titular martial artist.