The cast of Kung Fu Panda 3 on voicing their characters

Directors: Alessandro Carloni, Jennifer Yuh.

The panda-potential movement proceeds apace in “Kung Fu Panda 3”.

We are following the continuing adventures of Po (Jack Black), a clumsy panda who becomes an unlikely kung fu warrior. 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.

This time around Po, who had been adopted by a goose named Ping (James Hong), meets his biological father Li (Bryan Cranston).

If you’ve seen any of the “Kung Fu Panda” movies, nothing in “Kung Fu Panda 3” will come as a surprise. The characters we have grown to love, such as Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Viper (Lucy Liu), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogers) and Crane (David Cross), are all relegated to bit parts.

The first two chapters of DreamWorks Animation’s critically-acclaimed Kung Fu Panda franchise opened in 2008 and 2011. Bryan Cranston (Trumbo, Breaking Bad) is ideal, bringing to life Li, Po’s long-lost father, with just the right amount of humor and emotion blended into the character. His teacher Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) tells the pudgy Panda that he must be the new master to his peers.

Hovering over these more jubilant proceedings is the dastardly Kai (J.K. Simmons), a spirit warrior locked in an ancient battle with Po’s benevolent mentor, the tortoise Oogway (Randall Duk Kim). “I’ve never done an animated film”, Hudson said. Po may be the lovable dumpling, but she’s the soy-sauce kick.

Po decides to journey with Li to the secret mountain enclave where pandas live, to master his own “chi”, which he’ll need to defeat Kai.

Another point of praise is the film’s moving yet clever script, which was written by screenwriting duo Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. He puts a humorous spin on his Whiplash heavy as the voice of Kai, a bullish beast of vengeance who’s stealing the chi of all the Chinese martial arts gurus and turning them into an army of jade soldiers.

Maybe that’s an attempt to compensate for the uninspired screenplay, which seems as though it would be a better fit in an episode of the television spinoff of the original Kung Fu Panda film.

Whether you’re watching in 2-D or 3-D, the animation is beautifully rendered, from the pink flower petals to the icy or mossy cliffs leading to panda paradise. Assuming the role of instructor he once eschewed, Po trains the pandas to fight against Kai.

“You’re not even thinking about, ‘Is it Monday or Tuesday?’ or ‘What time is it?’ any more, you’re just thinking about how he’s changed from minute to minute and his reactions”, she explained.