Every week, my wife and I order Chinese food from the place down the block. We always get pretty much the same thing, a selection of a few items from a rotating list of appetizers and combination dishes. Within walking distance between our apartment and the Chinese place is at least half a dozen other establishments, but we don’t go to them nearly as often. It’s the Chinese place we love; it’s delicious, savory and above all, comforting. We know exactly what we are going to get and we are totally at peace with that.

Kung Fu Panda 3 is the film equivalent of our local Chinese place.

It is wonderful comfort food; completely lacking in surprise, but so tasty and sumptuous that you simply do not mind. The trilogy capper – though there will undoubtedly be more – is a safe, entertaining film that literally everyone, young, old, male, female, all the colors of the rainbow can enjoy. Do you like one panda? Of course you do. Who the hell doesn’t like a panda? Well, this one has TONS of pandas. It’s…pandamonium. So, you are naturally inclined to want to like Kung Fu Panda 3, and you will.

The movie itself is nothing spectacular and is more or less a remake of the second installment.

There’s another Kung Fu master, this time the ancient spirit Kai (J.K. Simmons) who steals other masters’ Chi power and Po (Jack Black), who achieved inner peace during the last go around, has surprisingly lost that peace and now must discover who truly is. He must become the Chi master. In order to facilitate this personal quest, we finally meet Po’s long lost father, Li Shan (a great Bryan Cranston) who promises to teach Po the secrets of both Chi and being a Panda. On the latter note, brace yourself for cuteness overload as, upon entering Li Shan’s hidden village, Po and his father (and the viewer) are bombarded with the cutest collection of Pandaren outside of Azeroth. The rolly-pollyness, the appetites, the laughter, the community, the squee-worthy Panda cubs. It’s all too much for anyone to handle. Bring a friend or loved one so you can both squeeze one another’s hands in delight.

All the voice actors from the prior two films have returned.

Jack Black continues to be the perfect gleeful hero to root for: a pudgy, fuzzy geeky Peter Parker who’s been given the greatest, and most awesomest, power. The two newcomers equip themselves admirably, with JK Simmons bringing his light-hearted, yet still intimidating, mannerisms to fill out the predictable character of Kai. One imagines Bryan Cranston and Jack Black in the recording studio, eating too many dumplings and bumping their bellies together. He’s a perfect fit and brings out some of the charm of Mr. Hal Wilkerson, his character on Malcolm in the Middle. The rest of the Furious 5 are relatively shortchanged once again, this time sidelined by Kai’s very cool Chi power. Angelina Jolie as Tigress gets some good quips in, but her character’s comedy comes mostly from her new #1 superfan, a baby Panda girl.

The person who steals the show, however, is the wonderful James Hong as Po’s adopted father Ping, a friend recommend to see this movie on 123Movies portal. In a story about family and the need to belong, his is the star that shines brightest with love for his child. He stows away on Li Shan and Po’s journey because, like the dad he is, he wants to make sure his kid has enough to eat. Every scene James Hong touches (in most things) is magic and here doubly so.

The tone is significantly lighter than the grimdark second entry, but that comes at the expense of deeper interactions and motivations. Kai is an interesting concept, a compatriot to Master Oogway (Randall Kim) who is obsessed with capturing all the Chi, but whatever other motivations he has – there are hints that he wants to be remembered – are quickly glazed over to make room for more fight scenes. Simmons breathes character into the rampaging bull as best he can but can only do so much. The action is a step down from the thrilling moments of the first and second – though I don’t think any of the subsequent films have matched Tai Lung’s escape from the original yet. This is despite the film ramping up the powers cosmic and putting Po and Kai into a mortal combat scenario in the spirit world, where all bets are off in terms of physics.

Kung Fu Panda 3 is, at the end of the day, a morality tale about the power of giving. Kai takes Chi, he siphons the souls of the kung fu masters and yes, he increases his own power in the process. Po, at the end, is given Chi and gives it freely. He is stronger not because he took it from the other Pandas, but because they gave it to him. Many of the children and the adults in the audience might not realize that they learned a wonderful lesson (after all: PANDAS!) but it is still a great thing for all of us to learn. Nor does it beat you over the head with its message, a position I have respected about all the Kung Fu Panda films. They work in mysterious ways.

Walking out of the theater, my wife and I were comforted by the explosion of colors and character we had just witnessed. It was comforting and charming. A film does not have to reinvent the wheel every time; you don’t always want to go out to that new restaurant. There will come a time. Sometimes, you just want to walk out with someone, look one another in the eye smile and say, ‘Dumplings!’ And you laugh, knowing exactly what you will get.

Image from: https://unsplash.com/photos/_9a-3NO5KJE