YMMV / Kung Fu Panda 3

• Adorkable:
  • Po as usual, despite further ascending in hardcore, is still as overenthusiastic and clumsy as ever. The film reveals that this trait seems to be inherent with his kind as the entire Panda village consists of loveable comically awkward dorks.
  • Tigress surprisingly, who is conveyed as even more of The Comically Serious than usual, especially when she reaches the Panda village and ends up a complete Fish out of Water.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Just how villainous was Oogway back in his warlord days? It's left ambiguous exactly how powerful or dangerous he and his army were, but he was close friends with Kai, who was implied to have been quite the evil bastard long before he discovered chi. Was Oogway's enlightenment a true Heel–Face Turn or had he already been doubting himself and his goals beforehand?
  • Considering how little information is given of what kind of soldiers both Kai and Oogway were, this also gives way for the opposite interpretation with Kai, and whether he was the one performing a Face–Heel Turn upon his discovery of chi.
• Angst? What Angst?:
  • The village pandas don't seem to suffer any psychological repercussions from having had more than half of their numbers wiped out by the homicidal Lord Shen. Possibly justified as it's been 20 years since it happened, and Li Shan does tear up in one scene, remembering how he lost his wife and child that night. It's quite possible that some of the other pandas are also hiding their grief like this. It also could be that village was not Li Shan's, since his village was completely wiped out.
  • After travelling to the spirit realm, Po doesn't seem very concerned that he essentially just killed himself and can never go back (as he temporarily believes before Oogway tells him otherwise.)
  • Both Po and Li Shan take to the fact that the other is alive really quickly (particularly Po who didn't know at all beforehand), greeting and interacting with each other more like one would a best friend that returned after a long while than one's father/son one haven't seen in 20 years. It can be especially egregious with how much the previous film focused on Po learning of his mother's sacrifice and accepting Mr. Ping as his adoptive father, leading to the cliffhanger of how Po's biological father would affect his realization. Said emotional cliffhanger can indeed make Po and Li Shan's meeting then consisting of nothing but casual joy and immediate acceptance to feel like an anti-climax, and again, being somewhat unrealistic.
• Applicability:
  • The film offers this for same-sex parenting (Mr. Ping and Li Shan). Both of Po's parents are accepted by the latter into his life, and though their relationship isn't sunshine and rainbows at first, their mutual care for Po eventually helps them bond and even Po refers to them as his dads.
  • One combined with a Rewatch Bonus: Several of Po's traits (namely, laziness and clumsiness) being revealed to be natural habits for pandas can be seen as an Allegory for disabilities, especially social disabilities. Po wasn't necessarily lazy or clumsy; he was living in an environment unsuited to his needs, surrounded by animals who didn't know what was natural for him, and constantly trying to push himself to meet standards that were impossible for him. Similarly, disabled people often struggle with having their needs unmet by a society that fails to take their needs into account and provide them with necessary accommodations and being expected to meet unrealistic expectations, with their subsequent struggles often dismissed and/or interpreted in a negative lens by non-disabled people.
• Awesome Ego: Kai has one hell of an ego on him, constantly boasting about his accomplishments (and getting annoyed when they aren't recognized), along with having way too much fun in the villain role for his own good. The fact that he does all of this while still being very competent has made him quite endearing to the fandom.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Kai, to a degree. Many fans enjoy him for his Awesome Ego (as mentioned above), creepy, supernatural powers and overall entertaining performance. Others thinks his limited backstory and character-drive makes him a letdown from Tai Lung and Lord Shen, both of whom were given plenty of it.
  • Big Fun, a panda who appears to be mentally challenged amongst the villagers. People will either find the jokes about him to be funny or just weird, if not outright disturbing.
• Broken Base:
  • This film seems to have divided the pandom on whether future installments should retain the Lighter and Softer approach of the first and third films, or return to the Darker and Edgier tone of the second. Of course, whether or not there should even be any future installments is also a point of contention, given this film's Grand Finale vibe.
  • For those who notice, Po looks slightly different in this film than in the previous ones (likely due to the character models having been rebuilt). The same goes for Tigress. A small discussion exists on whether this has been an improvement to their designs or not.
  • Most fans enjoy the focus of Po visiting the panda village and bonding with his fathers, while others will complain on the Five, apart from Tigress, being sidelined again (with some arguing that even Tigress had too little screentime).
  • To a degree, there's Po's characterization in the film, as he appears to act even goofier than before. Fans either think he's perfectly in-character and that his cheery mood makes sense within the context of the film, as it has him reuniting with his father and meeting other pandas. Other fans feel that Po has been flanderized, and find him harder to take seriously during more dramatic moments because of it.
• Contested Sequel: All over the place. Whether one thinks the film surpasses the second or not, general consensus is that it is a great installment to the series, building on the drama and comedy, at the very least surpassing the first film (not to mention being the most visually stunning out of all three). On the other hand, some detractors criticize the film for a repetitive plot, some rushed pacing, and the shift to an (overall) Lighter and Softer tone than the previous film (with a heavier focus on comedy), and find it the weakest of the franchise. Yet a third group acknowledges that it has flaws while still enjoying it fine.
• Die for Our Ship: Po/Tigress shippers weren't happy to hear early previews saying the film would feature a female panda engaged to Po. However, with the release of the film and the Arranged Marriage plot being removed, this has been majorly mitigated, and many Po/Tigress shippers like Mei Mei for the fun character she is.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Master Chicken has got quite a few fans, despite having more screentime as a jombie than an actual character.
• Evil Is Cool: Kai, naturally. Being a KFP villain, it's pretty much expected at this point.
• Fanfic Fuel: Because of Po essentially killing himself, being appointed Oogway's successor and returning alive from the spirit realm, it's become a popular topic for fanfic writers to give Po a similar or even longer lifespan than Oogway, and explaining how Po deals with it.
• Fan-Preferred Cut Content: Many of the extended/alternative fight sequences involving Kai are believed to be scenes that should have being in the movie, mostly because Kai gives more of a fight in the deleted scenes that in the final cut. Special mention to one sequence where Kai kills Po instead of Po sending him to the Spirit Realm, which many fans felt it would have make him more of a threat.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • At the same time that the film was released, J.K. Simmons was playing the arch nemesis of a villain who turned people into ornaments on Gravity Falls.
  • The fact that the villain in this film is voiced by J. K. Simmons and the villain in the previous was voiced by Gary Oldman is humorous now that the former has taken over a famous role of the latter's.
  • J. K. Simmons played a spiritual mentor character in another Chinese culture inspired animated series, the opposite of Kai. However, said character also faces a wise spiritual opponent, the season's Big Bad Zaheer.
  • This movie introduces Mei Mei; a female panda. In 2022, Pixar comes out with a movie with the main character being named Mei (sometimes referred as Mei Mei), who is a girl that can turn into a red panda.
• Ho Yay:
  • Some fans and reviewers have noted that Kai seems a bit... too passionate about Oogway. Not to mention how Kai keeps his particular amulet as a necklace, to have Oogway 'close' to his heart? The fact that they often refer to each other as brothers also turn this into a kind of adoptive Incest Yay.
  • Not surprisingly, Mr. Ping and Li Shan have already become a popular ship for some fans based on their interactions and roles as Po's dads, especially since the film does a very positive portrayal of their co-parenting with Po happily accepting his two dads into his life without issue.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!:
  • Before release, there were some comments on the villain Kai's design◊ sharing a lot of resemblance to Drago from How to Train Your Dragon 2. The actual film has thankfully mitigated these comments, due to Kai being much more well-liked than Drago was.
  • The film itself has been accused of retreading the "be yourself" aesop of the first film, just on a larger scale.
  • Some have accused the film of basically putting the first and second films' plots together, i.e. "characters train kung fu while intimidating foe approaches" and "Po tries to learn new skill that proves vital at the climax battle".
• Just Here for Godzilla: The movie is controversial among the Kung Fu Panda fanbase but a lot of viewers believe is still worth watching because of the ending where Po masters the chi in his final fight with Kai and has one final conversation with Oogway in the Spirit Realm which even some of the movie's detractors consider a fitting climax for the trilogy.
• Moral Event Horizon: Kai crossed it 500 years prior to the film by taking the chi of the Panda Village for himself despite them saving his friend's life (and he also assumed Oogway would be okay with this). He then declares he will do this again after he has done it to the Kung Fu Masters (which while horrible at least had to do with his goal to erase Oogway's legacy for good), despite how the pandas are a different generation who lost the ability to use chi (which means they are a village of innocent and supposedly defenseless people, children included). This shows he never learned a thing from the last time and that he was too far gone.
• Moe: Lei Lei and Bao. They're just so cute.
• Narm Charm:
  • This film introduces a Master Chicken, who looks and behaves very much like a real chicken does. And in the past, there had apparently been a Master Dolphin. There must be kung fu battles waging underwater as well. (Then again, those who watched Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness know there are at least a goldfish master and a clam jujutsuka.)
  • Shifu's "Can you teach me?" with a goofy grin was almost certainly intended as being Adorkable which ends up working despite the unusualness of said characterization for the old master.
  • Generally, anytime Shifu runs is adorable even though it could come across as completely ridiculous but thanks to Shifu's characterization it completely works given his utter seriousness about his entire actions, but Jombie!Shifu running is hilarious without entirely ruining his threat as well despite him being 100% dead-serious as well.
• No Problem with Licensed Games: Kung Fu Panda: Showdown of Legendary Legends is a rather fun Super Smash Bros. clone that's only hampered by its lack of content.
• Signature Scene: Po rendering Kai Deader than Dead by overloading him with chi.
• Strawman Has a Point: While Po is understandably upset that Li lied to him about knowing how to manipulate chi so that Po would visit the panda village, leaving the Valley defenseless, Li confesses that he was scared of losing his son again. He also knew that Kai would have defeated Po on arriving to the Jade Temple if Po had stayed, which is true since when Kai arrived there was no time for Shifu and the Furious Three to mount a defense. By taking Po to the panda village, and Po training all the pandas and Mr. Ping to fight, Li managed to create an army to defeat Kai and bring his son back from the Spirit World..
• Suspiciously Similar Song: Listen to Kai's theme and then listen to Imagine Dragons' "I'm So Sorry". They've actually credited the song and band in the credits, having sampled their song for Kai's theme.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • As mentioned above, Mei Mei was originally meant to have a more prominent role, but as her subplot with Po was cut she ended up only having a few brief scenes, which qualifies her for this trope to some.
  • Most of the Panda Village characters besides Li come off as this, largely being gag characters without a lot of individual development and screentime. Bao in particular was used in a lot of marketing for the film despite just being one of many comic relief kids within the village. This does get partially rectified in the Paws of Destiny TV series, which gives more screentime to several of the pandas.
  • While Kai is an entertaining and badass villain in his own right, the movie never goes very deeply into his character. This is particularly upsetting considering both previous movies explored their villains' backstories and emotional drives in full detail. In this movie, we're told who Kai was and what he did, but never why and we never find his take on the events that led to him being who he is in the movie.
  • The Furious Five for the most part aren't given much of a presence in this film as with the previous one or even the first one. Not helped by the fact that they are pushed to the wayside in favor of the panda village and, aside from Tigress, all of them get Jombified along with Shifu. While Tigress does get more screentime, she's still a rather minor character for the most part.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • In the first film, Po finished off Tai Lung with the Wuxi Finger Hold. This film shows that the aftermath of said move is being sent to the spirit realm. The presence of a Tai Lung figure on Kai's belt as a Freeze-Frame Bonus implied he has Tai Lung's chi, but his existence is barely acknowledged otherwise.
  • Where was Shen? He was clearly dead, and Kai not being able to defeat him seems unlikely. Though it's been theorized that while Shen was a deadly enemy and a kung fu user, he wasn't considered a kung fu master, and thus didn't feature among Kai's targets.
  • Kai is able to summon jade zombie versions of the kung fu masters whose chi he has stolen. While he summons Mantis and Crane against Shifu and the other three members of the Furious Five, at no point does he summon Tai Lung nor Oogway. The idea of Po having to face any of them in battle as a zombie, is awesome, but never utilized.
  • Po at no point in the film tells Li that he defeated Shen, the guy responsible for the panda genocide and their separation.
  • While it's no doubt awesome to see Po give an epic beatdown towards Kai in the spirit realm, some argue that the fight would still have been better had Kai actually been able to fight back (perhaps through using some spiritual beast of his own) in what could have been an epic spirit realm battle. Instead Kai is given the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle which may feel anti-climactic to some.
• Trailer Joke Decay:
  • Every TV spot showed the "Dumpling Squad" and "Noodle Squad" scenes.
  • The "chit-chat" scene with Po and Kai was also done to death, though the trailers don't show the full joke.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: Po uses the Wuxi Finger Hold on himself while holding onto Kai to take him back to the Spirit Realm. In other words: Po kills himself on screen in order to take the bad guy with him. He comes back... but still.

---