All the Kung Fu Panda movies are good family films, but Kung Fu Panda 3 is made especially for dads

​​In the first Kung Fu Panda, the wise ancient turtle, Master Oogway, senses danger coming to China, so he decides it is time to select who will be named the legendary Dragon Warrior, the one who will vanquish the oncoming threat and bring peace to his valley. While it has long been believed that the Dragon Warrior would be one of the Furious Five (China’s most famous heroes), a bit of happenstance causes Oogway to choose Po instead, a civilian slacker panda voiced by Jack Black who mostly likes to hang out and eat dumplings at his dad’s noodle shop.

While it’s not a perfect analogy, the story of the Kung Fu Panda franchise has some parallels to its legend of the Dragon Warrior. The idea for the action comedy was conceived by a DreamWorks executive named Michael Lachance. Then the team at DreamWorks cast Jack Black in the lead role and turned to Chinese art to shape its look. The $130 million movie pulled in a whopping $630 million for its worldwide box office. It was nominated for an Academy Award and won a slew of Annie Awards, including Best Animated Feature.

Of course, there were sequels to come, including Kung Fu Panda 3, which turns 10 on Feb. 29. While all the films in the franchise have been solidly funny and well received by critics, the third one still holds a special place for being a particularly heartfelt story, especially for dads.

The central conflict of Kung Fu Panda 3 is, admittedly, not too different from the rest. Yet another big bad guy is coming to threaten China, and it’s up to Po and the Furious Five to stop them. What makes Kung Fu Panda 3 special, though, is that it’s a story of Po’s three father figures and how they deal with changing situations surrounding Po.First of all there’s Master Shifu, the little red panda master of Po and the Furious Five played by Dustin Hoffman. The wise, grumpy master had Po forced upon him in the first film by Master Oogway, so he began as a reluctant teacher to Po who eventually grew to see his worth. In the third film, the movie finds some new territory for Shifu by having him retire and anointing Po as the new teacher, something Po is woefully underprepared for. This allows Kung Fu Panda 3 to rediscover some of the fun of the first film, when Po struggled to even be trained. Here, Po is already the famous Dragon Warrior who saved China, but being a teacher offers up new challenges — like an insecure Po trying and failing to be as commanding as the strict Master Shifu.

Image: Dreamworks

Then there’s Po’s biological father, who was teased at the end of Kung Fu Panda 2 but doesn’t meet his son until this movie. Bryan Cranston plays in his first major foray back into comedy since wrapping up his tenure as Walter White in Breaking Bad, and he seems to have a lot of fun with it. Li is basically just an older version of Po before he became the Dragon Warrior, so he’s largely consumed with eating while trying to connect with his son, who he lost as a baby.

Especially fun here are the sequences where Li teaches Po how to be a Panda, like how to roll down a hill the way a panda does and how to eat dumplings not with chopsticks, but by the fistful. While Po’s always been a hungry panda, he was raised by a goose, Mr. Ping, who gives Kung Fu Panda 3 its most emotional throughline.

Image: Dreamworks

Mr. Ping is played by beloved character actor James Hong, who, along with Jackie Chan as Monkey and Lucy Liu as Viper, is one of the few recurring actors in this franchise with actual Chinese heritage. Throughout the franchise, Mr. Ping has been a steady source of love and support for his son, even if he fears for his son’s safety. But when Po rediscovers his birth father, Mr. Ping gets jealous of Po’s excitement and you really feel for the neurotic little goose. Of course, because this is a kid’s movie, Mr. Ping gets reassured about the place in his son’s life and even manages to counsel Li about Po and being a father, proving that Mr. Ping is really the one who knows him best.

Those three throughlines, which are intertwined with a villain-of-the-week story and plenty of comedy, are what make Kung Fu Panda 3 particularly resonant. While all four of the Kung Fu Panda films have been funny and full of heart, it’s Kung Fu Panda 3 that’ll especially pull at a dads’ heartstrings as it’s easy to see themselves in all three of Poe’s father figures, especially that worrisome little helicopter parent Mr. Ping.