That is the big problem with Kai, he is underdeveloped. Because Tai Lung was the hero from his own story and his motivations were build in deception and anger.
Shen was crazy and he even if his motivations and plans were really simple and cliche, Shen itself was a good character.
Kain in the other side, has the voice, has the design, has the powers, but his backstory even if it is cool and interesting, is underdeveloped, we doesnt know a lot about Kai, only that he wants to destroy Oogway Legacy, Kung Fu and that is.
It depends in how you see it.
Again, maybe you dont like something but that doesnt mean is good and sadly that was the case of Kung Fu Panda 2, i maybe dont like it a lot for how dark it was but it is a better movie than Kung Fu Panda 3.
The Big Problem of Kung Fu Panda 3 is how fast it is, how they try to tell it and how forced is the comedy, the only three problems i saw. The Story is great, the action is great, the whole development and themes are great. But how fast everything happens and how forced the comedy felt ruins the movie for me.
Kung Fu Panda 1 had a lot of comedy but the thing is, in that moment and time Po was a fat Geek Guy who loved Kung Fu and wanted to be like his idols.
In Kung Fu Panda 2 he was silly, pretty dumb sometimes but clearly he was just naive.
In Kung Fu Panda 3 they try to force the same Po from Kung Fu Panda 1 and for me it was a huge let down, like Po alredy knows the Jade Palace, i believe now when he tries to show his father this place the both of them would be a little bit more careful like his son wasnt in the first movie, but we dont see this happen, he just becomes the same guy from the first movie again.
Later when Shifu discover the disaster he goes out of character, because Shifu is this angry master but now he isnt, because for the sake of comedy we need to pass this moment and let the people focus in how Li is Po father.
What i really like for the sake of comedy is how nobody knows who the hell is Kai, that is really funny, to see how Shifu doesnt know who the hell Kai is, but at the end Po is the first person in all the movie who knows who he is.
That is how a joke works well, when the joke works with the character and it is part of the character. But when the joke feels forced and lost.
I dont know this movie is good...
This is what i dont understand about internet, in internet for some reason the people always see the things in "Black and White" while they should see the things in "Colors". Maybe i dont like the second movie for the feeling it gave me, for some missed opportunities and because it was dark, unexpectedly dark.
But that doesnt mean the second movie is bad, the movie has a lot of great things, how Po changes and accepts his past, while he tries to fight this emotions inside him. I also like a lot how Shen was made a great opposite to Po too.
Kung Fu Panda 3 big problem is comedy, it has too much comedy, i dont like Dreamworks comedy, because they are too silly and safe. The old comedies were really great but the new ones like "Home" or "Trolls" this kind of movie are too safe for kids and i believe kids need to learn dark things sometimes about life and that is what i liked a lot about Kung Fu Panda, how the movies always were for kids, but inside them it always was a mature message or teaching for kids.
Kung Fu Panda 3 dont lose this way, it have great teachings that any one can related to, from a kid to an adult. But the comedy always for me at less ruined the moments where the development of character or strong moments or learning were happen, like the final battle where Po have to ruin that cool "Dragon Chi thing" doing a bunch of Jokes out of place and the classic one liner we get in every movie.
So is okay, because for me Kai was awesome and i dont know if i want more of this movies, because if we are going to have another one i dont want this quality again, i dont want this kind of comedy again, i am done, if they are force to do another Kung Fu Panda movie i believe the only place they can go is 5 years in the future or 2 years in the future and a relationship between Tigress and Po. While something really bad emerges.
Because we alredy had 3 villains from the past, Tai Long was from the past of Shifu, Shen was from the past of Po, Kai was from the past of Oogway.
^ Exactly, i believe in the original film to take the Chi from another beings Kai needed to kill them, so that is why i am saying he was going to kill a lot of characters, because to take their Chi he needed to kill them. But i am really happy with what we got, because the Furious Five are a great part of the history. Also now that i think about it, ¿Kail didnt take the Chi of like 40 Kung Fu Masters?, ¿that didnt mean that when Po defeat him this masters must have bring back to life?
Yes, while Tai Long was created to be the hero of his own story, because Shifu always tell him he could be the Dragon Warrior, but at the end he create a monster full of deception and anger. Shen and Kai were created to have more like a personal link to the past of this characters and to be full of evil villains. Shen in some way was crazy and try to be the hero of his own story, but Kai he only wanted revenge the reason why he killed 40 Masters of Kung Fu and almost destroy the entire art itself.
I believe my problem with Mei Mei is that she is the only "Girl Panda" and through the entire movie she is dress in this nosense and really stereotypical dress of chinese wife. Is like we needed more variety. I believe this will be always my problem with Kung Fu Panda, every movie the world becomes bigger but at the same time they find the way to make you feel variety is missing.
Personally i dont like the second movie of Kung Fu Panda, it felt dark, fun and emotional, really emotional around Po history and how Shen is the key to Po finally find Inner Peace, that is really cool. To see how the two characters are the two sides of the same coin, Tai Lung was the other side of Po in Kung Fu Panda 1, Shen was the other side of the coin of Po in Kung Fu Panda 2, but i am talking emotionally not about powers.
This movie for me is better than the second, it have a really interesting plot, but i felt something was missing there and was more seriousness, like at the end while Kung Fu Panda 2 has this really powerfull fight scene between Po and Shen and we saw really clear they two sides of one same problem, inner peace. Emotional Scars from the past.
Here in Kung Fu Panda 3 we dont saw this same link, this same journey between Po and Kai, it was more about this guy is unstoppable is a freacking Chi Monster and he just becames a Chi Master, because he needs to and clearly the joke at the end ruin the moment of true, where we should have seen Po understand who he is and what he needs to do in life, while Kai still dont understand who he is and what he is doing in life.
Kai was going to kill everyone he become in Jade Zombies, you understand now? He was going to kill the Furious Five and the Masters of Kung Fu. Like in the second movie Shen kill a Master of Kung Fun with his cannon. But clearly they change the way his powers works and while i felt it was for the best, it was going to be darker.
Yes maybe Kai doesnt need a huge motivation, but in the movie they make it that way, they make Kai motivation a huge part of the story, because the only reason he wants to destroy Kung Fu is because this is the legacy of Oogway, this is was he left behind and everyone remember him, but nobody remember Kai or know who the heck he is.
I can forgive side characters, i really can, because after the first movie the Furious Five lost the spotlight they have. But nicely in this movie we get a lot of Mantis and Crane, a little bit more of Monkey and Viper, off course a lot of Shifu and Tigress.
My problem with Mei Mei is that she was created to be the regular gag of how Po goes to the Panda Village and finds out he has a girl waiting for him only to marry him and i dont know, even if in the end the character helps, i felt it was too strange she never take or change the dress and also that she never did another things.
I Believe we alredy saw two villains who wanted the end of the Kung Fu each own for his own reasons, we need something new and fresh. The only thing i know they have to do in a sequel is give Po and Tigress a Relationship.
Kung Fu Panda 3 needed more time i believe, less comedy, because the comedy was too forced and more development of side characters, that is what i believe this needed to be better. I liked a lot how the Three movies of Kung Fu Panda are one big solid story of how Po pass from being a Kung Fu admirer to being a Kung Fu Master.
I like a lot how this movie and the second one feel like one movie, how fresh this movie feels and also how cool is the story.
What i dont like is how they treat this story and the side characters in it. After Kung Fu Panda 2 hint a relationship between Po and Tigress here we dont get anything of her and Po, any kind of link or development between the relationship of the two (only that Po knew what Tigress like to eat).
How Kai gets softened and censored in some way to be less scary, but his character gets the worst part because his motivation becomes weak. If Kai would have been the one who got hurt in battle and he became crazy after feeling the Pandas giving him Chi to bring him back to life it would have been great. See how Kai becomes in some way an addict to Chi and how Oogway in a really dramatic way has to learn the art of the Chi to stop him and he traps him in the Spirit Realm.
About the pandas i dont get a lot of problems about them, only how two big deus ex machina happen in the end, one Po sending a Spirit to the Spirit Realm when he couldnt and two from one moment to another every one knew how to use Chi.
About Po father, his character is good, is one of the strong parts of the movie. About Mei Mei or whatever his name is, is weak, really weak, because we alredy have Tigress, we dont need another girl in the mix and dont get me wrong i mean, they created Mei Mei only to be a love interest to Po but the reality is, he alredy has Tigress.
Finally 7/10, it is close to the 8/10 of Kung Fu Panda 2 and the 8/10 of Kung Fu Panda...
The trials and tribulations Po will have to face will be his most challenging and unrelenting yet.
Also TiPo finds its way into the movie because the characters have so little left to cling onto except for each other.
For me Kai was going to be darker but he was softened, i believe this is the reason why Mads Mikkelsen got out of the movie after the rewrite happen. Kung Fu Panda never was too dark, it was dark for sure, but never too dark. But the last movie prove Dreamwork is moving with the franchise to the side of the Nickelodeon series "Legends of Awesomeness", the last movie has too much comedy, it felt soo soft.
I believe what i would love to see in the next movie is Tai Lung, but clearly we alredy saw one being coming out of the Spirit Realm, so they need to show this in a new way if they are going to do it. But what i want the most is that if they do a new movie they explore finally the relationship of Tigress and Po.
Because in the Second Movie, i felt like they were going to do it, they did give a lot of hints of how maybe Po and Tigress have something going on more than only a friendship, but now in the last movie she is only a friend?
So ironically the Four Movie of Toy Story and the Four Movie of Kung Fu Panda need to treat the same theme, a relationship.