DreamWorks Animation scored a solid success this year with Home, and they’ll be hoping to keep the win train rolling by returning to one of their workhorse franchises early next year. Prepare, then for more martial arts and culinary puns as Kung Fu Panda 3 flying kicks its way back into our collective hearts with the first trailer.
The third film finds Jack Black’s Po confronting something he never thought possible – the return of his long-lost father, Li Shan (Bryan Cranston), though as the trailer shows, our hero doesn’t immediately twig that it’s his pops.
Still, the happy family reunion means that he is able to visit a secret panda paradise where many of his species are still living happily, including Mei Mei (Rebel Wilson). But his joy is short-lived, as the supernatural villain Kai is soon sweeping across China, taking out the kung fu masters as he goes. Po is faced with the ultimate challenge: training up a village full of his laidback, clumsy, fun-loving panda brethren to become a fighting unit to take on the new threat.
With Jennifer Yuh Nelson once more in the director’s chair and Alessandro Carloni as co-director, Kung Fu Panda 3 sees the return of the regular voice cast including Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross and James Hong. It’ll hit our cinemas on March 18 next year.