Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/639267
j a n u a r y . f e b r u a r y 2 0 1 6 c g w 2 5 I n the universe of CG ani- mated films, the beautifully designed Kung Fu Panda series stands out for its unique graphic visual language, colorful animated action, humor, and one of the most improbable heroes ever to star in a major motion picture. Po (Jack Black), the remark- ably clumsy, irrepressible, and overweight giant panda, has proven to be the Dragon Warrior he imagined during the first two films in the series. But, even though he defeated a villain in each, he remained lovably insecure and vulnerable. In Kung Fu Panda 3, the Dragon Warrior must now defeat the most frightening villain yet, a super- natural beast called Kai (JK Simmons). To do so, the warrior must become a teacher. But, can the self-doubting sometime hero convince himself he's good enough to teach? Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nel- son and Alessandro Carloni, the story takes place largely in two worlds: a dangerous, dramatic spirit realm inhabited by Kai, and a charming, bucolic panda village. In this film, Po meets his biological father, Li Shan (Bryan Cranston), an older version of himself without the discipline of martial arts training. Li Shan leads him to the secret panda village high in the mountains. Created at DreamWorks Animation in Glendale, Califor- nia, and Oriental DreamWorks in Shanghai, China, Kung Fu Panda 3 again pays tribute to wuxia, a genre of Chinese fiction centered on martial artists in ancient China. But, Kung Fu Pan- da's martial arts practitioners are animals. Indeed, animals make up the entire population. Even though it has been eight years since the first film, Kung Fu Panda, and five years since Kung Fu Panda 2, all the actors playing major roles returned for the third, as did much of the crew. Nelson had directed the Oscar-nominated second film and was head of story and director of the dream sequence for the Oscar-nominated first film. Carloni was animation supervisor and story artist on the first film, and a story artist on the second. Melissa Cobb produced all three. "Most of the crew has stayed together for the past 10 years," Cobb says. "We know the world, and we know the style. Also, among ourselves we have good communication and trust. We're a family, one with mutual respect. So we were able to get a lot more done; we could push the boundaries." One way in which the crew pushed the boundaries was in the look. "There has been a big battle to make photorealistic animated films," Carloni says. "Finally, we've gotten past that and can just make films as beautiful as we can, even super stylized and graphic." Previous films had graphic sequences – sometimes hand- drawn, sometimes 2D – but in Kung Fu Panda 3, that look moved into a 3D environment: the spirit realm. "We've always had graphic images in the film," Nelson says. "We've used a 2D look to show what's in Po's head. But in this film, when Po's in the spirit realm, the graphic images from the first movie became that world. We remade the 2D look in 3D. It feels real not because of photorealism, but viscerally and emotionally real because it's so pushed. The colors are more saturated, the environment is more insane, the impact is bigger because of the visual language." S T O R Y D E V E L O P M E N T Nelson and Carloni are both story artists, so both drew story boards for the film. "That's where we discover the story," Carloni says. "The story artists and the writers piggy back off each other. I think we prob- ably board each sequence 20 times. We redo every moment, and each time we have to be completely original and do the best work we've ever done." As they developed the characters, the action, and the environments, the directors had an advantage over those working on the previous films. "On the first film, Raymond [Zibach, production designer] and Tang [Kheng Heng, art di- rector] did so much research to get all the elements accurate," Nelson says. "On the second film, we photographed in China. This time, we could ask the stu- dio in China what is accurate." "They would draw things for us," Carloni adds. "If we needed calligraphy or poetry, they would do it or find it. When we made the first Kung Fu Panda, the peo- ple in China liked it. They asked if we could make one together, and it made complete sense for this movie. We're making a movie about their culture." Although set in China, the film's themes are universal. "Po's journey is always about self-dis- covery, about maintaining who he is," Nelson says. "Now, he takes another step. It's just hard- er. The student becomes the teacher. So many kung fu movies have a student in front of other students. This is Po's version." Po's journey into self-discov- ery is facilitated by the surprise appearance of his biological father. When Po and his dad meet, they don't recognize each other at first. As they turn away from each other, a crowd of bunnies and pigs stare in amazement. The scene is one of Nelson's favorites. "It's a gag that the anima- tors figured out," Nelson says. "A simple and logical idea that would happen only with these two characters." "When we pitched the idea, some people said they [Po and his dad] looked stupid," Carloni says. "We said, 'Trust us. It will be so funny.' Everyone laughs during the close-up crowd shot. That was Jeffrey's [Katzen- berg, DreamWorks' CEO] idea. He told us we had to have the cutback to the crowd." P R E M O A N I M A T I O N To create that gag and all the characters' performances, PO AND HIS LOOK-ALIKE BIOLOGICAL DAD SHARE THE SAME SENSE OF HUMOR.