In DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda 4, Po is kung fu fighting again…for the fourth time. It’s been eight years since we last went on adventure with Po, so it begs the question: is this sequel the wait?
Kung Fu Panda 4 continues the story of the panda Po (Jack Black) on his journey to become a kung fu master. But things are getting a bit stale for the legendary Dragon Warrior as you can only do so many ribbon cutting ceremonies for so long. His master, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), encourages him that it’s time to select his successor and move on from being the Dragon Warrior. While struggling with this, he encounters a bandit trying to steal artifacts from the Jade Palace, a fox bandit named Zhen (Awkwafina). While interrogating her in jail, Zhen reveals the existence of a new sorceress named The Chameleon (Viola Davis), who is creating havoc by disguising herself as Po’s former nemeses. Po decides to free her and together they team up to defeat The Chameleon before she can cause any more damage.
Regarding the voice cast, there are hits and misses. Jack Black seems to be phoning it in, which may be in part to a lackluster script than Black himself as Po, a hilarious character, hardly has any laugh-out-loud moments. I had to hold back an eye roll when I heard Awkwafina’s character talk, not because she is bad (she’s actually perfectly fine), but just because she is the current animated voice actress de jour and seems to be in nearly every animated film right now. Voila Davis gives the best performance with a sinister performance as The Chameleon.
At this point, DreamWorks’ has honed in on its animation style for this film and nothing seems to be pushing boundaries here (unlike its other recent films Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and The Bad Guys). There are some cool scale-like effect when The Chameleon is transforming into other villains, but that’s the only thing animation-wise that stood out.
In this film, either in an attempt to quell the budget or to simply pare down the cast to make it more a buddy film, Po’s fellow kung fu masters–the “Fab Five”–do not appear. And frankly, it’s fine and they aren’t missed much (other than the fact that the obvious answer to Po’s replacement should be one of them, instead of random animals that show up at “Dragon Warrior” auditions). It would have been nice to see Tigress and Po go on an adventure, instead of a new character who then is made the success at the end of it all.
In a strange choice to fill time, Po’s two fathers–Mr. Ping, his adoptive goose dad, and Li Shan, his biological panda dad–go on a quest to follow Po. This storyline makes no sense because at this point, Po has gone on many adventures and dangerous journeys. And suddenly now, Mr. Ping is worried and stressed about his son? It felt very contrived and took away from an already thin plot, because these two literally follow Po’s footsteps and we revisit places making the movie feel a bit long in the tooth.
Overall, Kung Fu Panda 4 is an unnecessary and forgettable addition to the the Kung Fu Panda franchise. Sure, it will probably do reasonably well at the box office and kids will enjoy it in the moment, but in the end, this panda will go extinct in your mind in about a week.
★★★
