Kung Fu Panda 4

Kung Fu Panda 4 isn’t the best Kung Fu Panda film, or even the best of the series’ three sequels. However, as a fourth film in a franchise, it’s a ton of fun.

And though it’s action isn’t quite as entertaining as its predecessors and it’s unfortunate to see Awkwafina playing yet another thief (Jumanji: The Next Level says hello), for the most part, Kung Fu Panda 4 happily skadooshes its way to animated greatness.

Full review: https://bit.ly/KuFuPa4

This is probably my favourite of the franchised animated action-comedies, but I think we are now clearly running out of conceptual steam. With "Po" being told by "Master Shifu" that it is now time for him to move onwards and upwards - much to his chagrin - he must recruit a new dragon warrior so he can retreat to more cerebral pastimes. Luckily, though, the "Chameleon" has designs on obtaining all the powers from those now consigned to the nether realm and using the powers of Kung Fu to take over the world. "Po" has to be put his promotion on hold and along with his new-found, and useful, foxy friend "Zhen" try to thwart these heinous ambitions. Though there's plenty of action and self-deprecating dialogue the storyline really is too much of a recycled affair. Even the panda has been drawn into the multi-verse and to be frank, I'm a bit bored with that theme now - especially as it's never really accompanied by much in the way of jeopardy. Yes, this is an entirely predicable story that, in this case, misses out on the characterisations of his pals from the "Furious Five". It's watchable and the story well paced; there's some fun to be had in the wobbly, mountain-top, tavern but I think I've already forgotten most of it.

Written by kindergartners using AI

Even after more than 10 years, I still miss the first Kung Fu Panda movie as it was genuinely a masterpiece. The story, action, dialogues, character building, the tension between Tai Lung and Shifu, everything was fabulous. Well, I can go on and on about the first Kung Fu Panda, but this is about this unbearable trash Kung Fu Panda 4.

This movie is so bad that calling it boring would be a compliment. Out of nowhere, this Zhen character manifests. All the formula film scenes replicated, unnecessary fights, moving around without any purpose, cracking jokes (painfully unfunny) out of nowhere, and so on. I wanted to leave the movie after 20 minutes but then I thought maybe something good would happen. However, I was wrong till the end.

Pathetic direction, dialogue delivery and unfunny jokes started feeling irritating. No chemistry between Po and Zhen, and somehow they both are ready to die for each other. The Zhen character was uninteresting and annoying.

Just like contemporary movies where people get everything without any sacrifice or struggle, they managed to "Mary Sue" Zhen by making her the next dragon warrior.

I am glad that this movie ended this way. At least now I know I won’t be watching any more trash from this franchise.

If you loved the first Kung Fu panda, please stay away from this. Please save and cherish your good memories. You have been warned.

*I wanted to give it 1.5, but the sliding scale couldn’t select it, so I gave it 2/10.

I'm into movies that simulate the 'watching a video game' experience. Classic Shang Tsung end boss. Shadow of the Colossus gameplay. Maybe a diss to Dune? It's predictable and full of dumb shit but I found myself enjoying it. Jables does good. I found abrasion to be front-loaded and maybe he mellows out but... a muted, yet powerful performance. I did smoke weed during the first few minutes.

I love Awkwafina.

Out of nowhere, this fox character manifests! Out of nowhere, this panda character manifests! Out of nowhere, these villain characters manifest! We have got some top notch reviewers on this website, Souljaboytellem!

Dialog writers need to remove certain words from their joke book, like "method", as in method acting. When I hear method acting, I think Jared Leto. Associating Jared Leto's "method acting" with your movie probably isn't a good thing. Method acting and Jared Leto occupied real estate rent free for the entirety of this movie. It didn't help that they couldn't stop themselves from thinking "it's so nice, we'll say it twice".

The story is predictable, made worse by the spoon feeding. To add insult to injury, the back and forth between Po and Zhen up until the "big stink" is good enough to maybe throw you off if you haven't seen it a dozen times already or if they hadn't spelled it out.

Po's dads are fine. He has a biological widowed father and an adopted father. We know these characters. Their subplot is kinda unnecessary but the "two dad's" thing isn't rocket science.

'Kung Fu Panda 4' is much like its predecessors for me, I'm cool with them but they don't hit any deeper than being just solid movies. I had to watch a recap of the previous entries, naturally, and didn't remember much, aside from the cast and main characters.

I reckon I'll be saying the exact same thing in X amount of months about this one, that doesn't necessarily mean a film is bad though - because this release isn't. The voices we hear are perfectly satisfactory, from Jack Black to Awkwafina, Viola Davis (the best, away from lead) and the rest.

The music here is good. There is one piece of the score, which is heard a couple of times and during the end credits, that must be a homage of sorts to television show 'Dexter' - weird connection granted, but it sounds practically exactly the same to me.

On the note of the sound, I enjoyed Tenacious D's rock cover of "...Baby One More Time". I listened to it an embarrassing amount when it first released alongside this movie, the video was admittedly part of the reason why - I'm always a fan of seeing film casts in music videos.

There's a decent story told, alongside nice animation. It'll no doubt be forgettable to me personally, but I can still acknowledge it as something that I deem passable.

At first I was disappointed that the 5 weren't in this one but the humor was actually better in this movie than the previous one so that more than made up for it. The problem with watching all 4 one after the other is the story looked very similar in all 4 movies and even a copy of the second movie in the fourth. But having such a strong cast of acting voices and enough of a progression in the story line it was enough to make this a great movie to watch.

The movie is fun, a total feast for the eyes with its colors and well-choreographed beatdowns, but it leaves that cruel question hanging in the air: did the Dragon Warrior really need to come out of retirement for this mission? Let's figure out together where the chi of this new adventure shines and where it falls flat.

The transition in the director's chair is glaringly obvious right from the first few minutes. Mike Mitchell plays it safe and treats the movie almost like an extended TV episode with a billion-dollar budget. He knows how to frame a good visual gag to ensure kids won't look away from the screen for even a second. But the price of this hyperactive entertainment is steep. It lacks the contemplative touch of previous directors, that almost poetic subtlety that gave us time to breathe under a peach tree and understand the characters' pain. The film barely survives being squeezed through this corridor of creative transition, basically clocking in to meet the studio's schedule without risking an ounce of innovation.

Speaking of not taking risks, we arrive at the Achilles' heel of this new adventure. The script suffers from chronic narrative asthma: the story simply can't breathe. Po and Zhen jump from one setting to the next, pushed by absurdly convenient coincidences. Zhen knows all the passwords, knows all the shortcuts, and has the magic solution for any locked door. Things happen because they need to happen, not because the characters made difficult choices. You get the impression they wrote the action scenes first and then stitched together a flimsy script just to connect the fights.

You can't deny that Jack Black carries the comedy on his back with a charisma that borders on the absurd. His vocal energy still has that exact tone of a dazzled fanboy that we learned to love in Po. The problem is that the jokes around him are way too hit-or-miss. There are moments when the panda's natural humor gets genuine belly laughs out of you, but right aft...