Kung Fu Panda 4 Review

Eight years after the third installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise, we finally have a successor - both for the movies themselves and for the dragon warrior. Well, for the latter at least we're on the hunt.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is the journey of Po (Jack Black) to find the next dragon warrior after his Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) informs him that it is time he ascends to the role of being the spiritual leader of the Valley of Peace. Before he does that, though, Po sets out on one last adventure, stepping outside the Valley of Peace to Juniper City where his mission is to take on the illusive sorceress The Chameleon (Viola Davis). Promising to guide him to Juniper City safely in return for her jail sentence to be reduced, the fugitive fox Zhen (Awkwafina) joins Po on his final journey to "kick butt".

The primary reason for the Kung Fu Panda franchise's success has always been the fact that Jack Black is Po personified. The man has been flawless as the lovable, cuddly panda, and we have been rooting for him from the time when Po was just an overweight helper at the noodle restaurant of his goose dad Mr. Ping. We grew up watching Po claim his destiny as the dragon warrior - watched him struggle with imposter syndrome, watched him get confident and actually lead a team of masters he formerly idolised, and watched him embrace the spirituality of his role alongside the butt-kicking. Jack Black is now 54, and it has been over 15 years since the first Kung Fu Panda movie. Time is but a fleeting thing, and this movie made this thirty-something-year-old reviewer strangely nostalgic.

But I digress - it is time to set aside the emotion (for a while, at least), and look at the film without rose-tinted glasses. Besides Jack Black, the Kung Fu Panda franchise's other strengths were its antagonists and Po's sidekicks - the Furious Five. This movie struggles with its decision to do without the Furious Five in favour of putting the spotlight solely on Zhen, and things are made much worse due to the fact that The Chameleon is quite easily the least convincing "big bad" that Po has faced. While the premise of a shape-shifting, ability-leeching sorceress seems quite interesting in theory, the execution leaves a lot to be desired - especially considering the previous foes have been the prideful Tai Lung (Ian McShane), the ruthless Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), and spirit warrior General Kai (J K Simmons). We get precious little backstory on how The Chameleon became the way she is, and are simply told to believe her supervillainous credentials.

This is a recurring theme in the movie, where characters and situations seem to tell us what is going on instead of showing the moment organically. We are told that Po needs to be the spiritual leader of the Valley of Peace, just like we are told that there needs to be a new dragon warrior - without knowing why. Kung Fu Panda 4 is still entertaining, retaining key elements such as gorgeous visuals, Hans Zimmer's fantastic music, and Jack Black's natural charm - but the script doesn't seem to flow as it did in the past films.

Awkwafina is decent enough as Zhen, but the character seems to get way too much screen time without enough of a backstory. Of course, Po was introduced to us with little information about his past, and we slowly learned about it as the films progressed - but the movie is titled Kung Fu Panda and not Kung Fu Fox. Viola Davis does her best with a relatively weak villain, with enough of her dialogues scaring the younger audiences around us in the packed cinema. Po's parents - biological dad Li Shan (Bryan Cranston) and adoptive dad Ping (James Hong) - are hilarious, with some of the best moments in the movie featuring the duo. And Ke Huy Quan as the pangolin Han is a character we wouldn't mind seeing again - watching him scatter his enemies like ninepins as he rolls through them is a delight.

For families with kids, this is a no-brainer - it is solid entertainment for the younger audiences while not being a snoozefest for adults. For those of us who grew up with the series, go for it to invoke some nostalgia if that is your thing. Otherwise, it is probably better to wait till it hits the streaming platforms.