More than a decade ago, it would be easy to call the “Kung Fu Panda” franchise a model movie series. That can’t be said anymore, with the latest sequel continuing a downward trend.
Set seemingly a year or two after the events of the third film, “Kung Fu Panda 4” finds the main character Po (Jack Black) keeping peace as the Dragon Warrior, but those days are ending. His master, Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), tells him that he needs to take on a new role, that of a spiritual leader.
Po is reluctant, though, with his identity closely tied to his kung fu skills. Before he can choose a successor, though, he decides to use his talents one last time on a mission to stop the evil Chameleon (Viola Davis) who’s driven by conquest, getting help from a stealthy burglar named Zhen (Awkwafina).
“Kung Fu Panda 2” is an elite sequel, certainly one of the best when it comes to animated follow-ups. The third film, meanwhile, was a let-down. Compared to this latest entry, though, “Kung Fu Panda 3” looks a lot better, because the fourth movie is just an awful outing all around.
The movie includes a poor character arc for its protagonist, weak humor and doesn’t come close to hitting the emotional highs of the other films. To be entirely fair, the concept itself of Po having to make a change to another role when he’s loved his title of the Dragon Warrior isn’t bad, but the execution is off.
First, at the end of “Kung Fu Panda 3,” Po was already teaching the other pandas and the valley residents about chi, and he had learned how to have inner peace at the conclusion of part two. He seemed completely fine with the spiritual direction he was headed going into this movie, but now he is hesitant to take on that role?
It’s understandable that he loves being the Dragon Warrior and doesn’t want to part ways with that period of his life. But that hesitancy would have worked with a more nuanced approach. Unfortunately, Po just seems to want to keep being the Dragon Warrior because he enjoys the thrill, instead of, say, a sense of duty he’s gained over the years.
On that note, the fact that he’s getting older could have been an opportunity to add another layer of depth to what the character is going through. There could have been the sense that he’s not able to fight as well because he’s gotten older, kind of like what Lightning went through in “Cars 3.”
Not that it had to be exactly like that scenario, but just something more to the inner conflict of his character arc so that it doesn’t feel so lacking compared to the previous installments.
On top of his character arc, though, the film just seems to forget his legacy with the series. In the movie, Po and Zhen travel to the large metro that is Juniper City. There, Po is wowed by all the hustle and bustle as if he’s never been to a huge city before. Except, he has, when he went to Gongmen City.
For that matter, there’s another scene in Juniper City where the protagonists are talking to someone and that individual has no clue who Po or the Dragon Warrior is. Really?
After defeating the master Tai Lung who broke out of a legendary prison, the battles at Gongmen City, taking out General Kai with his jade army and the reemergence of the pandas after the events of part three? Not to mention the three animated series with a combined seven seasons that had Po on all sorts of adventures which I imagine are at least partially cannon? Those exploits combined and still they don’t know who Po is? It makes no sense.
At the very least Po is a likable character and he’s enjoyable to see on screen, with Jack Black giving him a lot of personality. Sadly, the villain this time around isn’t so great.
Again, not a terrible concept here, with a shapeshifter who can take the form of any fighting master. The problem is… everything else. First, compared to other villains in the series, Chameleon, has basically no good motivation or ties to Po.
Put that against the other three. Tai Lung had a grudge against Po’s master Shifu, Lord Shen wanted to genocide all pandas, including Po, because he saw them as a threat to his imperial goals and Kai wanted vengeance on Shifu’s master Oogway and planned to take it out on Po.
What does Chameleon want to do? Pretty generically, she wants to take over the world. That’s the same basic plan Shen had, but as previously mentioned, he had a connection to the Dragon Warrior.
But why does Chameleon want to do this? Apparently, she holds a grudge on kung fu masters for not training her, which is why she wants to take the form of other martial arts experts. The reason she gives for masters not training her? Because she was too small and basically because she’s a reptile.
Time. Out. This is a world with masters including Croc, Mantis and Viper. Not to mention Oogway, a turtle, invented kung fu. Also, to push back more on the small aspect, one of the greatest warriors is Shifu, a small red panda. So how is it in this universe Chameleon wouldn’t be trained? Did the creative team forget what happened in the previous movies?
Additionally, she explains that because she was rejected by the kung fu world, she decided to learn sorcery instead. Yet she still wants to be able to take the form and have the skills of all the other kung fu masters for her plans, despite the fact that her powers would likely allow her to roll out her plans of conquest anyway.
Well, the villain might not be very good, but hey, at least there’s the Furious Five, right? Po’s best friends and teammates back again for more adventure together. Oh wait, no. They’re not in the movie because they’re off on missions except for a mid-credits scene where they have no speaking lines.
This is one of the worst parts of the film, honestly. To not have these characters in at all is so disappointing, especially since they were already largely sidelined in part three. They are great characters and had such fantastic chemistry with Po in the first three movies, yet now they’re completely gone.
It’s a shame because Po could have really benefitted from a talk with Tigress in this movie. She went from hating him because she felt she should be the Dragon Warrior to being his closest friend and confidant. Tigress could give him a lot of advice here, and it could make for an interesting dilemma for Po because he would probably be inclined to just pick her as his successor considering she wanted the position and seems qualified.
So, who do we get instead? Some forgettable side characters introduced, including overly aggressive bunnies who are basically a repeating gag that isn’t very funny in the first place, and Zhen. At the very least, Zhen was an alright character to be added. However, Awkwafina’s voice and personality she brings to the character doesn’t fit quite right, unfortunately.
Those aren’t the only characters we have to see on screen, though, as the film also has Po’s two dads going out to help their son on his quest. Why? Because they’re worried about him. Didn’t we literally cover all of that in the third movie?
Yes, yes we did. Yet the filmmakers apparently felt the need to rehash that and follow these characters on a side quest instead of, oh I don’t know, the Furious Five?! Hell, I would take Masters Croc and Ox from part 2 over the two dads bumbling and clowning around.
My guess is it’s because they couldn’t get the voice actors for many of these roles. That extends to the villains as well. Shen and Kai reappear, for example, and just scowl most of the movie since they clearly didn’t have J.K. Simmons or Gary Oldman.
By the way, Shen coming back via a portal from the spirit world basically confirms that the realm is the afterlife in this universe. I thought the previous filmmakers introduced the spirit world concept in the third film to kind of work around that and have Po not directly killing his opponents most of the time.
But Shen wasn’t sent to the spirit world in “Kung Fu Panda 2,” he was crushed by his ship which then exploded. So that means that when Po sent himself to the spirit world with Kai in part three, he was apparently committing suicide. Hey, it’s the movie’s rules, not mine. The fact is, the film introduced a concept that muddies the water in this series’ universe when it comes to death.
There’s not much to expect from the action or comedy here, either. There are a couple neat fights but none that compare to the previous entries. Meanwhile the humor feels rather one-note and dated. For example, there’s a screaming goat gag, like the meme from 10 years ago. Remember that?
“Kung Fu Panda 4” is a pathetic entry for this once great series. It’s so far removed from the quality, and story continuity for that matter, of the other films. 1 out of 5.
Matthew Liedke on Film 