Ladies, and gentlemen, we have finally arrived at the latest installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise. Today, we shall see Po journey into a new phase as Dragon Warrior. So now, let’s discuss Kung Fu Panda 4!
Plot: Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) tells Po (Jack Black) that he must find a new Dragon Warrior so that he can move up from Dragon Warrior to being the Spiritual Leader of the Valley Of Peace. Meanwhile, a new threat in the form of the Chameleon (Viola Davis), a sorceress who has the ability to take the shape, and form of anyone that has ever lived, and can steal kung fu moves from other masters with the flick of her tongue. The Chameleon wishes to take over China, and the world. Po learns of this threat from a thief, and prisoner named Zhen (Awkwafina), who is also a corsac fox. As Zhen journeys with Po, will she end her life of crime? Will Po find The Chameleon? Also, who will Po appoint as the new Dragon Warrior, if anyone?
Alright, so, the question remains, did Kung Fu Panda 4 improve at least upon Kung Fu Panda 3? Well, sadly, no! Although Kung Fu Panda 4 does have some good points to offer, there were more times where this sequel had potential to be better.
First of all, why is the main villain, The Chameleon, only given that name? Could the writers not come up with a more creative name to give to her? I mean that’s like calling Tai Lung just The Snow Leopard, or Lord Shen The White Peacock, or just calling General Kai The Bull. Maybe I’m missing something, but it seems like calling the main female villain by only The Chameleon is a little lame, you know?
As for the score, yeah, it was decent, but still, composers Hans Zimmer, and Steve Mazzaro could have probably composed some better pieces for the different situations in this film. There was a genius piece that occurred at one point, but a little more on that in a bit. Still, overall, people will likely find themselves enjoying the score in the first two films, if not the third film, more so. As for the story, overall, again, it had the potential to be better. Honestly, at this point, I’m not sure why DreamWorks seemed to feel the need to make six films altogether. Okay, is the storyline bad? No! Even so, with the way a lot of situations in this film turn out in the end, you can likely tell that the writers are either starting to run out of ideas on how to continue making this franchise really good, or the writers chose to rush to get this sequel out, rather than taking a little more time to make it better. Now, just know, I’m not saying that I’m against movie companies making more than two to three films in a movie franchise. In fact, far from it. I mean it worked for the Harry Potter franchise, for example, and probably would have worked for the Chronicles Of Narnia movie series, if two of those theatrically released films had also been successful. But here’s the difference! First of all, those were based off of books that were already in existence before the films even came out. Sadly, the Kung Fu Panda series doesn’t have that same luxury. And yet, the second, and third films were either good, or great, while this fourth film is decent at best. Why is that? Well, I can maybe think of a couple reasons. For one, maybe the writers did originally have a better story for a sequel than they did in the end, but scratched it either due to corporate meddling, or some other mysterious reason. Another reason could be that regardless of how good, or not as good the story was, the company probably felt the need to rush to push it out ASAP. Well, perhaps I could theorize other reasons as well, but that’s all that I’ll consider at least for now. Even when it was time for the film to come to an end, right around the time that the climax occurred, even that felt rushed, and seemed to get robbed of a potential opportunity to play itself out. One way, or another, as you watch Kung Fu Panda 4, you can tell that it most definitely had potential to be a really good film, and got robbed of a good opportunity to be better than it was. Again, I’m not saying that the story is bad. Still, it could have been more than it turned out to be.
As for the character development, again, that was alright. Well, when it came to the older characters, they were handled very well. Now, about the newer characters. Well, except for Zhen, who is a new friend of Po’s, and helps him on his journey to find The Chameleon, they were alright. First off, they didn’t have a whole lot of depth to them. In fact, they felt rather one note, for the most part, and didn’t feel all that memorable because of that. The only other newer character that came fairly close, but fell short was a Sunda pangolin named Han, who was voiced by Ke Huy Quan. Okay, he did have some personality, as well as a couple hilarious moments in the film. Even then, his character could have even been better written.
One other thing that I would like to mention are the messages in this film. Now, are the messages bad? Well, I don’t know if I would go quite that far. Still, the messages from this film could potentially feel a little confusing at times, especially for kids.
Now, are there some pros for this film? Well, yes, there most definitely are. First off, we have to appreciate the friendly banter between Po, and new character Zhen. Also, having Jack Black, and Awkwafina do those respective voices, how cool is that? Plus, speaking of good sides of the characters, how could we not appreciate Viola Davis as the female villain herself, The Chameleon? As I said before, she may not be the most memorable of the villains in this franchise. Still, Davis does truly bring a menacing side to her. I’m not sure if this was her first time playing a villain, or if she had played in such a role in other films in the past. Either way, she did tremendous in the role. Same goes for the other roles that each cast member played. Oh, and one more thing about The Chameleon. How could you not like the creative things that she does at different points in this film? Oh, and one more positive about the character development! How could you not like the banter with both Po’s biological father, and his adoptive one? Just a thought!
As for the score, again, it wasn’t the best this time around. Still, when Zimmer’s score has a chance to shine, it truly does so, most notably during a fight scene that occurs shortly before the climax, especially since it’s something that music fans will surprisingly appreciate a lot, and during the climax itself.
As for the storyline, even if it could’ve been better, either by going through one, or two more drafts, or leaving the idea of the fourth, fifth, and sixth films on the shelf for a little while longer, if not maybe 15-20 years longer, or more, it was still decent for what it was. I mean it still had a good amount of comedy, despite some of that lacking this time around. And the climax, again, even though it could have been written better, definitely had some high points, especially when it came to how some of the characters were handled.
Finally, about the messages! Again, there were some mixed messages in this film, there were good ones as well, despite not being executed as well as they could have been.
And that’s my review for Kung Fu Panda 4. Well, even if this sequel was alright, it sometimes just comes to show that some franchises should either come to a close, or wait to make additional sequels until they truly have a really, really good sequel to make, you know? Kung Fu Panda 4 isn’t bad by any stretch. Still, it did have potential to be much better than it was in the end. Is this sequel worth seeing? Well, to a degree, yes. Still, don’t expect this fourth movie to be as good as the first, second, or possibly even the third film. The reason being is that once you see it, you can likely tell at times that it probably should have either been put on hold for the near, or distant future, or not have existed at all. Well, at this point, can DreamWorks do better with the fifth, and sixth films, if DreamWorks still plans to make those? Let’s hope so! Well, for now, if you liked the first three films, still see it for what good things that there are in it. But probably see it when you can see way a cheaper price, or for free, something like that!
Final Grade: C+
Matthew’s Animated & Live-Action Movie Reviews 