Kung Fu Panda 4 movie review & film summary (2024)
Eight years later, “Kung Fu Panda 4” struggles to justify its existence. It lacks each the fragile artistry and heat wit of its predecessors. The delicate sense of spirituality is lengthy gone; instead are frantic motion sequences. Whereas the earlier films operated on numerous ranges to resonate with adults and entertain children, this one is geared primarily towards youthful audiences in methods which might be ceaselessly foolish and insubstantial.
Too typically within the movie from director Mike Mitchell (“Trolls,” “The LEGO Film 2: The Second Half”) and co-director Stephanie Ma Stine, the pacing is rushed, squandering the potential for pressure or humor. A sight gag involving a literal bull in a China store is a primary instance: It zips by throughout a chase scene, with out permitting us a second to linger within the particulars.
However along with a litany of uninspired puns, the primary drawback within the script from returning writers Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger and Darren Lemke (“Turbo,” “Shazam!”) is that the occasion that units the plot in movement feels contrived. Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) tells Po (the ever-energetic Jack Black) that he should take over as non secular chief of the valley—which had been the late, legendary Grasp Oogway’s accountability—and hand off the day-in, day-out Dragon Warrior duties to a protege. Why now? He’s solely had the gig for a short while, and a rapidly referred to as audition montage barely registers.
Apart from, there’s a extra urgent menace, and it introduces us to a bunch of latest characters voiced by a formidable array of actors. A shape-shifting sorceress generally known as the Chameleon (Viola Davis, formidable as all the time) desires to steal Po’s Workers of Knowledge and use it to collect up the talents of all of the villains within the Spirit Realm. Sure, this does sound rather a lot just like the dastardly intention of Kai, the supernatural dangerous man voiced by J.Ok. Simmons in “Kung Fu Panda 3.” To cease the Chameleon, Po reluctantly enlists the assistance of Zhen, a thieving fox who’s educated concerning the outdoors world in ways in which he isn’t. She’s voiced by Awkwafina in yet one more wise-cracking sidekick position. It’s a power of hers and it may be amusing, however by now we’ve seen her play this type of smart-alecky comedian half method too many occasions, significantly in animated movies, between “The Little Mermaid,” “The Unhealthy Guys” and “Raya and the Final Dragon.”
