Movie Review: Kung Fu Panda 4

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

While it doesn't quite live up to the previous three films, this is still definitely a good movie. 

Where this movie really works is with how it handles Po. It is easy to see how he has matured through what has happened in the previous films, but he is still easily the same character. Rather than being a character who has great kung fu talent but lacks the amount of experience of his peers, here he is greatly more experienced than those he works with. Having him truly become the mentor and actually grow to fit the role, shows just how much this character has grown. Here however his biggest flaw becomes simply that he is too trusting of everyone. In fact, the focus of this film is simply that Po is such a nice guy. This shows that even with how much he has become more experienced he has not let this stop him from being such a kind good hearted person (or panda). To me this is the essence of the character, and this movie captures it very well. His relationship with the young thief, he befriends, is very well handled and even kind of touching. The two truly bring out the best in each other and help them evolve as characters. As well as this I simply enjoyed watching the characters share the screen. This movie also benefits from a really fun villain. While she is not as complex as the villains of the previous films, she still does her job very well. Her shapeshifting abilities also lead to some great visuals, especially during the climatic action scene. Actually, all the action scenes here are great. 

While there are some funny moments here, I admit I did not laugh as much as I did at the previous films in the franchise. Many relying on easy puns, there are even some jokes here that really fall flat. However, even there were fewer great jokes here, the jokes that worked were really funny. Though I didn't laugh as much, there were still times I laughed out loud. 

The storyline is a clever one that takes Po on the necessary next steps of his spiritual journey. However, there are many times it was too predictable. I foresaw the film's ending very early on (in fact as soon as one character was introduced). The film has a few plot twists, but each one you can easily see coming. 

Unlike the previous two movies which were both co-directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson. This movie was directed by Mike Mitchell with co-director Stephanie Ma Stine. Mike Mitchell has worked at Dreamworks for a while. He was a story artist on such films as Antz (1998), Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007) and Monsters Vs. Aliens (2009). He also Shrek Forever After (2010) and Trolls (2016). This is Stephanie Ma Stine's directorial debut. 

While it may not fully live up to the previous three films, this movie is still a delight for fans of the franchise.