Coming eight years after the trilogy originally concluded in 2016, “Kung Fu Panda 4” is a well-meaning continuation of the story that unfortunately fails to reach the heights of its predecessors. It’s a good animated film with some stunning visuals, well done performances and an interesting premise, but none of those qualities create quite the experience I wanted. I was left wanting more. Unlike the previous movies, “Kung Fu Panda 4” doesn’t tackle its themes with much nuance or depth, choosing to be more surface-level. Jack Black is great as Po, and yet, this film comes across as a lesser sequel — an issue that would not be so glaring if not for the high-bar of quality set by the prior films.
Back of the DVD Summary: Taking place sometime after the trilogy, Po finds that his time as the Dragon Warrior is coming to an end and that he must select his successor. Po is reluctant to choose someone, while not being confident he can proceed to the next stage in his Kung Fu evolution. Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) urges Po that he is ready, and would not possess the Staff of Wisdom if he wasn’t. Still, Po delays his selection when a new shape shifting threat, The Chameleon (Viola Davis) emerges, intent on stealing the Staff of Wisdom for herself.
The idea of Po choosing his successor feels like a logical direction to go for both his character and the franchise as a whole. It would bring his character full circle from the first film, however, the idea ends up being more interesting than how the film handles it. Notable by their absence are the Furious Five, which would make for ideal candidates, adding tension to the story because we as the audience know them. It would also make for an interesting mirror to the first film, Po denied the Five a chance at being selected, but now gets the chance to choose one of them to take his palace.
Instead, what’s here is a new character named Zhen who is from the moment she’s introduced so clearly going to be selected because she is the only one Po spends any meaningful time with.
Zhen herself is a fun new addition to the universe, but contrasts Po in only one real way: she’s deceitful, and he’s a nice, genuine Panda. The twist with Zhen toward the end of the second act is done well enough, but has little bearing on the story, and feels more like it’s done for shock value than anything else.
The villain suffers from the same issue as the concept of the film — she is much more fascinating in theory than practice.
Her plan is to get back at the Kung Fu masters who denied her a chance at learning by stealing her abilities and becoming the ultimate Kung Fu master. Her characterization is flat, even with Viola Davis giving it her all in the vocal department. It’s also implied by the end of the film that even with all her new found power, Po could have easily defeated her, but chose to let Zhen prove herself. It’s a little unclear.
Everything wasn’t all bad, I did on the whole enjoy the film. Nothing about it was bad or terrible, but nothing was really spectacular. The animation quality was easily the best it’s ever been, the attention to detail on the fur was incredible, and there were more than a few stunning visuals. Jack Black still felt right at home portraying what is an iconic animated character. I did enjoy Zhen, she was a much different character than we have seen before, but she was a welcomed addition. There are no shortages of elements to enjoy, but the film doesn’t quite reach the heights of the previous entries. I would wait for this film to come to streaming, nothing about it sadly demands to be seen on the big screen.
