- Released: March 2, 2024
- Directed by: Mike Mitchell, Stephanie Stine
- Running time: 1h 34min
- Rating 2.5/5
Synopsis
My Thoughts
Hey, this came out on my birthday...in Spain, at least. Yeah, I had to wait until late March until it even came out here in theaters and then until early April to actually go see it. Well, I just got back from the theater, and here are my thoughts.
This movie has been widely criticized as bad by the audience and while I held off from judging it based on the trailer...yeah, I gotta say, I agree with the general consensus with this one. This is just not a very good movie and by far the weakest out of the Kung Fu Panda series. The first two are fantastic movies and the third, while flawed, is still a fun watch. This movie just made me feel nothing. I was honestly pretty bored even. Sure, it's visually great-looking, but that's really where my praise for the movie stops.
The writing feels weak. Po suddenly needs to give up his Dragon Warrior title for no other reason than Shifu tells him to, and his whole arc of becoming a spiritual leader amounts to pretty much nothing by the end. It seems that the movie thinks that being a spiritual leader is spouting random wisdoms every so often. Because it doesn't go into it beyond that.
The same can be said for Zhen as the next Dragon Warrior. Sure, she helps out Po, but at no point does she stand out as particularly worthy for such an important title. It's also never brought up why Po can't choose one of the Furious Five as his successor. Surely someone like Tigress would be a more worthy candidate? That aside, Zhen is fine as a character but her arc is very predictable (I could smell her betrayal coming from a mile away) and what irks me the most is that her bond with Po doesn't feel genuine at all. At no point during this movie did it feel like these two characters had a genuine connection, something the other movies never lacked. I never had a hard time buying Po having a connection with characters like the Furious Five (particularly Tigress), his goose dad, Shifu, etc. But his bond with Zhen feels very forced and like the plot demands they be friends, but not because they genuinely are friends.
The villain this time around was also a huge disappointment. The fact that her motivation doesn't make any sense aside (you'll know if you've seen the film and remember Mantis exists), she's just probably my least favorite element of the film. Unlike the prior villains she doesn't even feel that remotely threatening. She at most pushes a guy down the stairs, and he lives. Compare that to the genuine evil and threats caused by the likes of Shen, Tai Lung and even a slightly less beloved villain like Kai. Weak. I do like the Chameleon's ability to shapeshift and her voice acting was good, but that doesn't save her from being a very weakly written villain and a big letdown.
Speaking of the other baddies. Yeah, they return from the Spirit Realm...but barely. Only Tai Lung gets a speaking role and he kind-of gets redeemed. Which is an interesting move, but they don't do that much with it. Also it feels very lacking that they bothered to semi-redeem him but then don't have him interact with Shifu, or even Po telling Shifu about seeing Tai Lung again. Remember, Tai Lung is Shifu's son? No? Anyone? Also, yes, Kai and Shen are there, but they don't talk or even really do much of anything. So that was a bit disappointing.
I guess I'll also have to bring up the Furious Five's absence because everyone is talking about it, but it personally didn't bother me much because I think the cast would've been too bloated had they been included, unless some other side characters had been cut from the story as it currently is. It was sad they weren't there because they're really Po's team and buddies, but I get why they weren't included (aside from their VA's possibly being to expensive to afford for Dreamworks. I don't know if that's true, but it's a rumor I've heard.).
So yeah, a disappointing fourth installment. If they do continue the Kung Fu Panda series past this one future installments can of course be good again, but this was a letdown.
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