So... on Saturday I went to see the latest instalment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise "Kung Fu Panda 4", which features the returning voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Bryan Cranston and James Hong, along with Viola Davis and Awkwafina as new characters in this film, so before I start my review of this film, I should probably go over what I thought of the other Kung Fu Panda films, I grew up watching them and I really like them a lot!, they are super funny, beautiful to look at, emotional, action packed and with solid music and wonderful characters and voice acting, with the exception of 3 just being mostly quite good, the first two movies are quite flawless in their own right and I like them a lot!, so now we got number 4, which is a make or break at this point and so the movie was released earlier in the month and I heard it was good but fans weren't too pleased, but that didn't stop me from being excited and seeing it, so I went to see it and..... sorry KFP fans, I really enjoyed it, I found it to be pretty good, easily EASILY the weakest film of the franchise but I still had a fairly good time despite a few flaws that hold back this film from being great so let's talk about it!
Good things first off is the animation, it still looks just as spectacular as the previous films, still looking vibrant and stylised, it's not quite Puss in Boots 2 but it still remains the same looking animation but still fantastic and with new editions as huge standouts, the action and martial arts is creative and fun to watch as to be expected and the colours are certainly there!, the voice acting is once again top-notch, the characters we know and love are... no different but still their charming selves, the score by Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro while not as good as the previous films' music is still nice and gets the energy going for the most part, the new characters weren't bad, I liked Zhan and the Chameleon they were decent characters that I enjoyed particularly from their vocal performances by Awkwafina and Viola Davis respectively, I did mainly chuckle and got a few laughs for the most part, it kept constant with the tone and energy for the most part, it was really nice to see these characters and this world again on the big screen after 8 years, it's lots of fun and I wasn't bored, I didn't checked my watch that much and I didn't wriggle about unlike a certain OTHER SEQUEL, it was a nice experience, maybe not as memorable as maybe the last movie but it was still good, it had a nice-ish conclusion that I did kind of like, plus the cover of "Baby One More Time" by Tenacious D is AWESOME!, absolutely love it!, they could do more covers because it's fantastic,
However!, there are flaws and a lot of people seem to point out, well not sure if everyone else has 'em but for me it's very VERY predictable like even before watching, I knew exactly what was going to happen, it follows the same format beat for beat and it's not hard to see why it doesn't standout like the previous films, it reminded me more of Cars 3 than anything else (Seriously think about it), while Zhen is a decent character, it's just another Awkwafina character that's kinda no different from other characters she voiced, she was good don't get me wrong but I'd prefer if we had the Furious Five once more because that would make more sense and then Zhen could join them or something?, but nope they are completely gone which is a shame but hey I wasn't completely bothered by it, Po and the rest of the previous characters are still good but don't add anything new of substance just... themselves, the inclusion of Tai Lung is interesting, hell even Lord Shen and Kai could've been better established here but... they feel like.. fan service and nothing else... I mean it's kinda cool to see them again?, but they contribute to almost nothing and really feels like a cop-out, plus while most of the humour work for me about 20% perfect didn't land or wasn't funny enough, the previous films at least balanced, humour, drama and action out nicely, this one does leave out drama which is what makes these films so memorable and super strong, the villain the Chameleon is decent and has a cool design and the animation on her is spectacular, she's just another villain but unlike the previous three, she does not have much of a connection to Po other than taking forms of previous masters, she was decent but nothing more than that, the Dads are fine but they contribute to almost nothing and could've easily been back at the Valley of Peace than follow Po, but those are the flaws I had with the film.
So despite how much of the film had quite a bit wrong going for it and how it could've been better established as a Kung Fu Panda movie with story, characters and conclusion could've been handled better, "Kung Fu Panda 4" is a pretty good, while yes it's the weakest of the films and less impactful, BUT.. I didn't mind it so much and I did have a fairly good time watching it, it has heart, humour (mostly), the great animation and characters we all know and love return and amazing music and action, everything else really doesn't come together as Kung Fu Panda movie and feels like they're doing it.. just because and cop-out at the very end with very not-so-special new characters I'll be honest, but just go in to have fun, even if you are a fan of Kung Fu Panda, just accept for what it is and I seen so much hatred for this film and even the director as well, I think it's a bit too far so chill out and just enjoy what you enjoy, maybe ignore the fourth film all together and stick with the first three?, I understand the disappointment and sharing so many opinions on it, but at the end of the day, it's gonna have it's fans so.. like what you like and let other people like what they like even if you don't like it, so yeah.... not a great movie but... pretty good, not sure the need for another film but maybe a series or short would make sense???, ehh skadoosh and all the rest of it, oh and by the way Mr. Beast cameo ruined the joke from Kung Fu Panda 3, if you know.., you know..
I'm going to be generous and give "Kung Fu Panda 4" a 8.2/10.
Good things first off is the animation, it still looks just as spectacular as the previous films, still looking vibrant and stylised, it's not quite Puss in Boots 2 but it still remains the same looking animation but still fantastic and with new editions as huge standouts, the action and martial arts is creative and fun to watch as to be expected and the colours are certainly there!, the voice acting is once again top-notch, the characters we know and love are... no different but still their charming selves, the score by Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro while not as good as the previous films' music is still nice and gets the energy going for the most part, the new characters weren't bad, I liked Zhan and the Chameleon they were decent characters that I enjoyed particularly from their vocal performances by Awkwafina and Viola Davis respectively, I did mainly chuckle and got a few laughs for the most part, it kept constant with the tone and energy for the most part, it was really nice to see these characters and this world again on the big screen after 8 years, it's lots of fun and I wasn't bored, I didn't checked my watch that much and I didn't wriggle about unlike a certain OTHER SEQUEL, it was a nice experience, maybe not as memorable as maybe the last movie but it was still good, it had a nice-ish conclusion that I did kind of like, plus the cover of "Baby One More Time" by Tenacious D is AWESOME!, absolutely love it!, they could do more covers because it's fantastic,
However!, there are flaws and a lot of people seem to point out, well not sure if everyone else has 'em but for me it's very VERY predictable like even before watching, I knew exactly what was going to happen, it follows the same format beat for beat and it's not hard to see why it doesn't standout like the previous films, it reminded me more of Cars 3 than anything else (Seriously think about it), while Zhen is a decent character, it's just another Awkwafina character that's kinda no different from other characters she voiced, she was good don't get me wrong but I'd prefer if we had the Furious Five once more because that would make more sense and then Zhen could join them or something?, but nope they are completely gone which is a shame but hey I wasn't completely bothered by it, Po and the rest of the previous characters are still good but don't add anything new of substance just... themselves, the inclusion of Tai Lung is interesting, hell even Lord Shen and Kai could've been better established here but... they feel like.. fan service and nothing else... I mean it's kinda cool to see them again?, but they contribute to almost nothing and really feels like a cop-out, plus while most of the humour work for me about 20% perfect didn't land or wasn't funny enough, the previous films at least balanced, humour, drama and action out nicely, this one does leave out drama which is what makes these films so memorable and super strong, the villain the Chameleon is decent and has a cool design and the animation on her is spectacular, she's just another villain but unlike the previous three, she does not have much of a connection to Po other than taking forms of previous masters, she was decent but nothing more than that, the Dads are fine but they contribute to almost nothing and could've easily been back at the Valley of Peace than follow Po, but those are the flaws I had with the film.
So despite how much of the film had quite a bit wrong going for it and how it could've been better established as a Kung Fu Panda movie with story, characters and conclusion could've been handled better, "Kung Fu Panda 4" is a pretty good, while yes it's the weakest of the films and less impactful, BUT.. I didn't mind it so much and I did have a fairly good time watching it, it has heart, humour (mostly), the great animation and characters we all know and love return and amazing music and action, everything else really doesn't come together as Kung Fu Panda movie and feels like they're doing it.. just because and cop-out at the very end with very not-so-special new characters I'll be honest, but just go in to have fun, even if you are a fan of Kung Fu Panda, just accept for what it is and I seen so much hatred for this film and even the director as well, I think it's a bit too far so chill out and just enjoy what you enjoy, maybe ignore the fourth film all together and stick with the first three?, I understand the disappointment and sharing so many opinions on it, but at the end of the day, it's gonna have it's fans so.. like what you like and let other people like what they like even if you don't like it, so yeah.... not a great movie but... pretty good, not sure the need for another film but maybe a series or short would make sense???, ehh skadoosh and all the rest of it, oh and by the way Mr. Beast cameo ruined the joke from Kung Fu Panda 3, if you know.., you know..
I'm going to be generous and give "Kung Fu Panda 4" a 8.2/10.
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