The “Kung Fu Panda” movies have always been reliable when it comes to animated franchises. A distinctive style, a star-studded voice cast, and winner Jack Black playing Po, the buxom dragon warrior who appreciates dumplings, is usually a recipe for success, or at least it has been. “Kung Fu Panda 2” was even nominated for an Oscar for best animated feature film in 2012.
It's been eight years since we last saw our old friend Po in 2016's “Kung Fu Panda 3,” and this new installment, “Kung Fu Panda 4,” is co-directed by official animation director Mike Mitchell in team with Stephanie Ma Stine, making her film debut. The film builds on elements that have worked before: Black's vocal charms and distinctive imagery, inspired by various Chinese arts, including painting, music and film. It's still a beautiful and fun animated world to experience, but in this rushed and busy 94-minute package packed with plot and characters, those virtues receive little attention.
The film also falls victim to some well-worn tropes, so what used to be fresh and unique now feels like any other animated sequel. There are cute little killer bunnies and a giant monster wallowing in a climactic battle; Awkwafina voices a sassy supporting character. Can casting Awkwafina in an animated vocal role now be considered cliché? She has voiced characters in “Migration,” “The Little Mermaid,” “The Bad Guys,” “Raya and the Last Dragon,” “The Angry Birds Movie 2,” “Storks” and more. All my respect to her for staying employed, but it seems almost too predictable that her Queens-inflected harsh tones would appear in an animated film right now.
A scene from the animated film “Kung Fu Panda 4”.
(DreamWorks Animation)
To Awkwafina's credit, her character, Zhen, is a little more grounded and well-developed than usual. She plays a thieving fox whom Po discovers stealing relics. He puts her in jail (even the Valley of Peace is apparently a prison state) but frees her from it when she promises to help him find a power-hungry mob boss known as the Chameleon (Viola Davis). The pair embark on a journey to Juniper City to find the Chameleon, who has been shape-shifting into different defeated warriors and demanding monetary tribute.
Po is finally able to explore beyond the rural beauty of the Valley of Peace and we get to see some urban landscapes. Except that as soon as the pair arrive in Juniper City, they are chased into the criminal underground and then spend the rest of the movie in Chameleon's mountaintop palace, where she uses Po's Staff of Wisdom to steal kung It was every mighty warrior he has sent. to the Spirit Realm. Additionally, Po's two parents, Li (Bryan Cranston) and Mr. Ping (James Hong), are chasing her son, worried that he has abandoned her cheerful home in the Valley.
On top of this Chameleon business, Po has to deal with an annoying directive from his master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), who has ordered him to name a successor to the Dragon Warrior. Although Po is reluctant to do so, the right candidate is immediately obvious. They will simply have to go on an unexpected journey together to truly get to know each other before the Staff of Wisdom and the necessary “Skadoosh” can be passed on, while Po retreats to a life of writing proverbs.
The story is skeletal and often rambling, relying on so many overly familiar beats that it's hard to muster the energy to care about anyone's motivation. Like Po himself, “Kung Fu Panda 4” just wants to rock, riding the wave of previous hits. For young children, it will be a fun diversion, but for anyone expecting the excellence of the previous films, this dumpling is too lightly filled.
Katie Walsh is a film critic for the Tribune News Service.
'Kung Fu Panda 4'
Classification: PG, for martial arts action/mild violence, scary images, and some mild crude humor.
Execution time: 1 hour, 34 minutes
Playing: In wide release on Friday, March 8
