The long awaited installment of the Kung Fu Panda series has finally come out. “Kung Fu Panda 4” was released on Mar. 8, 2024 in theaters, but you can now buy or rent it on Amazon Prime for $20-30. It scored a 72% on Rotten Tomatoes but only scored a 6.3/10 on IMDb. The movie introduces us to a brand new part of the “Kung Fu Panda” world, taking us out of the Valley of Peace. It also introduces us to many new characters and animals, notably the fox Zhen, voiced by Awkwafina and The Chameleon, voiced by Viola Davis. Mr. Beast even made a cameo as a panda-pig mix. Some say the movie did not live up to the rest of the series and the hype, but it is just as exciting and hilarious as the previous installments.
The Plot
The movie starts off with Po, still voiced by Jack Black, coming back from a Dragon Warrior mission. Upon his return Master Shifu, still voiced by Dustin Hoffman, urges Po to train the next Dragon Warrior and become a spiritual mentor as Oogway wanted him to. Po declines since he was not ready to move on. He then finds the fox known as Zhen stealing in the Hall of Warriors and has her arrested. When visiting her in prison he learns she knows of The Chameleon and takes her on his adventure to defeat her.
Main Takeaways
The movie was action packed and absolutely hilarious. Many reviews say that “Kung Fu Panda 4” is the worst installment, but I completely disagree. The fights were extremely creative and well animated, especially the final fight, which was incredibly captivating. Po keeps his unserious and funny personality. The jokes always hit in the right spot and will have you laughing. Po’s dads Ping and Li Shan take on a hilarious parenting dynamic far different from the one we saw in “Kung Fu Panda 4”. Sadly, the Furious Five only made brief appearances, but the new characters made up for them. The Chameleon was a very deep and interesting villain, and the most powerful one we have seen yet. This will be kept spoiler free, but her backstory and plot twist at the end is very emotional. Juniper city was a very different setting from the Valley of Peace, and it was a good change from the Valley of Peace. The modern CGI animation helped it to look amazing and beautiful. Not to mention, an instrumental version of Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne and a cover of Hit Me Baby One More Time by Britney Spears from Jack Black’s rock duo Tenacious D.
Worth watching?
“Kung Fu Panda 4” is absolutely worth watching, especially for “Kung Fu Panda” fans. There was not a boring part in the movie and you will either be on the edge of your seat or laughing the whole way through. The new characters are both lovable and funny. Juniper City is both captivating to the eye and has a deep culture to it. The CGI animation was also as cool as ever. All things considered, “Kung Fu Panda 4” was an amazing movie and is well worth the watch.
