Kung Fu Panda 4 is directed by Mike Mitchell and Stephanie Stein and follows the continuing adventures of Poe.
And when he's tapped to become the spiritual leader of the Valley of Peace,
he needs to find and train a new dragon warrior,
while a wicked sorceress plans to re-summon all the master villains whom Poe has vanquished to the spirit realm.
The Fu Panda movies are kind of like secret weapons because I have never watched one, thinking it was going to be anything special.
The first movie I actually didn't think it was going to be good and ended up being really good.
Same with the second, same with the third.
These are surprisingly good movies.
And while Kung Fu Panda 4 is probably the least of the four,
I still think this is a decent, very enjoyable family film that adults and kids are going to have fun watching.
This movie entirely does away with the supporting cast that we've come to know from the other films.
I can only assume to do budgetary restraints of getting actors like Angelina Jolie to come back,
or maybe they just wanted to go in a different direction.
And even though the animation was typically gorgeous, it's a DreamWorks production, it's going to look great.
I found myself a little bored, I was twiddling my thumbs, kind of wondering when the movie was going to get started.
There's a fun action scene where he takes down a stingray.
because it just happened to work out for my schedule,
the one time that I could see the film today,
the only show time in the theater near my house was a 3D one,
and I was like, all right, we're not really a fan of 3D movies, but I went.
It's also one of the first 3D movies I've seen since getting laser eye surgery,
so I didn't have to put 3D glasses over actual glasses, which was really cool.
I saw Avatar Way of Water in 3D.
And it's nice to occasionally see a movie in 3D, especially for a kid's animation, which looks really good.
It's especially effective in an action scene in a rickety old tavern on a cliffside filled with shady characters.
This is also where the movie really starts to come alive.
He teams up with a fox voiced by Aqua Fina,
he captures her trying to steal some artifacts,
and she's one of the few people who understands Viola Davis, this sorceress known as the Chameleon who can shape shift into anything.
The action also picks up a lot here.
There's a great chase through a city to an orchestral rendition of Crazy Train, featuring a moment where everyone including the law.
enforcement slows down to avoid knocking over any valuables in an antique shop and once the
movie began to embrace its theme which is essentially accepting change even though change can be very
scary and embracing it and realizing that sometimes change actually is better and that our lives become better as a result of it.
I think that's really great for kids to hear because kids are in a constant state of change.
But it's also good for adults to hear because I think we all fear change.
And that's probably the best thing I can say about Kung Fu Panda 4 is that the action sequences are very fun.
The 3D, if you choose to see it in 3D was very effective.
But it also does lean into the idea,
especially with Aquafina's character,
that's Change can help your life,
even though it's scary to take that step into something you've never tried before,
that you might as well give it a shot and see what happens.
And that theme applies as well to Poe's dad's, Lee, played by Brian Cranston and Mr.
Ping, played by James Hong.
Because both of them spend most of the movie worrying about their son and the path that he's on, whether or not.
he's going to fall into catastrophe,
and they're not fully embracing the fact that he's changing as well, and they accept that, their lives become easier.
So the movie actually does a pretty good job of exploring its main theme.
Plus Viola Davis was clearly having an excellent time playing a shape-shifting lizard.
Look, this movie is not going to do what Poston Boots the Last Wish did.
It's nowhere near that level of craftsmanship.
But it is a very entertaining movie and I think it's a decently enjoyable film.
And I think especially for kids who are already massive fans of the Kung Fu Panda movies.
But I think unlike some other Dreamworks franchises like for instance the Shrek movies which kind of fell off after two for me.
The Kung Fu Panda movies have actually maintained some consistency.
So if you guys do see it this weekend or in the future, I hope you enjoy it.
Look forward to this weekend because my feature presentation is going to be on the film Breakdown,
the 1997 film with Kurt Russell directed by Jonathan Maustau, which is very underappreciated.
I've always wanted to talk about that film and I'm looking for to doing that with you guys.
Thank you so much, as always, for watching.
And if you like this, you can click right here and get Stuckmanized.
