Among the uncommonly good franchise hits of DreamWorks Animation, the Kung Fu Panda movies remain vastly underrated. But as the series’ fourth entry arrives in theaters, we should know better than to underestimate Kung Fu Panda, both the movies and the character they’re named for. Like the combination of heart, determination, and fluffy bulk that make roly poly Po (Jack Black) an unlikely martial arts master, these movies continue to show it’s possible to combine genuine emotion and meticulously animated action scenes with goofy humor and stylized animation to make a string of kids’ movies that keeps improving with each installment. That’s just as true with Kung Fu Panda 4, yet Po’s latest quest also suggests it may be time for the character to pass the torch.
At least that’s the setup this time around, as Po’s mentor Master Shifu (a returning Dustin Hoffman) tells him a new Dragon Warrior must take Po’s place so that he can move on to a higher spiritual calling. His friends the Furious Five sadly sit this one out, but the formula here remains recognizable: Po sets off on a mission with a companion who routinely sells him short to fight a villain with a skill set more terrifying than the last, and perhaps learn something new about what being a martial arts master really means. The role of the skeptical ally is filled by a shifty fox thief named Zhen (Awkwafina), who Po strikes a deal with in order to track down a Viola Davis-voiced “empress of disguise” who calls herself “The Chameleon” and is bent on acquiring kung-fu expertise through magic and trickery. Zhen is meant to blur the lines between good and bad where, for Po, things are either one or the other. By the end, of course, all the good guys are on the same side, so this moral “blurring” only lasts for so long.
The Chameleon presents a unique type of Kung Fu Panda adversary: a thief herself, she plans on stealing the fighting know-how that made Po’s past opponents so threatening. She is, figuratively and literally, a chameleon, small in stature but with the power to disguise herself as anything and anyone, taking on the likenesses (and size) of other more intimidating warriors. The jagged motion of her scaly shapeshifting is one of the more creative animation effects, and Davis’ spine-chilling voice acting is genuinely very scary.
As the other addition to the cast, Awkwafina is much more at home undercutting Kung Fu Panda 4’s emotional moments with jokes than she was in the more serious likes of Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon. Her Zhen is obviously meant to be a spiky foil to Po (a kiki to his bouba, if you will) and her character is animated with a fluid quickness that allows her to zip through the faster-paced scenes. They make a good team, eventually, though the established relationships between Po and the Furious Five are missed.
As in previous Kung Fu Pandas, there’s a wealth of exaggerated physical comedy on display. So much of the humor is drawn from the imaginative and now-familiar designs of the animals populating this world – puff-cheeked pigs, stocky cattle, walleyed reptiles – and there’s a dash of novelty courtesy of Captain Fish (Ronny Chieng), an alcoholic, seafaring arowana who lives inside a pelican’s mouth and pops his head out of the bird’s bill whenever he needs to give someone a piece of his mind. Po’s two dads, excitable duck Ping (James Hong) and elderly panda Li Shan (Bryan Cranston) make a particularly hilarious pair, playing off each other’s opposite physical types (big lumbering bear and fluttery bell-shaped bird) and complementary voices.
The fights are typically great, and though none stand out in the way some of the franchise's ensemble sequences have, a brawl inside a restaurant whose foundation keeps tipping back and forth comes close. There also seems to be a conscious deemphasis on violence and peril: Whereas Kung Fu Panda 2’s bloodthirsty Lord Shen killed his underlings with throwing knives, a character seemingly plummeting to their doom in Kung Fu Panda 4 is referred to as “getting hurt.” This could just be a writing thing, but it did seem odd compared to Kung Fu Panda's usual candor about the concept of death and an afterlife.
Director Mike Mitchell has a proven track record in animation, but the Trolls and Lego Movie 2 filmmaker is working in the Kung Fu Panda universe for the first time, and his take – along with that of co-director Stephanie Ma Stine – seems like it’s meant to lead the series in a new direction. Kung Fu Panda 3 felt like the conclusion to a trilogy, so this movie’s preoccupation with succession and moving on is deliberate. Occasionally it works, and occasionally it feels a little bit like fanfiction, like the characters are just telling you what Kung Fu Panda 4 is about. Still, it never feels like it’s trying too hard to reel you back in, or convince you that this thing is just like that other thing you already like. And by the end, you’re just as hungry for a big bowl of dumplings as you were the first three times you met Po.
