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As we get into the fourth Kung Fu Panda movie, with several TV versions also under Po’s undulating belt, the inevitable has happened: No. 4 is more kung fu than panda.
This film, with Jack Black again as Po — perhaps one of the most inspired voice castings ever — gets off on a solid footing. With so many adventures behind him already, Master Shifu (Hoffman) says it’s time for Po to pass on the baton, a good turn for the film to take.
However, Po is only just leaning into his Dragon Warrior persona, signing autographs, getting portraits done, lending name to his father’s noodle shop etc etc. He doesn’t think he is ready to put his warrior phase aside to mature, as Shifu puts it, into “Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace”, dispensing “wisdom and hope”.
What does that even mean, Po grumbles, before being sent off by Shifu to one of those meditation sessions, “seeking the universe for answers”. The problem is that when Po chants “inner peace”, by about the fourth time he has said it, it has morphed into “dinner please”, then “dinner peas”, then “the kind of peas”…
You get the drift. So, it is that when the latest threat to the Valley of Peace arrives, in the form of a shape-shifting sorceress called simply the Chameleon (Davis), he drops all that handing over the baton (or in his case the Shaft of Wisdom) pretence, and heads off into this latest adventure.
His companion is a fox of dubious morals but with a lot of chutzpah and moves of her own, Zhen (Awkwafina). He makes a deal, letting her out of prison where she is serving time for a minor misdemeanour, so that she can lead him to the Chameleon.
This time the journey takes Po — along with Zhen, and his worried dads (Bryan Cranston, James Hong) who can’t stay away — to Juniper City. Here mafia lords reign, petty crime thrives, and Chameleon is bewitching them all into submission with her vile, vile ways.
In the many battles that of course result, a lot of them mid-air — either because Po and the rest have leapt there, or fallen off a cliff or fort — it’s easy to lose attention and hard to care, knowing pretty well how the story goes.
Awkwafina is a hoot, as always, with Po’s transformation – which is, at its heart, the ability to weave words into wise proverbs – happening on account of his jostling with her.
But Davis is surprisingly ineffective, failing to evoke the irresistible charisma that marks the best of villains. And that is despite the many impressive forms, of various sizes and various red-carpet-inspired get-ups, she keeps taking.
In fact, Ian Shane, in his brief appearance as Tai Lung, one of the many villains Po has fought in the past who are summoned back “from the Spirit Realm” by Chameleon, strikes fast and strikes rich.
Of the many proverb-isms which Po eventually does come up, the best perhaps is: “How will you kick butt, if you don’t seek out butts to kick?”
And yet, all your kicks can’t come out of butts.
Kung Fu Panda 4 movie directors: Mike Mitchell, Stephanie Stine
Kung Fu Panda 4 movie cast: Jack Black, Awkwafina, Viola Davis, Dustin Hoffman
Kung Fu Panda 4 movie rating: 2.5 stars
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