Kung Fu Panda 4 - Review

Rating: 3 out of 5

EIGHT years after Kung Fu Panda 3, Dreamworks Animation seek to revive the franchise with a spirited, if overly energetic, fourth instalment.

The result is generally crowd-pleasing, as visually stunning as we’ve come to expect and occasionally very funny. But the freshness has long since gone along with some of the charm.

Jack Black reprises vocal duties as still lovable panda Po, who is now being offered a promotion, to spiritual leader of the valley, by his mentor Shifu (Dustin Hoffman). He is, of course, reluctant to give up his ass-kicking current role as Dragon Warrior, and is equally as put out to have to be choosing his own replacement.

As he desperately seeks that still elusive inner peace, he crosses paths with a thieving fox named Zhen (Awkwafina), who he initially thwarts, then takes under his wing, before teaming up with her to face a formidable new villain in the form of the shape-shifting sorcerer named The Chameleon (Viola Davis).

To heighten the peril, The Chameleon is seeking to revive all of Po’s former enemies so that she can claim their powers, thereby offering the franchise the 

chance to remind viewers of past entries.

The ensuing adventure is suitably lively, with Po and Zhen making a good double act, while finding all sort of trouble amid their bickering and one up-manship.

Yet while boisterous in the extreme, the one thing that goes against Kung Fu Panda 4 is its inability to sit still long enough to try and find its own inner peace. Early films were made memorable by the slapstick humour and stunts, as well as the character building that took a little more time.

Here, co-directors Mike Mitchell and Stephanie Ma Stine concentrate more on the former, without giving some of the new characters the same chance to breathe. Hence, Viola’s main villain pales by comparison to the likes of Ian McShane and Gary Oldman in the first two films (a point made more pronounced by McShane’s fleeting return here), while even Awkwafina’s new ally isn’t as colourful as, say, Angelina Jolie or Seth Rogen in their different guises.

The action, too, is at its best when playing for laughs - although there are times when it just feels too frenetic and repetitive.

That being said, for a fourth film in a franchise that has also spawned TV spin-offs, Kung Fu Panda 4 is amusing enough to keep its target audience entertained, while still offering plenty for the parents to enjoy too. And thanks to Black’s continued passion and vocal energy as Po, as well as Hoffman’s ever put-upon Shifu (still a delight), there’s more than enough here to justify its existence.