On March 8, 2024, Dreamworks released the long-awaited “Kung Fu Panda 4.” While many were excited to see a sequel to their favorite movie saga, watchers felt as if the movie came short of their expectations.
The movie follows the adventure of Po, our iconic protagonist, who is now accompanied by a new character named Zhen. They depart the Valley of Peace to track down the villain of the movie, The Chameleon, who aims to take over the world with kung fu. While on this journey, Po must also keep the task of picking the next Dragon Warrior in mind.
Out of all the “Kung Fu Panda” films at the box office, “Kung Fu Panda 4” garnered the most money, grossing $107,893,725 domestically. However, in terms of reviews, the movie was the weakest of the three.
Lambert senior Sean Pashaev, who watched the movie in theaters, commented on his disappointment with the film.
“I was hoping for a lot more considering how good the previous movies were,” Pashaev said. “Not only was the plot just bad, so many things didn’t even make sense. And the worst part was the villain.”
In comparison to past villains, The Chameleon lacked a backstory and driving motive behind her actions. The final fight scene was lackluster as well, with an underwhelming defeat of the villain. Not only this, but many felt the outcome of the movie was extremely predictable, with no anticipation or suspense in any scenes.
“The movie didn’t even add the arguably best characters of the franchise, the Furious Five,” Pahsaev commented. “They showed up for barely five minutes and weren’t even voiced over. The same with the villains. Dreamworks brought back so many past villains of the series, and they weren’t even voiced.”
One of the most promoted aspects of the movie was the return of Tai Lung, the original villain from the first “Kung Fu Panda.” However, the nostalgia bait ended there. The Furious Five, characters who were pivotal in Po’s journey in all three films, were nowhere to be found. The movie makes the convenient excuse that all of them were on separate missions. It wasn’t until the ending scene of the movie that the Furious Five were seen animated. Even then, Dreamworks most likely tried saving money by keeping them unvoiced, since A-list celebrities such as Angelina Jolie and Jackie Chan voiced over these characters.
While there have been rumors of Dreamworks planning to launch a fifth “Kung Fu Panda” movie, many fans wish that Dreamworks would leave the franchise as it is right now.
“Knowing Dreamworks, they’ll probably milk it [Kung Fu Panda] for the money,” Pashaev said. “But the smarter option would be to keep “Kung Fu Panda” the way everyone sees it right now. A great franchise that entertained a lot of us as kids and is fun to rewatch now and then.”
