Po is gearing up to become the spiritual leader of his Valley of Peace, but also needs someone to take his place as Dragon Warrior. As such, he will train a new kung fu practitioner for the spot and will encounter a villain called the Chameleon who conjures villains from the past.
01 Jul Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024)
Green Noodle of Wisdom
There are three interwoven stories in this edition, which for apparent cost savings does not have the furious five. So this is a one-hero show.
The dominant thread is the father-son story. I guess I can understand why this so deeply plays in adventure films, given the root demographic. But it does get tiring, especially in versions as we have here where nothing new is added. The jokes are supposed to validate this, but they are weak.
The secondary story thread is one of redemption through friendship. A young thief gets our hero’s trust, betrays him, and is redeemed. The usual way to make this work is to have our character incredibly appealing. You can see that they know this, but the craft of character projection is tricky and the bar is high in this instance.
The third story is the threat, not much different than Cruella DeVille with magic.
My belief is that if they did any one of these excellently, or with carefully chosen novelty, it could carry the film. But everything is done to a TeeVee cartoon standard, even the scope, energy, and setting of the action sequences.
What started as an animated Jackie Chan movie, designed to suit the Chinese market (I saw the first one in Shanghai), has simply gotten tired.
Maybe they should follow the Penguin and Minion technique of two competing franchises, to build out parallel, comic worlds.
Posted in 2024
Ted’s Evaluation — 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.
No Comments