Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024)
★½
This review may contain spoilers.
enjoyed this more in theaters however at the time I was probably clouded by nostalgia and hype to go see it, which if your curious is above, this jumped very far down the ladder for me, the dialogue editing here is not great, the pacing is way too quick and the character designs kind look disjointed and out of place in this movie maybe because the original character designer left so everything feels just a bit off, the action scenes are interesting but fall flat of the rest of the movies even KFP3, this movie is just not all that great, it has some interesting ideas and stuff going for it but from more reading of BTS stuff this thing falls short of the fact that there was clearly a battle to make a better movie behind the scenes, Stephanie Stine the co-director clearly cared about the more serious elements that were presented in the film where as Mike Mitchell just wanted to make a fun and funny movie, both concepts are fine they just clash in this weird way in the final product and it's a weird thing to see.
I still stand by a couple of things from my first review namely --
Kung Fu Panda has always been about parents failing kids and that was present here with the chameleon and Zhen it was given a different dynamic here by which Zhen is being used by the chameleon, I liked the subtleties in the chameleon performance and this might be me projecting what I want to see on it but it felt like she was holding back on purpose she had formed a connection a bond with Zhen but was reluctant to admit it / didn’t want to admit it for fear of getting too close I thinks and this is my film theory in a different draft of the script the chameleon was revealed to have lost her parents or something and she closed herself off each rule of the street she has have a closed off because I don’t want to connect with people cause the harm they caused me kind of quality to them.
one of the major themes of the movie is change which is a pretty good lesson for kids to learn, it can be scary and it makes sense for po to be scared of change the through line is there throughout all the movies 1. Change through po literally becoming the dragon warrior. 2 change through po learning to accept who he is. But po is frighten of change 3. Changing of perspective po learns to change up fighting techniques to help the pandas but is frightened of change himself. 4 po learns to accept change while it might be scary sometimes it can be good.
another theme I picked up on was legacy, Shifu felt like he was grappling with his legacy the whole time, like what legacy is he going to leave behind tying to impress oogway which lead to po grasping with what kind of legacy he wants to leave behind, it comes crashing together with the finale shot of oogways tree then shifus tree and then po’s.
the cel shaded animation during Zhen’s flashback was really well done and made sense she probably sees her childhood more fearful and the cel shading added that element I think if I remember correctly it wasn’t as prominent in the scene where the chameleon takes her in, it’s dim she seems the chameleon taking her in as the first good thing in her life.
I don't stand by this
loved tai l coming back and him finally accepting po was nicely done, was Shen bowing to him too that felt a bit glossed over considering the impact that Shen has had on pos life, that would be a cool theme next movie forgiveness it would make sense.
we should have had more of a moment with Shen and Po and Shifu should have been there imagine if Shifu was there oh my god that would have been so great and such a good moment for Tai L. character I dream of this, I think the way Tai L. forgives Po is overlooked and quickly done and has no meaning to what the characters actually think of each other, same with why the heck is Shen bowing to Po he would not have done this and I still believe given we have no understanding of who he is now he wouldn't do it now either, this was overlooked and it sucked cause a moment where maybe Shen didn't forgive Po but finally understood that he put himself through all the things because of his obsessiveness would have been so integral to his character.
overall, this movie has somethings that I like and has a lot of things I don't, I think it works it's way into the main thematic chord that the KFP movie's try to do okay and explores it's theme of change to a good enough degree, but there was a lot left on the cutting room floor from what I have read and heard that would have brough this movie so far up the ladder.
notes below
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- I like the opening long shot, that was pretty cool.
- I liked the 2d animation on the toy figures that was really cool.
- is there a performance-ness in po trying to convince Shifu
- I do think it's funny that he has broken the whispering rhino's vase three times now lol.
- the colors on the chameleon vs her palace are off, it's way to muted and she blends into the background.
- the sound mixing when it comes to dialogue and music is off, it got quieter to an over degree when she transformed.
- I like the animation during the cell shaded parts.
- I liked the stark image of the chameleon's eyes overlooking the tree.
- the dialogue editing is off, it feels like it's paced to quickly.
- this movie is like exposition the movie, just long scenes of characters explaining why they are the way they are instead of showing us.
- I do like the shadow fight it was very cool.
- I like the sky background for the movie, very vibrant and nice to look at.
- the particles on the door to the spirit realm is pretty cool.
- I do like that he is still a fanboy, calling out the masters and there famous movies.
- I do like the design on chameleon Po
★★★½
This review may contain spoilers.
First impression Notes below
- the cool backgrounds during animation was awesome.
- the fight scene at the tavern was super cool, I liked that Cranston later just ended up winning by throwing the whole tavern in the lake.
- Bryan Cranston is my dad, love him in this role and him and ping have a very great dynamic that I was excited to see expanded on.
- jack black is very funny I saw he recently said he would never get another role like this I think I agree it’s uniquely written.
- Awkwafina was pretty good, I didn’t like her all that much in the new little mermaid but she was pretty good her, a lot more reserved but still good. Curious to see how her and po’s dynamic evolves over the course of the next film.
- Kung Fu Panda has always been about parents failing kids and that was present here with the chameleon and Zhen it was given a different dynamic here by which Zhen is being used by the chameleon, I liked the subtleties in the chameleon performance and this might be me projecting what I want to see on it but it felt like she was holding back on purpose she had formed a connection a bond with Zhen but was reluctant to admit it / didn’t want to admit it for fear of getting too close I thinks and this is my film theory in a different draft of the script the chameleon was revealed to have lost her parents or something and she closed herself off each rule of the street she has have a closed off because I don’t want to connect with people cause the harm they caused me kind of quality to them.
- one of the major themes of the movie is change which is a pretty good lesson for kids to learn, it can be scary and it makes sense for po to be scared of change the through line is there throughout all the movies 1. Change through po literally becoming the dragon warrior. 2 change through po learning to accept who he is. But po is frighten of change 3. Changing of perspective po learns to change up fighting techniques to help the pandas but is frightened of change himself. 4 po learns to accept change while it might be scary sometimes it can be good.
- another theme I picked up on was legacy, shifu felt like he was grappling with his legacy the whole time, like what legacy is he going to leave behind tying to impress Lola’s which lead to po grasping with what kind of legacy he wants to leave behind, it comes crashing together with the finale shot of oogways tree then shifus tree and then po’s.
The final fight was amazing the cinematography in this shot looked great!! The whole film had some pretty stunning cinematography and cinematography includes lighting and the lighting was stunning!
- the shadow fight was cool as hell.
- the cel shaded animation during Zhen’s flashback was really well done and made sense she probably sees her childhood more fearful and the cel shading added that element I think if I remember correctly it wasn’t as prominent in the scene where the chameleon takes her in, it’s dim she seems the chameleon taking her in as the first good thing in her life.
- cool to see those gorgeous 2d animations in the film again!
- I saw online there was a bunch of bts drama the two directors were making two conflicting movies I could see that it seems a bit messy but I don’t know there is still a bunch to grasp onto here a lot of good themes ideas gorgeous animation and style was different improved I wanted more style or action scenes maybe action scenes that took place entirely on those backgrounds? More fight scenes like that shadow fight which was so cool.
- loved tai l coming back and him finally accepting po was nicely done, was shen bowing to him too that felt a bit glossed over considering the impact that shen has had on pos life, that would be a cool theme next movie forgiveness it would make sense.
- sucky the furious five were only at the end. They would have been a great edition to the themes of change and legacy.
