If you’re a lifelong Kung Fu Panda fan like me, you will unfortunately be quite disappointed with the fourth movie :(
Po, sadly, feels like a watered down version of himself and Shifu feels more like a cameo as he’s not involved with the main conflict. And as many may have suspected from the trailer, the Furious Five were MIA doing “awesome cool mission elsewhere,” as Po mentioned near the beginning of the film 🥲. There were a few great moments here and there, but overall it fell flat. I had great expectations for the fourth instalment because the 2nd and 3rd movies were so great! Not to mention the recent movie Puss in Boots 2 by Dreamworks was amazing so I was expecting Dreamworks to blow it out of the water with this beloved franchise too! But sadly they didn’t deliver.
I’m still happy I got to see a 4th movie of one of my favourite films so thank you for the ride over the years Kung Fu Panda!
Also editing to add: I’m happy I got to hear Jack Black as Po again! He’s been my favourite actor ever since I watched the first movie!