The Kung-Fu Panda trilogy is arguably one of the best franchises created by DreamWorks animation, and similar to the Toy Story series, you wouldn’t think a fourth installment would be needed based on how the third entry ended. With this knowledge, I went into Kung-Fu Panda 4 optimistically cautious, especially considering that this film is meant to be the start of a new trilogy. As per usual when it comes to Kung-Fu Panda films, I liked the action sequences, I was impressed by the animation, and I definitely enjoyed Jack Black as Po. I even got some enjoyment from the new characters of Awkwafina’s Zhen and Chameleon, the menacing new villain voiced by Viola Davis. However, the story beats involving recruiting a new Dragon Warrior and using the new villain to bring back past Kung-Fu Panda antagonists for the sake of nostalgia felt a little tacked on, if the Furious Five barely having any screen time or dialogue wasn’t already an indication of that. Overall, despite this installment feeling more like a collection of TV episodes rather than a film, it’s always nice returning to this world of talking animals and kung-fu fighting. Score: 7/10
Noah Robinson 