Kung Fu Panda 4
UNIVERSALModern-day Hollywood animated movies have lost the skill of wonder. Disney is currently churning out endless pieces of soulless drivel, and Illumination Entertainment is making toy commercials instead of legitimate – and thoughtful – art. Currently, only one animated franchise (and, by extension, studio) has resisted the era of consumerist slop families are subjected to and continues to push the boundaries of mainstream animation forward.
As funny as it sounds, when Kung Fu Panda was released in cinemas in 2008, it shifted the public perception of DreamWorks Animation from a “kiddie studio” that made films that would distract children, like the Shrek franchise, Shark Tale and Bee Movie, to more family-oriented fare, where adults could find enjoyment in the stories told by its creators. Two years later, How to Train Your Dragon propelled the studio with even greater recognition – and maturity – than they’d likely have wished.
Of course, that’s not saying DreamWorks hasn’t stopped making “kiddie” fare, with the Trolls franchise and, most recently, the box office bomb Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken being the most obvious examples. But their best movies have always veered off consumerist trends and thoughtfully told important life lessons for children to hold on to through the figure of Puss in Boots in The Last Wish and, last month, with Orion in Orion and the Dark.
With Kung Fu Panda 4, DreamWorks continues to dazzle visually and thematically, even if the product itself isn’t as strong as its past three installments, especially coming off the highs of Kung Fu Panda 3. For instance, none of the actors who played the Furious Five – Jackie Chan, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, David Cross, and Seth Rogen – are present, with its members only appearing through a voiceless cameo during its end credits sequence. These characters are sorely missed throughout the film, as they add comedic weight that its main actor, Jack Black, cannot do as Po, the Dragon Warrior.
Still, Black’s portrayal of Po is entertaining enough that it [almost] doesn’t matter when he is alone with Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), who tells him he must pass the Dragon Warrior baton to someone else, as he will soon become the new Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace. However, when what appears to be Tai Lung (Ian McShane) attacks a village, Po begins to investigate the legitimacy of the threat as Dragon Warrior.
When it is revealed that the attack was brought upon by a shape-shifting Chameleon (Viola Davis, doing her best with a massively clichéd antagonist role, nowhere near the complexity she brought as Amanda Waller in The Suicide Squad), Po enlists the help of Zhen (Awkwafina), a Fox who knows the Chameleon’s whereabouts. One who has seen any animated movie likely knows where it’s heading, which is arguably the film’s weakest point.
As soon as Zhen is introduced, one fully realizes exactly where her arc will lead up, no matter the twists director Mike Mitchell and writers Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger, and Darren Lemke throw at the audience. It’s also the main reason why the film isn’t as strong as its previous three installments: two major characters are steeped in clichés, with the Chameleon stealing Kung Fu powers from the first three previous villains – and countless unnamed antagonists – to rule the world? It’s not entirely clear, but it’s certainly not an inspiring choice for an antagonist, especially when Tai Lung was such a powerful foe in the first.
Speaking of, McShane is pitifully wasted here, relegated to a sports commentator doing a play-by-play voiceover of the fight between Po and the Chameleon as he is imprisoned in a cage. There could’ve been a far more interesting way to bring him back, but Mitchell et al. have seemingly chosen the easy way out, to package the film as a “greatest hits” trip for Po as he transitions from Dragon Warrior to Spiritual Leader.
But when Kung Fu Panda 4 begins to question Po’s place in the world as he must grapple with giving up the Dragon Warrior mantle, the moral questions asked by its filmmakers are cogent and necessary for children to hear. The film does swirl around with surface-level ideations on friendship and kinship (through the figures of Bryan Cranston’s Li Shan and James Hong’s Mr. Ping as they go on a rather hilarious side-quest to reach Po). Still, they’re handled so delicately that once the message is hammered home, the emotional impact is fully felt.
Mitchell clarifies that any simple message can be a powerful force for change, as he beautifully tells its audience, through brightly lit and soul-stirring images, that we will all grow and mature. It initially feels trivial because children won’t realize they’re maturing themselves until their perception of life begins to change, but it at least gives them an idea of what they should be prepared for. When Po fights the Chameleon (as underdeveloped as it is), he fights his literal and figurative inner demons. He proves to himself that he’s far more than his egocentric – and childish – behavior. He’ll always be a child at heart, but will he be the same after this journey? The answer is not as simple as one thinks.
All of these moments are accompanied by exhilarating action setpieces that not only show the full might of Po as a warrior but also show how far the franchise has refined itself by being more kinetic and inspired by some of the great martial arts filmmakers of our time. The climax is an amalgamation of Tsui Hark’s Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain, Chen Kaige’s Legend of the Demon Cat, and, most recently, Wuershan’s Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms, heavily steeped in mythology and visual poetry.
Of course, Kung Fu Panda 4 never reaches the same levels of bedazzlement as these pictures, but the visual inspirations are clear. One action scene even sees composers Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro riff on Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train as Po and Zhan are pursued by an endless horde of guards, deftly punctuating its fast-paced (and oddly comedic) rhythm as they attempt to escape their clutches. Zimmer’s work hasn’t been inspiring in some time (i.e. Dune: Part Two re-treading The Dark Knight Rises’ Deshi Basara as the sandworms attack Shaddam IV’s fort, while what came before is an endless variation on BWOOOM BWOOOM). However, his Kung Fu Panda compositions have always been incredibly creative and rhythmically enticing. With Mazzaro, Zimmer breathes new life into his scores and frequently calls back some of his best leitmotivs in a way that doesn’t feel cheap and lazy. There’s actual thought in how they’re integrated, and they elicit a strong emotional response every time.
It’s easy, then, to fall in love with the highly imaginative and thoughtfully mature world of the Kung Fu Panda series, even if its fourth installment may be its weakest yet. However, despite a clichéd villain and side character, Mitchell rises above the consumerist train that dominates most Hollywood-driven animated pictures and gives something for big and small audiences to chew on, alongside a slew of endlessly creative action scenes. A fifth installment isn’t needed anymore, but it’s likely to happen, as DreamWorks will milk this franchise to oblivion. They should quit while they’re ahead, but when the Kung Fu Panda series has saved the studio’s reputation and brought some of the most eye-widening animated action ever made, why stop? Just write a better villain next time…