DreamWorks Studios

The eight-year-long wait for “Kung Fu Panda 4” is over. We’ve had high hopes for the franchise, but the fourth movie seems to drag the series down.
The animation was smooth with strong details despite being in the lower budget area than the first three films, and as for the action scenes they were amazing for the budget. Some of them could be considered some of the best fight scenes in the whole franchise. Some jokes made me laugh and some just got a chuckle or two. The jokes in this movie are just less impactful than in the first three movies.
However, the biggest complication of the movie was the pacing. During the first half of the movie everything happened so rapidly that a scene could have been the characters joking around, then with a short transition show you an important scene.
The pacing slowed in the second half. The scenes were regulated to the original “Kung Fu Panda” pace and I enjoyed having a classic “Kung Fu Panda” experience rather than a rushed movie.
The Chameleon was a good idea for a villain on paper, but the way she was executed made her the least intimidating villain in the movie. While the other villains felt like an actual threat from their introduction, the Chameleon didn’t have the same energy. Her backstory was barely even explored, although I liked how her relationship with Zhen was the same as Tai Lung and Shifu from the first movie.
It was wasted potential that Tai Lung never had a reunion with Shifu. It would’ve been a nice detail when he came back to Shen and Kai before they left to the spirit realm. I felt hurt how the villains showed respect for Po. On one hand it showed how they accepted their defeats and how the Spirit Realm could make them reflect, but on the other hand the series already proved them as irredeemable villains which made gentle gestures feel kind of awkward.
Overall, it was a good movie. If you want to go out and have a fun time with family or friends I would recommend the movie. But, if you are a fan of the series I wouldn’t recommend it.