Jack Black delivers in his role as Po as usual, with some great animation and solid jokes, funny moments, and the usual beautiful visuals. However, it couldn't make up for how much it lacked as far as pacing and finding its own footing as a story.

Following up from the 3rd movie this one really struggled to find its footing especially since the third film felt like a really solid conclusion. The story felt incredibly out of place and the main plot point of Po finding a successor really didn't help. Given that he is still in his prime, and despite the fact that Oogway didn't pick a successor until he was well beyond his prime (or possibly just super old in his case), made the dragon warrior cycle feel incredibly less of an epic, long lasting journey, and more of a temporary position. This alone being introduced so early in the film just makes you ask, why?

The fact that the Furious Five are no where to be found in this film hint that this might've been more of a rushed cash grabbing fan service, which is disappointing.

If this is to serve as the conclusion of Po's story and saga as Dragon Warrior, you are better off stopping at Kung Fu Panda 3. I give Kung Fu Panda 4 a 4/10.

"Look how they massacred my boy" is the only line that comes to mind after watching this
Kung Fu Panda trilogy is the best animation trilogy ever. No questions asked but this time they messed up
I mean Po is just understanding himself and beginning to learn his full potential and you ask him to retire? Huh?
The movie is called Kung Fu "Panda" but this one basically sets up the upcoming movies IMP
The very first scene where we are introduced to Zhen he straight up gives Po a hard time even though she's not an expert in Kung Fu. And he's the Dragon Warrior ffs. Even though po defeats her but I thought that the Dragon Warrior just got humiliated by nobody.
And No one knowing the Dragon Warrior just pissed me off. They really destroyed Po's reputation just for that stupid joke.
And the sub-story of Po's two dads going there to help to sooo stupid.
Then we have the issue with the villain.
The Chameleon is not even close to a great villain. The previous movies gave us some of the best villains that we saw in animated movies so the expectations were very high but they couldn’t deliver. I thought I was gonna see more of Tai Lung but that's okay. The best moment in the movie might be when Tai Lung first comes out of the spirit realm and fights.
The twist of Zhen actually being sent by The Chameleon was good.
Then we have the ending.
All og Po's villains suddenly acting good?lol
Also Zhen was a very annoying character
Anyways Let's talk about some good about this movie. The jokes were good. Most of them made me laugh. The color grading was spot on.

This movie feels out of time and out of step when the Kung Fu Panda series in its day was one of the freshest and exciting movies in the CGI scene. Kung Fu Panda 3 could come out today and visually many of its sequences could stand with today’s movies, and Kung Fu Panda 2’s have enough artistry to still stand up. There’s neither of those things here, or even Kung Fu Panda 1’s stellar execution of a basic hero’s journey. 4 is formulaic with no spark, and the things that made KFP stand out are sanded down.

The Furious Five are functionally absent, most keenly felt with Tigress and the understated bond she had with Po that buoyed 2 and 3, and when the plot is about a new Dragon Warrior them not even being candidates is a bit glaring. They’re replaced with Awkafina’s Zhen, and her performance is Awkaward. She rarely improves a movie, and this is no exception. There’s no energy or commitment to her performance. Jack Black is fine, but the script for Po is entirely rote and beat by beat. The whole script is like that. There’s no surprises and no killer lines, no big laughs. It’s feels exactly like a fourth movie produced years after a finished trilogy in stakes and tone and energy.

The Chameleon has nothing to her. Viola Davis does her able best, but her big establishing moment is throwing a guy down some stairs? Non lethally? There’s no hook to her. Tai Lung had the tragic fall and relationship with Shifu (who is purely perfunctory here with no moments of heart or depth to soften him or make him more realized). Chen had his ambition, his fear of the prophecy, and his self destruction by refusing every chance to let go of his hate and power. Kai had his relationship with Oogway and tie to the spirit realm. The Chameleon has… kung fu masters being mean to her? And the thing is that could really work if played right! A dark mirror of Po in the first movie, locked out of something they love for not being the right ‘type’, that longing turned to bitterness. But the Chameleon doesn’t really get that space to be an ex ultra fan or anything. And her relationship with Zhen is just as underplayed and flat.

And speaking of the previous villains, Tai Lung’s arc does not hit at all. It’s not given the time to be believable. So imagine how flat it is when Kai and Chen bow respectfully to Po after having no lines in the movie at all. With context of the previous movies the moments aren’t believable. Without it, they mean nothing at all. The action scenes are serviceable but nothing exciting, and compared to KFP3’s radiant and vibrant spirit world sequences and style, this one’s visual identity is. Action lines? For some reason? Even swings like a shilouetted fight in the fog are so flat.

Hong is as endearing as ever, and Cranston is a treat, and they have a fun gay dad’s dynamic, but it’s not enough. I’d give it a 2.5 as a completely mediocre kids movie, but the kids I saw it with didn’t even like it that much! There were no big laughs or gasps or anything. It’s not even a funny movie. If you’ve lost the kids, you’ve lost everything. I don’t especially have faith they’ll turn it around with Zhen as the next generation, either. Maybe it’s time to just let Kung Fu Panda take the next step into memory.

I don't have a great recollection of the 2nd and 3rd films, but I still feel comfortable saying that this is the weakest of the bunch. Based on reporting, the budget for this entry was significantly reduced compared to the previous films ($85M vs $135/$150/$145), and you can tell. The animation is noticeably less detailed and the absence of the furious 5 was almost certainly a cost cutting measure. However, the lower budget isn't what drags the film down. In fact, I think it makes sense to push back against bloated animation budgets. Do we really think the primarily younger audiences are going to care about the graphical fidelity of the animal fur or how realistic the water simulations are? I think studios are realizing that there are diminishing (perhaps even zero) returns at higher budgets. While I couldn't find any reported numbers, I expect that animation budget for Adam Sandler's recent Netflix film, Leo, was comparatively low, as they leveraged a stylized/simplistic style that still allowed for all sorts of visual creativity. The point being, creative and engaging visuals don't need to be expensive and ultimately it's the story/characters that do the heavy lifting. Unfortunately, that's where this film disappoints. The story is incredibly rushed, at some points feeling like they cut entire sequences (e.g., [spoiler]when Zhen gives Po a cryptic quote about footprints, we cut to him following foot prints through the snow, and then we cut back to Zhen following up on the cryptic quote[/spoiler]. The movie feels like it's going through the motions, relying heavily on call back material in lieu of anything more original.

It was already clear with _Kung Fu Panda 3_ they'd run out of story to tell, but now they've also run out of visual ideas. There's a general cheapness and disposability to this not found with previous installments. I rewatched the original trilogy not too long ago and I'd argue 2 & 3 are way stronger visually (both in terms of technical execution and imagination). Even the sound mix seems more than a little wonky to me (voices are generally too low in the mix; cheap echo effects pop up everywhere). Doesn't this all feel a little underbudgeted to anyone else? I understand cutting out the Furious Five for budgetary concerns, but bringing in Awkwafina instead isn't much of a creative fix. The story, which has never been a real strength of this series, doesn't leave much of an impression either. I doubt even the target audience will get much out of it with all the poor comedy, underdeveloped new characters and lack of interesting twists. The whole film feels straightforward to a fault and it's forgettable because of that. I still remember bits and pieces from the original trilogy and I just know that's never going to happen with this one. It’s still a small step above the best Illumination films, but very disappointing overall.

3.5/10