So Aquafina is the next main lead? Count me out.

Aquafina sounds like she smokes 2 packs a day.

I hate how the Furious five are constantly being sidelined

Previews: "Po, you must choose the next Dragon Warrior." Marketing: (Focuses on this one new character in particular) Me: Gee, I wonder who the next Dragon Warrior will be.

The Furious Five being absent was a BIG red flag tbh. Po is at his best when he has other characters to play off of and the absence of most of the characters who know him best really showcases this. The saddest part is that Po getting his own apprentice that he truly takes under his wing, which is what I THOUGHT Zhen was going to be, sounded really cool and it made sense for the Five to maybe be looking for their own apprentices, sort of setting up the next generation and continuing Oogway's legacy. But the 2 barely get the time to know each other and by the end they act like they're best friends. Its just really rushed.

WHY wasn’t this a Po and Tigress team up film??!? wtf??

Want to know something sad? At first, the director for the 4° Kung Fu Panda was supposed to be Joel Crawford. Yeah, the same director of the amazing Puss In Boots 2: The Last Wish. And instead we got Mike Mitchell, the director of the 3° live-action of Alvin & the Chipmunk. The simple idea that Dreamworks had the perfect formula to make a great sequel and yet decided otherwise makes my head hurt.

"You're too small!" Furious 5: "What? That's why we got scrapped right"

Oh man, Po got M-She-Ued. Female replacement who is supposedly more badass than the male hero but is faced with a harmless enemy because she can't face any hardship. Has worked so well every other time...

They put the "panda" into pandering

Dude. If leaks reveal that Tai Lung was Supposed to have his redemption Journey into being the Dragon Warrior where he learns what it means to BE the Dragon warrior... We would have been robbed.

Awkwafina is one of those people where no one likes them, but they continue to get offered roles somehow. Even her name is cringe.

Funny thing is that even with how much they tried to build up Aquafina’s character, PO is still the one that beats the chameleon in the end. He gets the final blow and all the villains, TY LUNG especially, bow down to him. Po is by far the better character even when they try to replace him

I got used to just ignore modern sequels with checklist pander writing as non-canon shlock, which is really easy since a lot of them are full of plot holes and retcons thanks to completely new incapable activist writers who don't share the same vision as the original crews.

Kung Fu Panda 1 - Hey this is pretty cool, neat that was a fun experience Kung Fu Panda 2 - Sweet, they kept up the awesomeness and that peacock was pretty Kung Fu Panda 3 - oh its still going? I guess this is alright Kung Fu Panda Series - Oh they also made a large series? Why? Kung Fu Panda 4 - PLEASE LET IT END

Before anything, know that I haven't watched this movie yet: - This movie wasn't needed. - I saw ZERO advertising for it, I only knew of it because the trailer appeared on my youtube recommendations about a month ago.

This movie shouldn't got a 3rd one to begin with , now it's a 6 movies deal , with Awkwafina in 3 of them as the main character, Hell No!

Usually when movies get to a part 4, it's always downhill. Police Academy, Alien, John Wick, etc.

sounds like some Sweet Baby Inc injection

This movie looks like a extended episode of the tv show.

Guess this one is the equivalent of Shrek the Third. The one movie in a four part series that people ignore. Oh, same with Toy Story 4.

I'm ready for fast and furious 110 the prequel to the remake of the reboot of fast and furious 56

Kung Fu Panda 3 was already showing that the series was getting a little long in the tooth but it at least worked thematically. The first movie had Po figure out who he was individual, the second movie had him figure out who he was in his Family, and the 3rd movie had him figure out who he was on a societal level passing teachings on to the next generation. That really doesn't leave anywhere for this movie to exist.

I know the plan was always 6 movies but just because you can make that many doesn’t always mean you should

What could’ve been a better idea could’ve been Shifu telling Po that once he’s older he will pass on his mantle to someone. Po might feel nervous about it that he considers ending his career but someone like Tigress reassures him, and at the end he would accept it will happen one day but it’s not going to happen for a long time and he’ll enjoy the time he has while he can, and he trains many potential successors with his fighting and wisdom so he’ll know it will be alright and when it’s time, he’ll know who is right for it. Just like in Toy Story 2, where Woody accepts that Andy will one day grow up and outgrow him but he’ll enjoy the time he has with him while he still can. I haven’t seen it yet but after hearing some things, I’m not wasting my gift cards.

It had shameless cash grab written all over it just like Toy Story 4, the story ended after the 3rd movie in both cases.

Man Dreamworks is kinda droppano the ball, the megamind sequel, this, Im waiting for wild robot but im starting to get afraid for Shrek 5

I have a feeling this film was going to tank because the third film ended in a satisfactory way. We didn't need another movie

Love that there are comments showing love to the Furious 5

The scary thing is my gf likes Awkwafina's song from The Little Mermaid

Kung Fu Pander?

Why does the dragon warrior need a successor at all? I thought the dragon warrior was supposed to be a figure of legend

Fast and furious should’ve ended by 7. Paul walker was the heart of the movie. Alongside Vin Diesel. But Diesel should realize that he overstayed his welcome

Thank you Thorias for always giving us an honest no BS assessement of movies and shows. Its much appreciated.

I don't think I heard about this before a week ago.

Kung-Fu Pandaring?

After seeing the Netflix series they made, this is exactly what I was expecting.

I doubt they’re ready to turn this into Kung Fu Fox. And if this is the end, shouldn’t it involve Po settling down with Tigress?

I swear, Zhen being a new member of the furious 5 would've been more acceptable than her as the next dragon warrior...

Thanks for saving me time and money.

Here's a better idea, just make Tigress next dragon warrior.

The returning villains especially Tai Lung added nothing to the plot. And why only Ian McShane returned and the other 2 were silent cameos?! 🤷‍♂️ I had fun seeing the movie with my stepsisters and stepmom, but this is the least good Kung Fu Panda film. Wasted opportunities, and also Awkwafina’s character was bland and mediocre. Also, I’m tired having her in everything.

This seems annoyingly par for the course - grab any long standing franchise with a male main character and then just lazily replace them with a female.

There was a short series on Amazon about him training a few panda kids. It was passable. It did seem natural that he'd start training kids at that point. It would be nice if he got a new pair of pants though.

Pandaing or Pandering?

Kung-fu Panda is weird. It shouldn't have worked but it did. I guess it's luck is wearing thin.

Great review man

Just like the final sequels to Cars, Toy Story, Indiana Jones, Men in Black, Ghostbusters (but they learned their lesson), Star Wars, Matrix, and now Kung Fu Panda (I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot more), all of these are very bad movies. It's insane how much money Hollywood had to keep doing this.

No, Furious 5, aquafeena and attempt at REPLACING KUNG FU PANDA?! I will not be watching this on cinema. As someone who has watched the beneath average series i have to say this is not new to me...

There was no lead up to this film. There was no prior knowledge it was being made. There was no pre-release hype. They literally put the trailer out a week before it released and were like, "welp, here it is"! and the rest of us were sitting here thinking, "what the fluck"? And yeah they really gotta stop the Awkwafina thing. Though Quiz Lady was good. But they need to stop putting her in EVERY animated movie. Also, the new lead isn't a Panda anymore so what will the sequel even be called? Kung Fu Fox? Is that her animal?

Thing about this is I don't want this to be its downfall. I love this series and if it goes downhill I'll keep my headcanon it ended at 3

This movie could've been amazing if they changed one single thing...replace Zhen with Tai Lung. Yeah, Tai Lung is revived by the Chameleon and drained of most of his fighting power but is able to escape and goes to Po for help or Po manages to help him and Tai Lung reluctantly joins with Po, yet the two but heads due to their prior animosity and Tai Lung still refusing to see Po as the Dragon Warriorr, but as time passes Tai Lung, unable to fight as well as he used to due to it being stolen, is made more humble and learns from his experiences and by the end has come to genuinely respect Po and see him as a worthy Dragon Warrior. And if we stick with the whole successor thing, Po ultimately picks Tai Lung because he's now finally learned the one thing he didn't all those years ago and is able to properly redeem himself for all his past failures. Story comes full circle and Tai Lung earns the position of Dragon Warrior as opposed to demanding it.

Sounds similar to cars 3. Light McQueen became mentor to a young female car. It felt more natural in Cars 3 because it felt like Lightning was at the end of his career.

There’s still hope for the fifth and sixth movies. I get people’s complaints but people we need to wait for fifth movie’s trailer and read into the direction of the franchise before we can dictate how the franchise will end

Brilliant review with some humor! Thanks Thorias! 🙏

Wait wait wait that song from The Little Mermaid was real? Man...

The story through line about embracing change is an oddly popular one lately. It was done well in Toy Story 3. Poorly in Toy Story 4. Super out of place in Star Trek 3. And now kung fu panda 4. Anyone in the comments remind me where else they used this plot devise.

At least you didnt see megamind 2.

While this movie wasn't needed thankfully its not as bad as Toy Story 4.

I had no idea a fourth movie existed up until 2 days ago. That's how bad the promo was

And to no one surprise's akuafina stinks up another one

"Jack Black can do no wrong as a Voice Actor as far as I'm concerned." - probably hold off on that one until you see the Borderlands movie trailer....

-Jack Black is Po and without Po there is no Kung-Fu Panda. -Johnny Depp is Jack Sparrow and without Captain Jack Sparrow there is no POTC. GET IT THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL HOLLYWOOD!!!!!!

The Netflix series Dragon Knight felt decent at least.

Awkafina is one of those people where you think, how the h did they find success in Hollywood, cringey name, bad singer, bad actor, not attractive at all. There are many now

This film is just another example of one of Hollywood's major problems besides forced diversity and representation: Never knowing where/when to end the story. I thought the drop happened after the 2nd film, but the powers that be in Hollywood can't resist necromancing a dead franchise that had some popularity to scrape the bottom of barrel to find a few more dollars and cents.

I had no idea that a tenacious d version of hit me, etc existed. Gotta say, he did alright. It was good.

10 years since KFP3 In 10 years, Dreamworks came up with Puss in Boots the Last Wish, a MASTERWORK. HOW did the f)bleep) they screw this up?!?

So the "big bad" wasn't able to learn Kung Fu bcuz she's too small but the new Dragon Warrior is a smaller creature than the villain!! This is what you get when you have activists & DEI propaganda specialists on staff!!

Recently saw a CAM record of the film online for free. It's more rewarding.

To be fair, we all knew along with Oogway in Kung fu panda 1 from the very beginning from po’s dream, that Po was going to be the dragon warrior while every other character thought Oogway chose wrong and KFP 4 copies this, so nothing new or disappointing, just a story theme callback, I guess.

For the record about Kung Fu Panda getting a forth was always gonna happen. Cause Dreamworks' CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg back in 2010 said that the series could have three more sequels after Kung Fu Panda 3, bringing it to a six-film series. So that plan was always intended. They just took breaks in between films, with three spinoffs and tv shows keeping things in check for the franchise. Legends of Awesomeness for Nickelodeon, Paws of Destiny for Amazon and The Dragon Knight for Netflix. All three were fun and amazing shows. But not canon to the films series. Also want to point out that Jennifer Yuh Nelson, Director of the second and third films quoted saying that "I Always saw the series as a trilogy, but was open for a fourth installment as long as the franchise focused on Po.". When she said that, i was glad. That being said, i saw Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024) Just two days ago and i enjoyed it very much, despite the flaws it has and i knew those flaws were gonna hurt the film. Not having Jennifer Yuh Nelsons involvement i knew was gonna be one of this films weak spots and some of the previous folks that worked on the last ones, no less. Mike Mitchell who also worked on the previous two, Also directed Trolls (2016) and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) i thought did a good job for the most part. However, Jennifers' direction is also what helped give the first 3 give such calming moments in between action scenes and jokes and so much more. She and her team knew when to give moments of breathers, while this one did indeed feel rushed in many parts, from getting to point A to point B. Yeah, when was announced to be the director, i knew the pacing film was gonna not be the same as the first 3 were. Given Mikes background on the films he's worked on previously, helped me recognize that style in filming would differentiate the tone from the first 3. Now, as for the casting of Awkwafina as Zhen, a corsac fox. Yeah, i knew fans were gonna skeptical of her being casted into this animated film. So far to me, i though she did a good job and thankfully wasn't as annoying as thought she would be, performance wise. Especially when it comes to the fact of her given the same role and over again. With a few exceptions here and there. So far, mine are Sisu from Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) and Mrs. Tarantula/Webbs from The Bad Guys (2022). Now, Po having to chose the next Dragon Warrior and taking on the next antagonist, weather it be a female of male on either side. No issue from my end. But in these times, i understand the complaints and i'm with ya'll on that. So this film having the current trend in checking boxes was no surprise to see here. Though, thankfully, at least to me, did not feel as handfisted as MOST films these days that do so. However, me and so much of us who we're there to see Kung Fu Panda (2008) all those years ago and went strong for so long. I have good faith in the filmmakers to do right by making sure that next three focus on Pos' Journeys, besides introducing new characters and i hope they do so by giving a great conclusion. If Zhen's to be next Dragon Warrior. Then she's has much to learn. As for the films villain, The Chameleon. I liked her and thought she was interesting and a worthy adversary and her powers were awesome. However, her motive and lack of depth is what draws her back from being as great as Tai Lung, Lord Shen and Kai. Hopefully, they'll learn from this film and give us something better. Plus, i've love to see Zhen get to know some of old cast and love to meet new ones along the way. This films a 8/10 for maintaining good action, good voice acting and amazing animation.

If they replace Po, the series can't be called Kung-fu Panda anymore! Kung-fu Fox?

So Po is going to be replaced with a more diverse, strong and better female character. Why does this sound familiar.🤔

I definitely felt like the series ended with 3

Am...i the only one who didnt hear about this

Wait...was Shi-fu the previous dragon warrior? Or why does Po gets "upgraded" to shi-fu's position? I thought the dragon warrior was the best position, that is why Tai-lung made a big mess to get the position

the more interesting development, if they truly wanted to continue Po's story, would've just been to bring back Tailung after he's spent years of training in the realm of the spirits. His first foe serves as his last foe, stronger than before and all that. Pretty sure they can squeeze something out of that.

They chose Foxafina a female character nobody relates or cares about over Tigress a Female warrior whos been with us since the dawn of KFP whos earned her title through masterful hard work and humility while fighting alongside Po. She and every other non main protagonist were robbed especially Shifu.

I think the movies made during this woke era of Hollywood will be remembered as their own genre, and they will be called Femsploitation movies; just like how people remember the Blaxsploitation era in the late 60's - early 70's, except Blaxsploitation filmmaking wasn't as mainstream as these movies try to make themselves out to be. Some of the movies from the Blaxsploitation era acheived cult status (Blacula, Shaft) which I don't think will happen with any Femsploitation movie, unless one of the movies gets a "so bad it's good" status. Maybe "The Marvels" might get there, but it's hard to predict.

Didn’t the first teaser for this movie come out like… a month ago? Jeez these things move fast.

The Kung Fu Panda films were a tight trilogy that fed off each other and worked. Adding to it always seemed like a mistake to me. Knew just from the trailer it was going to be like this.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is painfully mid

Dreamworks going into the slop with this one.......

I was not expecting Dreamworks to go woke did they learn nothing from what happened with Pixar?

"When it's about Po, it's good, when it's about the rest it's bad..." Ah, I'm sensing sensitivity readers; a Hollywood version of Sweet Baby Inc.!

Old PO would be great PO dying or master shifu dying but PO TRIED HIS BEST TO SAVE HIM

Rule of thumb: If it's a sequel in a franchise, skip it. I'm not spending any more money on regurgitated cash grabs.

Nothing after Kung Fu Panda 3 has been good. And this is the first time they made Po less important than he was. That show dragon knight had him screw up and lose the respect of the people in the process. All while walking around with an unlikable female bear masquerading as a knight. Doing the whole liar revealed plot. But, Po was still the dragon warrior. Now, they are just straight up trying to replace him now. You don't see the furious five giving up their titles. In fact, where the hell are they???

The screenshot of Po you used on 2:54 pretty much sums up my reaction. XD This film really sucked and was so disappointing, especially compared to the first three films. What's even worse is the behind-the-scenes information. Did you know KFP4 was going to be a live-action/animation hybrid akin to Roger Rabbit and Zhen and the Chameleon were going to be HUMANS from a city called Hu-Man City (I'm not joking, that was literally the name)?? And Po was going to be stuck in a box for TWENTY MINUTES?? Mike Mitchell did not watch the other three films, one of the animators from the previous movies up and left, and the one woman who wanted this film to stay true to Kung Fu Pandas 1 and 2 (Stephanie Stine) was constantly ignored and dismissed as a "nobody". She wanted the film to have more heart and not as much comedy, but Michell did not want to do that. Nobody wanted to listen to her, and none of the writers behind this film could take constructive criticism. The Furious Five, Lord Shen, and Kai were added AT THE LAST MINUTE and solely for fan-service, Zhen and the Chameleon's backstories (if you can even call them backstories in the final product) were added at the last minute, and Zhen's (unearned) redemption/fight with Po before they faced off against the Chameleon was added at the last minute. Here's an entire video breaking down what went absolutely wrong behind-the-scenes: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jrJ-p86Al82VnJs.html This movie was such a mess and such a huge disappointment. The plot was very predictable, and I couldn't buy into Po and Zhen's friendship at all. I also didn't find most of the jokes very funny and found Zhen to be kind of annoying (she was an overly snarky character voiced by Scuttlebutt, so it's to be expected, I guess), and her redemption was very forced and unearned because her backstory was very underdeveloped and her relationship with Po was rushed. I just couldn't buy that they became friends because there weren't enough screen-time or scenes that tested their bond. Her backstory with the Chameleon was so underdeveloped. Most of the time, during her scenes with Po and her scenes with Chameleon, I just felt like I was missing more scenes or something. Zhen's status as the Chameleon's adoptive-daughter had potential, but the scenes with them were so quick it was underwhelming and I really didn't feel anything when she betrayed Po. It didn't help that I had accidentally spoiled myself with the reveal that she was the Chameleon's pupil, but it was still pretty obvious, I probably would have figured it out by myself if I hadn't gotten briefly spoiled. It also felt kinda OOC for the villains Po fought to bow before him and show respect after everything they did to him and after Po foiled their plans. On paper, it sounds like an interesting idea, but because they all came back at the very last minute and for fan-service, there wasn't any time to properly flesh it all out. Before the trailers came out, I also wasn't expecting it to be yet another "Hero has to pass on the torch" story EVERYONE in Hollywood seems to be obsessed with doing to their old popular heroes now. And I remember thinking to myself as I was watching it, but WHY does Po need a successor? He's in his 20's? He's too fucking young to pass on his Dragon Warrior title. Some other video I found mentioned that it would have been cool if Tigress had been chosen to be Po's successor, and honestly that would have made more sense. Po and Zhen's bond was very rushed and it didn't help that there was so much padding and pointless scenes like the dumb tavern, and Po's fathers Li and Mr. Ping going after them, and then doing a repeat of the pointless tavern scene, and then doing more dumb hi-jinks in the city. Tigress fought and trained hard to achieve the position for years anyway, Po knows her much longer than he knows Zhen, and Zhen didn't earn it at all. The Chameleon had a neat design and powers, but was still very bland and very lacking in nuance compared to Tai Lung, Lord Shen, and Kai, and her defeat was very anticlimactic. I also found her backstory to be very under-cooked. We were told and shown Tai Lung's past, we were told and shown Lord Shen's past, we were shown and told Kai's past, but Chameleon? We got very little of her. We didn't even get proper flashbacks showing us her past, unlike the three previous villains. They explained her motivation and what she wants, but it was so bare-boned. She turned to evil because they couldn't teach her kung-fu because she was too small... but we had a literal praying mantis who learned it just fine?? Dude was even smaller than she was. Like, wha? Also, how did she teach Zhen, her adopted daughter, all those kung-fu moves if she didn't know kung-fu herself? Or did Zhen just learn her moves on the streets? How? Who taught her if it wasn't her foster-mother? That didn't make sense. Also, I disagree with the trailer that the Chameleon was Po's greatest enemy. Lord Shen was Po's greatest enemy on a much more personal level. And the Chameleon's first appearance had so much potential that was wasted. In Kung Fu Panda, Tai Lung's establishing character moment was an epic prison break scene, establishing his brute strength and cunning as he fought off the rhinoceros guards. In Kung Fu Panda 2, Lord Shen first appeared committing a fucking genocide in the past, then made his first appearance fighting two Kung-fu masters, pulling out his cannon and blasting the shit out of them when it seemed like he was gonna lose. And in Kung Fu Panda 3, General Kai made his first appearance attacking Master Oogway and stealing his qi, using it to return to the world of the living. The Chameleon? Her first establishing character moment was PUSH SOMEONE DOWN SOME STAIRS. It also made zero sense on why Kai was back in the Spirit Realm? Dude got blown up within the Spirit Realm, rendering him deader than dead. So how was he back in the Spirit Realm? And wasn't Lord Shen not a kung fu master, so why was he in the Spirit Realm...? I doubt Mike Mitchell even watched the previous movies. Also, I expected the scene where the Chameleon brought back Tai Lung to be in the beginning of the movie, and so Po would have had to face off against him again, only to discover Tai Lung lost his Kung fu. Maybe after getting his Kung fu stolen by the Chameleon, Tai Lung would have had to work with Po to stop her. The first draft where Shifu was kidnapped by the Chameleon, sending Po to rescue him, and Shifu getting to say goodbye to Tai Lung sounded so much better than the final project. Tai Lung getting a redemption arc would have fit with the plot too. When I heard Kung-fu Panda was going to be a series of six films, I was so excited and curious to see where it would go. But after this film, I have very little hope for the rest of the series...

Take the Aquafina!!!! Nope I'd rather die of thirst.

Thank you

Wasn't excited for this in the slightest. The third movie was meh at best, and didn't leave me with any desire to see that story continue. Plus Awkwafina is an instant "no" for me.

If they replace Po with a kitty it all makes sense. Cat people at the work again. Just see M-SHE-U

Bit of a goofy thought, but still completely believable, what if they chose Awkwafina because she is Asian and they thought having a white man voice the main character in a story set in Asia is a problem in current day? So they went for the currently "popular" "comedic" Asian actress?

They had to replace Po: he’s too white

AY UP THORIAS

Aquafinas voice acting was very monotone but the part that hurt the movie the most was the large amount of characters without their voice actors

Hey thorias don't disagree kung fu panda 4 is prime movie compared to megamind 2

I wanna know what this movie did with Tai lung. Dude was my favorite villain and to see him back in the fourth movie had me hyped. I don't really care for spoils; I just wanna know if he was rendered a cameo or if he had a legit role in the film.