Film Journal 2024: Kung Fu Panda 4

Film Journal 2024: Kung Fu Panda 4
Directed by Mike Mitchell

In terms of the franchise it’s a step below. Given that the franchise is one of the better ones, this fourth installment still stands taller than much of the animation that it shares space with. Thanks in large part to its beloved characters and its mix of human drama and high flying adventure, both of which are still very much alive and well.

Part of the issue, if I could take a stab at locating what that might be, is the weight that comes from needing to justify your existence in light of an already completed and stand alone trilogy. This is not a spoiler, as it makes this known in the opening minutes of the film, but the approach the filmmakers take here is essentially taking the story of the trilogy and wrapping it up in the notion of finding a successor to our now infamous Dragon Warrior. What it wants to suggest is that his arc cannot be fully complete until he becomes the very thing that helped bring him to where he finds himself at the end of the trilogy- a spiritual master or guide.

On paper it works, and is maybe even inspired. The challenge then is, to find a way to supersede the now predictable nature of the established premise, to breathe something unexpected, and indeed necessary, into the trajectory of the story. To give us the thing we didn’t know we needed from what is essentially an epilogue. On this front, it flirts with potential ideas, but it never really commits, leaving this an enjoyable but ever so slightly watered down version of its familiar self. What makes matters even more muddled is dealing with the obvious implications of its premise- will successor mean extending the shelf life of this IP until its dead in the water? If this is the case, it makes it even harder to justify this epilogue. Here it could have done well to take notes from Toy Story 4, a fourth installment that I feel belongs as the poster child for how to do an epilogue well (and it takes one note from that film, following its lead with narrowing in on Woody’s story and choosing to keep the Furious 5 out of the films focus).

For the moment though, it is definitely still worth seeing. More adventures with the beloved Panda is far from something that needs resisting, even if the inevitable reality of the sought after cash cow is.