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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nSince Po (Jack Black), the main character of the \u201cKung Fu Panda\u201d movies, is known for his corpulent eating habits, it makes sense to compare the animated franchise to a sort of comfort food. These movies aren\u2019t exactly \u201chealthy\u201d choices that send the imagination soaring, but they aren\u2019t \u201cjunk\u201d that people outside the target audience are likely to detest. They\u2019re agreeable, but not spectacular. Fortunately for \u201cKung Fu Panda 4,\u201d it\u2019s arriving at a time when kids haven\u2019t had a decent movie for a while. Even though it coasts on preexisting goodwill at times, it\u2019s not the painful, phoned-in effort it could have been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the start of the movie, Po is basking in his fame as the legendary Dragon Warrior. He does his job well, fulfilling all his duties as protector of his village, but he\u2019s also become complacent, using his standing in the community to endorse the noodle restaurant run by his adoptive goose father Ping (James Hong) and biological panda father Li (Bryan Cranston). His mentor, red panda Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) tells him his time as Dragon Warrior is coming to an end and he needs to pick a successor, but all he wants to do is continue to be the Dragon Warrior. And eat, of course, be the Dragon Warrior and eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One day Po catches a fox named Zhen (Awkwafina) stealing artifacts from his temple. He battles her and she holds her own, but ultimately he wins and throws her in prison. But it turns out she may know something about a series of attacks that have been going on in nearby Juniper City. It seems Po\u2019s old nemesis, the snow leopard Tai Lung (Ian McShane) has returned from the Spirit Realm and is seeking to regain power. Zhen knows to put emphasis on the \u201cseems\u201d part, because it\u2019s really shapeshifting villain Chameleon (Viola Davis) plotting to steal power from the entire Spirit Realm. Zhen agrees to help Po in exchange for a lighter sentence, and the two reluctantly set out on a mission to save the village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m not going to pretend that the movie aspires to be anything more than standard \u201creluctant buddies road trip\u201d fare. As a matter of fact, it\u2019s two \u201creluctant buddies road trip\u201d movies in one because Ping and Li set out on their own mission soon after Po and Zhen leave. But the Po\/Zhen story has all the twists and turns you expect. Of course the too-trusting Po will have hard time navigating the city\u2019s criminal underbelly and need the streetwise Zhen to bail him out. Of course Zhen\u2019s duplicitous nature will get the two of them in trouble (my favorite sequence of the movie sees Po try to return money stolen by Zhen while simultaneously fighting the victims). Of course Po\u2019s good-heartedness will rub off on Zhen. Of course there\u2019s a secret that makes things complicated. And of course Po will eat everything he can along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But as unambitious as \u201cKung Fu Panda 4\u201d is in its storytelling, it\u2019s ambitious in its humor. What can I say \u2013 the jokes just hit. Black\u2019s energy is infectious as always (he sings a new take on a pop song that might just be more earworm-y than the original), and everyone else manages to steal at least a few scenes. The visual gags work too, and it\u2019s hard not to have your heart stolen by some psychotic bunnies. As an overall effort this movie may be just as complacent as Po is in the first act, but the \u201cKung Fu Panda\u201d franchise knows what brings audiences comfort. The concession stand can handle the food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grade: B-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKung Fu Panda 4\u201d is rated PG for martial arts action\/mild violence, scary images and some mild rude humor. Its running time is 94 minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Bob Garver Since Po (Jack Black), the main character of the \u201cKung Fu Panda\u201d movies, is known for his corpulent eating habits, it makes sense to compare the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":59222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[2658],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59223,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59221\/revisions\/59223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}