Cinepals - Just Watched KUNG FU PANDA 4! | Non Spoiler Review

Episode Date: March 6, 2024

Here are our honest thoughts and review of Kung Fu Panda 4, fresh out of the theater! Kung Fu Panda 4 stars Jack Black (School of Rock, King Kong), Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians, The Little Mermaid, Raya and the Last Dragon), Viola Davis (Suicide Squad, The Hunger Games: A Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes), Dustin Hoffman (Tootsie, Rain Man, Kramer vs Kramer), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, Malcolm in the Middle), James Hong (Everything Everywhere All At Once, Big Trouble in Little China), Ian McShane (John Wick: Chapter 4, One Piece), Ke Huy Quan (Loki, The Goonies) and Ronny Chieng (Crazy Rich Asians, Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings). SOCIAL MEDIA:  ~CINEPALS~ YouTube: @CinePals Insta: https://instagram.com/TheCinePals Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCinePals ~KRISTEN STEPHENSONPINO~ Instagram: @Kris10Kesp ~ACHARA KIRK~ Twitter & Instagram: @AcharaKirk ~JABY KOAY~ Twitter & Instagram: @JabyKoay

Po is back in his latest fun, kooky adventure in Kung Fu Panda 4. He is enjoying his role as the Dragon Warrior. But when Master Shifu tells him that he must find a successor, he's not quite ready to let go. A threat to the Valley of Peace comes in the form of the chameleon, a shape-shifting sorcerer, and Poe goes on a journey with old friends anew. Reprising their roles from previous installments are Jack Black as Poe, Dustin Hoffman as Master Shifu, Ian McShane as Tai Lung, James Hong as Poe's dad, and Brian Cranston as Poe's other dad. Joining the cast are Aquafina as Zen and Viola Davis as the Chameleon.

What's going on, everyone? I'm Jabby Koei, joined by Chargirk. What's up? And Kristen Stephensabino. We just watched Kung Fu Panda 4. We're about to get kicked out of theater in seconds. So we're going to do this as quickly as we can. Look there, Kristen.

Look there, Charon. I did. It was. It was, yeah. As a follow-up to the other Kung Fu Panda films, I thought that this was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it. Nothing will ever top Kung Fu Panda 1. I still think that this was a great adventure, a great extension of the adventure for Po.

And I think it's worthwhile to watch in theaters instead of just watching at home and waiting for streaming. Yeah, it's super fun. We were laughing out loud so much throughout the movie. Yes, a lot of the beats feel recycled. It's familiar, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, you know. Like, we all love Po. And I was also super stoked to see Ocophina. I thought she was a great addition and loved that we.

we got to see more of Poe's dads. They were great. I was paying a lot of attention to the action in this because what was introduced with the first Kung Fu Panda was a certain kind of adoption of anime but Americanized. And I thought that it was really cool what they did here with continuing forward with that notion because you did see influences of anime in here

and just really creative action moments and choreography that they really don't have to do. And I think that a lot of thought and creativity went into those action sequences that you don't normally get with American animation, I guess. I mean, save for the likes of like Spider-Man or Puss-and-Boots. Those are the only things that come to mind or Avatar the Last Airbender. So this was definitely exceptional in that area. It definitely had thrilling moments throughout.

I really liked the storyline as well. You know, like at this point, do we need another Kung Fu Panda movie? No, we don't need one, but definitely appreciate having one because it was just really, lovely but also just the story it's all about you know accepting moving on and all of that which feels at because we're at that stage now with a lot of franchises where everyone's kind of going and now we're going to hand over the torch to the new generation and they did it in a really nice way here i love the message in it and i like that they take something that they like you said they recycle it right but they keep doing something that works and they're running with it and i

don't hate it. Saying that, though, it still feels fresh with what they are able to do, even though like a lot of it still feels quite recognizable from the franchise. There's lots of really cute nods to the first film, definitely. And I'm sure there's like lots of cool nods to the other films as well that I can't remember quite as well as the first. The first one I must have seen about ten times. The Furious Five are not at all in this movie. They show you that in the commercials. you don't see them at all and they don't pop up and I think it's better that you know that

before going into the film because I think that a part of you wants to see them pop up as like somewhere at some point they don't and so don't expect that I think that this is sort of a farewell adventure for Poe

as the Dragon Warrior and I think that's why they don't make an appearance here because it's about him and his journey of like ascending to the next level I think they could have still made it work, even with the Furious Five, and it would have made it even more fun to have them. They were sorely missed, but I get why they didn't.

In addition to the fact that that's just expensive to hire those voice talents for whatever sessions, just, you know, to have them, say, three lines. Like, if you look at Kung Fu Panda 1, I think Jackie Chan had four lines in the entire thing. You got to pay them for those sessions. And so I get it. From a business perspective, from a storytelling perspective, I understand, but they were still missed. I thought that Viola Davis was a super great village.

in this. I much preferred her in this than in the recent Hunger Games movie which we watched. Because I feel like her theatricalness lent itself really well for the character. She was quite menacing and scary. Yeah, they definitely built her up

as a really strong villain in this. It gave me some Jafar vibes. Oh, yeah, yeah. There's a lot of derivative plot points in this where it's highly predictable. Yeah. But the thing is Jack Black, Aquafina, they make it a lot of fun anyway. They carry the film and it's like some of it feels a little tired.

Some of the jokes don't land. But overall, it's just a really fun, positive energy which you come to expect with Kung Fu Panda. Yeah, exactly. I mean, it felt good. It felt warm and comforting. I think at this point, we're all very familiar with the franchise. And so we're just looking for some more of that, you know, some more of that movie that blew us away the first time and we watched it, and we all love Poe and his friends and his family. And so it's like, yeah, one more time in the cinema with Poe and friends. Why not? And then he's got some cool new additions as well with Aquafina and some of the new characters, too.

And so overall, it's very enjoyable. It's not like, wow, that blew my mind. It was, like, amazing. But, like, yeah, it's fun. There's also some new voices in this. Ki-Hu-I-Qan made an appearance. I will say that he, this is a different role for him than I'm used to hearing from him because his roles are normally like the wholesome guy, the sweet guy, the guy who's there to help you out.

That's not his character here. He is helpful in terms of the story, but he's not what you expect. And I think that's a cool new opportunity for Kihui-Kwan to flex his acting muscles in a new way, you know? And his voice is so recognizable as well because I don't think I had really that he was going to be in the movie. And then I heard his voice and I was like, oh, that's Kiwi Kuan. You know, we had some other voices as well that I recognize

and was like, oh, yeah, I'm happy that they're in the movie. That's really nice. Speaking of familiar voices, James Hong reprises his role as Poe's father. One of his father's. One of his father, yeah, Ping. At first, I didn't realize it was him because he sounds different to me. I don't know if it's because he's trying to find that same space vocally and it's just been a while for him or what.

Or just like he's older now. Yeah, it could be any number of things. Yeah. But initially I was like, is that a different guy playing him? Because, you know, Mario got replaced not too long ago. So it wouldn't surprise me if someone else replaced him. But, you know, at a certain point, you're like, oh, wait, yeah, that's him. That's him.

Like, you hear him get his footing vocally. You have a no, no, there you go. Yeah. And he definitely, it was needed. Brian Cranston is also back as Poe's other father. And there's this, like, cool other subplot with the father characters that, while I wasn't asking for that. I enjoyed it. Yes. Yes. They were probably one of my favorite parts of the whole movie. They worked so well together. Just their energy and everything. Every time they showed

off on the screen, I was like, oh yeah, I enjoy them. They're really great. I saw kids in here in the, in the theater, but I didn't hear them laughing. So I was like, okay. So, Char and I did most laughing? Yeah. Yeah. Do you guys know? There's one joke in particular. Yeah. There's one joke in particular, but there's that same joke or that scene it reminded me of my dog, so and it really happened. Okay, gotcha. You know, again,

comparing it to Kung Fu Panda Part 1, it's nowhere near that level. I don't think anything ever will touch the heights of that ever again. But that's okay, you know, Kung Fu Panda 1 is just a very special film. This is just like, hey, that's fun to revisit. You know, it's like going back to

a really cool restaurant or something. It's like, it's never going to be the same as the first time you had it yeah you know what i mean but you know po you had the noodle dream um no i i thought it was a lot of fun and you guys should definitely check it out