348: Kung Fu Panda 4

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, please make sure to go ahead and rate, review, and subscribe. Thanks.

[00:00:06] 56, which was originally going to be a bonus episode for Sunday, but I figured since I'm

[00:00:12] doing bonus episodes every single week, might as well just have it be a regular daily.

[00:00:17] So hopefully that makes sense, but figured it was kind of unnecessary. So let's get

[00:00:23] to Kung Fu Panda 4. This one is in theaters I think still and it's available on demand as well.

[00:00:32] It's directed by Mike Mitchell and Stephanie Stein. Mike Mitchell did the second Lego movie,

[00:00:37] The First Trolls, Shrek Forever After, It Starr is Jack Black, Aquafina, Viola Davis,

[00:00:44] Dustin Hoffman, Brian Cranston, James Hong, Ian McShane, and a few others. And the synopsis is

[00:00:53] After Poe is tapped to become the spiritual leader of the Valley of Peace. He needs to find and

[00:00:57] train a new dragon warrior while a wicked sorceress plans to resummon all the master villains

[00:01:02] whom Poe has vanquished to the spirit realm. So Kung Fu Panda, I like it. I think I just need

[00:01:11] to rewatch them all together because I feel like I haven't seen most of them for a long time.

[00:01:17] I never really saw them in theaters. I got to all of them pretty late. So this franchise is one that

[00:01:24] I'm a little distant on and when I heard about this one, I didn't even realize it was coming out

[00:01:31] till probably a month before it was released. I love Jack Black as I think most do. I think

[00:01:37] the animation style is amazing and just the overall concept is great. Dreamworks,

[00:01:42] it's hit or miss. I like trolls, I like Shrek, how to train your dragon and I think this is a pretty

[00:01:47] solid franchise. Like I don't think there's a real dud in there. So being that I haven't seen

[00:01:55] the third one or any of them as I said for a little while, I went into this one fairly

[00:02:01] blind and I think I'm sort of in the general consensus here from what I can remember. This

[00:02:09] is by far my least favorite. I think it's alright. It was entertaining, it was short, it was charming,

[00:02:16] but I think this is a perfect example of when Dreamworks really sort of coasting along like it

[00:02:23] does everything decently well to where there's nothing really offensive about it, but there's

[00:02:30] nothing all that memorable about it either. Like I just watched it last night and I feel

[00:02:34] like I can remember almost nothing in terms of standout scenes. One thing that I will partially

[00:02:40] criticize the franchise for is I don't think it's as laugh out loud funny as some of the other

[00:02:46] animated franchises that Dreamworks has done. Like I think Shrek is way funnier,

[00:02:51] trolls is maybe marginally funnier, how to train your dragon. Like I think

[00:02:55] despite it being a really good cast, voice cast, I love again I love Jack Black, I think

[00:03:01] the humor in this whole franchise is a little lackluster and I think this one,

[00:03:05] I never really laughed that often and it was still fun and it was breezy and light-hearted and

[00:03:16] easily digestible but I was really hoping that this one would be what I'm always hoping that

[00:03:21] they're really funny and that there's a lot of things that I really take from it and then

[00:03:25] this one I didn't really get that it really felt a little obligatory especially after it's been a few

[00:03:32] years at least since the third one I feel like they could have done more with the fourth film either

[00:03:37] that or just not make it so I think it is a little disappointing not that I had high expectations

[00:03:43] or anything but I was hoping for more. But besides that good things the world building is awesome

[00:03:50] like animation wise the design of the world is amazing it's gorgeous it's one of the best

[00:03:55] looking animated franchises out there in terms of meshing fantastical worlds with a fairly grounded

[00:04:02] real world I think all that looks amazing and the score is excellent I think the overall

[00:04:09] group of characters like it's a good comforting group to be in like I like

[00:04:13] spending time with those characters even if I don't love the movie but one thing I will

[00:04:18] point out and I think that at least on Letterbox I was reading a lot about this that other

[00:04:22] people have the same opinion as much as I love Aquafino I think she's very very funny

[00:04:28] and she's given some more dramatic roles that I think are great too so I think she's

[00:04:32] very talented I'm happy that she's getting so much work these days but I'm getting so tired

[00:04:39] of hearing her be like a central voice character for an animated film I feel like she is in every

[00:04:46] big animated movie aside from like Pixar stuff and even like being in The Little Mermaid

[00:04:51] last year she was the voice in that and then it feels like every big one she's in it and while

[00:04:59] her performance in the context of one movie is good it's always solid there's only so much

[00:05:04] variety that you can give to wacky comedic characters in animation to where your voice

[00:05:12] and her voice is very distinctive you can't really hide that for better for worse it becomes

[00:05:18] repetitive and boring and while I think that I liked her Fox character in this

[00:05:25] I was just constantly reminded ah this is Aquafina again like of all the people there are so many

[00:05:30] actors comedic actors that you could pick to give variety and maybe she's a bit of a box office

[00:05:38] straw but other than that and she's talented nothing against her personally but I don't really

[00:05:43] understand why it's like absolutely necessary to cast her in every animated movie that comes out

[00:05:49] these days and so that was probably my biggest issue is I was getting very tired of that performance

[00:05:58] and having that voice constantly coming up if that makes sense so not a fan of that the plot

[00:06:06] itself you know not much to it it's just good versus evil sort of thing the action it's okay

[00:06:12] I think the sequence at the mountain bar like tavern was probably the best part of the movie but

[00:06:19] other than that not much really sticks out to me action wise so if you need something diverting

[00:06:25] you know if you like the franchise if you like dreamworks if you like jack black

[00:06:29] morning bells in the cast it's not that bad I think you could do a lot worse and

[00:06:34] it gets the job done because I do like the franchise and I think that with something

[00:06:38] like this there are really endless possibilities with what you could do story wise so I'm hoping that

[00:06:43] if they do a fifth one they improve that whether it's a writing issue a directing issue studio

[00:06:51] issue I don't know but definitely my least favorite as I said of the franchise so far

[00:06:56] so that is a three out of five