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Kung Fu Panda 4, and The Grief That Comes Alongside It

Kung Fu Panda 4, is what some would consider the movie of the decade, a magnum opus perhaps, if, of course, they were compulsive liars and liked to watch the world burn.

With a new movie comes new audiences, better animation, new dialogue, new characters, and of course new scenes. And you may think, why not just make a new movie? Especially if every single one of those aspects is worse. Well, the answer is simple, money. If they slap a number behind a popular movie, it will not only drag in first-time viewers but will drag the diehard fans back from their graves.

Since this movie has had a fanbase for nearly sixteen years, the sequels are starting to cater to the new generations, a younger audience. While the first movie was meant for children to watch, it would be categorised as a family movie because the writers put in the effort to make it high quality and watchable for all ages. Kung Fu Panda 4 on the other hand would solely be classified as a children’s movie. This means that for most over the age of ten, this movie becomes that of boredom and nearly unwatchable.

The newest movie in this franchise has decided to make a unique choice when it comes to the animation style and character designs. This new stylized animation makes characters look tacky: their eyes are bigger, their faces rounder, their voices goofier. This also lent to the movie being portrayed more towards children. But, they cannot drastically change the design of characters from previous movies so they look less harmonious with each other because they are drawn differently. This was extremely distracting and took away from what little good this movie had.

Every character in this movie seemed just a bit off. Their words did not seem to match the previously introduced characters, and the new characters didn’t seem ever to sound right. The characters seemed to have less life breathed through them, instead being replaced by fart jokes and other childlike humor. I also really loved how the majority of the main characters took a vow of silence for the runtime of the movie, just so we could hear more of all the other new characters. 

While there were character arcs they felt rushed and didn’t expand on the minute details or the nuances within their personalities. They also relied heavily on stereotypes and patterns that characters in many movies so often go through. The moment I saw Zhen’s character, I could accurately predict her entire story arc. There was a limited amount of foreshadowing on this, but it could still be understood what would happen based on common movie stereotypes. Her redemption arc was not even done naturally, but instead choppy and rushed. There was also the main villain of the movie, The Chameleon. She had such little screen time and not nearly enough development in her character. Her motives also didn’t make sense; her actions were based on her desire to learn kung fu, but we learned in the first movie that anyone can learn kung fu no matter their size, shape, or past. I think if we wanted to have a more cohesive storyline we could instead merge Zhen and The Chameleon into one character, creating a unique storyline while also giving the villain more screen time.

And finally, I’d like to mention how creative they were using the 3 R’s: Reuse, Recycle, and Reduce. I love how the writers decided that the jokes they made were so funny that they should reuse each a minimum of three times each. They also did an excellent job of recycling scenes from previous movies but with different characters. Like the opening scene from Kung Fu Panda 2 and the closing scene from Kung Fu Panda 3. But ultimately I think their best action was to reduce. Reduce the budget that is. The previous three movies had a budget of 130-150mil, but they decided to save up their money and only give this movie a budget of 85mil.

Kung Fu Panda is a franchise I have watched since I was a child. When I was younger I would anticipate the release of every new movie, but as I have gotten older I realise that the bigger the number next to the main title the worse the movie will become. Making sequels is like squeezing the water out of a sponge. If you don’t dip it back into the bucket, it will become dry of passion and empty of love. This movie reminds me of the ever-passing time that I once called my childhood. It is passing me by so that movies I once loved will only be filled with nostalgia and every new one will seem worse than the last. I thank the writers that cared about the movies that they made even if they were for younger audiences, because they allowed them to be enjoyed by the entire family and not just for the toddlers in the audience. Ultimately, I am grateful for the time in my life when movies had passion and love going into their creation, and while I am sad to see it go, c’est la vie.

I disagree with people defending the Chameleon's Backstory

So when Kung Fu Panda 4 came out there was a lot of mixed reception from fans. Some hated it, some liked it or loved it, and others found it fine.

Personally, I think it's fine, I don't hate but I don't like it either. It could've been worse and could've been better.

One thing that always bugs me about fans defending the chameleon's backstory is that keep mentioning the shorts and one animator saying not all dojos were as excepting. Which I have several issues.

1. We don't know if the shorts are canon or not. The shorts are character backstories. Especially in the secrets of the Furious Five and secrets of the scrolls. Fans would mention how some of the dojos didn't accept or respect certain species. They bring up Crane not being accepted because he is skinny and looks weak. That sure is fair enough. But the thing is in the same short we have Mantis kicking ass! Now we don't know much about how Mantis learned Kung Fu. This is another thing I'm skeptical of in the shorts especially Secrets of the Furious Five, as it was Po telling the stories as lessons to kids. So we don't know how accurate they are.

Then we have the secrets of the scrolls. People also brought up but it doesn't make sense as an argument. Like Shifu is a master and he's also small. We even see other Red Panda masters. People say when he gets mad at the five as an example. But people missed the point, He was not mad because they were different species, he's mad because they weren't the people he asked for.

My rule is if it ain't in the actual movie then it ain't canon or brought up at all. Unless DreamWorks actually says they are canon but they haven't. Btw I like the shorts but I wouldn't take them too seriously.

2. People keep bringing up one animator on Twitter who says that not all dojos are as accepting as the Jade Palace. That would've been fine but like, the issue is that it's one animator.

We haven't heard from the others and not even the writers. Also, they said that Secrets of the Scrolls is canon. But my criticism is that she only worked on the fourth movie and not the previous ones. Unless it's her personal opinion or headcanon. But like I said if it ain't in the movie it dosnet count. I wouldn't mind it if we saw a flashback to see it happen, but we never did.

Edit: I should also mention that there might be biases, as it is an actual animator, so of course they would defend their work but there is also a Kung Fu Panda fan. I do not hate Abbey btw, I just think we shouldn't take their word for it. The context was someone asking who would defeat Death from The Last Wish and the Chameleon, Abbey tried to explain it and gave a backstory that was never in the film. As a KFP fan, she used the shorts to explain it.

Now, as I said, there's nothing wrong with that; I just have an issue with certain fans using it to explain the chameleons' backstory. Especially since it's only one person saying it.

3. Even if the dojos were rejected just because of her size. It still doesn't make sense because we already have canonically small masters. Like we literally have a Master Rat that leads an army. We knew this because we the army's battle helmet at the Jade Palace in the third movie.

Heck, even in 4 Po mentions a Master Chipmunk. So how unlucky does the Chameleon to find the right dojo? There are probably dojos out there who specifically train small animals. Heck we even saw them in Secrets of the Scrolls of red panda masters (I know I just repeated myself)

So that's why I disagree with some fans. I feel like there trying to make it sense in their heads which is fine, but they acted as if were in the movie? Like in the film Chameleons just said she was rejected because was small and lowly. Nothing else to flesh it.

So that was my rant and stuff. I gotta go to bed. Sorry for any grammar mistakes.

Would prefer a taller, buffer, female reptile villain, but the Chameleon is kinda cute ...

Trailer fanarts lol

Man I love Po rn

Bonus old man yaoi

Yeah im so normal about them can’t u tell

🐼🥰My beloved has returned!🥰🐼