Date- Saturday March 9 2024
Location- stroud mall cinemark
Party- 3 (my mom, sister and I)
Time- 11:25am (actual movie started around 11:45)
I’d seen all of the Kung Fu Panda movies at least once. The first at least twice and that was the only one I didn’t see in a theater.
So I can’t approach this movie from the typical approach- comparing it to the previous installments. But as a Dreamworks animated movie, it was another solid effort.
This is the first time DreamWorks had a proper intro. It usually just shows the logo. They’ve since done a complete overhaul where they show the notable characters from their other movies (Shrek and Fiona, and toothless the dragon are the only ones I remember at the moment) interacting with the boy from the logo before he goes to his home in the crescent moon. Loved it.
This was a movie my sister had wanted to see and we both thoroughly enjoyed it.
There’d been some dark stuff in some of the earlier movies, particularly Po’s backstory and villains figuring into them. This one was devoid of that. There’s still some dramatic moments but it’s probably the most light hearted of the movies since the first one.
But again, my memory of the previous films isn’t great. I know the second one was kinda dark because of its villain’s connection to Po.
With the exception of the scene during the credits (we left after this sequence and the song ended so I don’t know if there’s also a post credits scene), this is the first time the furious five aren’t featured in the movie.
That being said, Po’s new associate has more than enough personality to go around- thanks to Awkwafina giving another killer voice over performance.
Just to give a basic layout of the plot:
Shifu has decided that it’s time for Po to find a successor to the title of Dragon Warrior, so he may assume his new role as spiritual leader. Which Shifu’s teacher had before him.
Po, of course, is hesitant to relinquish the role that gave him a sense of purpose. He also proves on multiple occasions why his new title might not suit him as well. There’s a running joke through the whole movie about how bad he is about creating thoughtful proverbs. And when he is borderline successful, his words are twisted around to mean something hilariously wrong.
Then we have our bad guy- The Chameleon- played by viola davis. (I had no idea it was her until the credits. Another bad ass performance). Her goal is world domination, extending her reach beyond Juniper City where most of the movie takes place. She strikes fear into her enemies by changing her appearance into more intimidating foes. But she also has a major axe to grind. She wanted to learn Kung fu but all of the masters she sought training from turned her down. Discriminated against her because of her size. So her goal is to steal Kung fu powers from the spirit world in order to rule.
… in not as many words, it’s essentially the same plot as Space Jam, except she’s the one in charge. Whereas the aliens, who are challenged to a basketball game by the looney tunes and stole talent from active NBA players, they are underlinings.
Po is alerted to this villainous plot by Zhen, a silver fox he catches trying to pilfer artifacts from the temple. Then when a group of rams (seen in the first moments of the movie being attacked, seemingly, by Tai Lung, the first movie's villain) beseeches him for help.
So of course he turns to Zhen for help, offering to reduce her prison sentence in exchange.
There’s also the comic relief element that’s provided by Po’s adoptive dad Mr. Ping and his actual dad, Li, as both follow Po a few days behind to offer help if it’s needed.
And to their credit, they actually do help out when it matters. Meanwhile there’s some pretty funny shenanigans that happen on their journey.
Notably, they come to a restaurant where Po and Zhen recently trashed the place and make things worse. Seriously, whose idea was it to build this building precariously on that seaside cliff? Only asking for trouble, haha
I had my suspicions early and while Zhen’s story arc was a little predictable, she’s a very lovable character. In part because I love foxes but it was definitely the type of role tailor made for Awkwafina. Her comedic timing and quirks really shine here.
We had a relatively small group in the theater with us, but I’ll always remember one dude gasping when there’s a big reveal about her later in the movie. Things like that are why going to the movies is such an enjoyable group experience.
Another somewhat predictable thing- Po spends the whole movie carrying around this staff as part of his new role. That thing was just begging to be lost or stolen.
These movies are known for their humor and it’s kinda funny when even the villain gets a sarcastic comment.
She plans to use the blood moon to open the spirit world to steal the Kung fu powers. She’s waiting for it to rise and later bemoans “is it always this slow?” and chooses not to wait for it.
Having experienced blood moons in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild series (as a player as well as a spectator), the doomsday vibe brought on by its appearance wasn’t lost on me.
During the final battle sequence where Po fights The Chameleon and her stolen Kung Fu, we have various cameos from the series. Only Tai Lung gets any notable dialogue and it’s in the school of belittling the protagonist and other unhelpful snark. It is a pretty cool sequence, though.
The only thing I was kinda missing was an otherwise common occasion where powers or talent are typically stolen. Or something Ash once said about Pikachu in a battle- “they can copy Pikachu but there’s nothing like the real thing.” And it’s going to bug me that I completely forgot how that quote came about. I used to know that series so well, especially when the original cast was still part of it.
My point is that The Chameleon was able to use these powers as soon as she got them. And I really thought that was going to be her ultimate undoing. Instead it was the typical “biting off more than you can chew” and “pride cometh before the fall”.
And maybe I am over thinking a movie geared toward a younger audience but there are some good lessons. Particularly about how change is hard but it is necessary. There’s also one or two references that adults bringing their kids to this would appreciate. The cute fluffy bunnies that live in the thieves den with all of Zhen’s “family”— the action they get on the battle field takes a page from Monty python. They’re not as deadly as the killer rabbit but nonetheless not to be taken lightly.
I alluded to it earlier but definitely stick around for the credits. It has a training montage with the furious five that’s set to “hit me baby one more time”- performed by Jack Black and his band, Tenacious D.
As someone who grew up with Britney Spears in her prime, that was a REALLY good cover of that song. Odd combination but it worked really well.
Grade- A
Trailers:
Garfield
- hopefully this is better than the bill murray movies were
- As much as Garfield’s humor would fit in today’s world, putting him today’s world is still a bit concerning. And that doesn’t even include the whole spy novel angle they’re going in. This looks cute but I also can’t help ask WHY…
- Chris Pratt and Awkwafina seem to be really in demand for their voice over work. How long before they do a movie together cuz I’d love to see it
- John Krasinski is going from “a quiet place” to this? That dude’s got range
- It’s an interesting idea- imaginary friends needing to be adopted by new kids after their kid grows up. Add in Ryan Reynolds, it’s probably a halfway decent movie. Just not one I’d see
Inside out 2
- this is something of a teaser trailer because only one of Riley’s new emotions makes an appearance. Gotta say- the fact anxiety came with tons of emotional baggage, I loved how they gave her tons of suitcases to demonstrate this
- I know there’s a fair bit of anticipation leading up to this movie. I just hope it doesn’t twist me in knots the way the first movie did. I hadn’t sobbed that much during a movie since “my sister’s keeper” (and to those who complained the movie was a letdown after the book- I didn’t read the book. So it was an incredibly sad movie start to finish just at face value).
Epic tails - I think it’s about a cat and mouse being friends, Poseidon threatens a town until it makes a statue of him and some sort of adventure is had so the two friends can reunite.
- The movie was 3 days ago. I had no memory of this at all
Despicable 4 - honestly I thought this movie was already out… but if it was, we would’ve gone to see it already. And seeing as we’d seen every other movie in this franchise (except minions 2… not sure how we missed that one- we still say “peanut!” the same way as in the trailer, lol)
The wild robot - Whoever did this trailer knew what they were doing. It said a lot with virtually no dialogue until the final seconds
- It looks kinda like Wall-E except humanity never came back to earth and nature flourished without their interference
- Do I smell Oscar buzz?
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