Kung Fu Panda 4

When the first "Kung Fu Panda" film was released back in 2008, little did I realize that 16 years later I would be watching "Kunh Fu Panda 4". Originally, I never really thought it would have caught on, but I was way off. It's entertaining, and well animated with a great cast. Question? Will there be a number 5?

After Po (Jack Black) is tapped to become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace when confronted by Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), he needs to find and train a new Dragon Warrior, while a wicked scorceress, the Chameleon (Viola Davis) plans to re-summon all the master villains whom Po has vanquished to the spirit realm. Zhen (Awkwafina), a petty street crook befriends Po and, together, they seek out the Chameleon and attempt to combat her. 

Others to round out the cast are Bryan Cranston as Li, James Hong as Mr.Ping, Ian McShane as Tai Lung, Ke Huy Quan as Han, Ronny Chieng as Fish, Lori Tan Chinn as Granny Boar and Seth Rogen as Mantis.

This was helmed with perfection by Mike Mitchell ("Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" '99, "Surviving Christmas" '04, "Sky High" '05, "Shrek Forever After" '10, "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" '11, "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water" (live-action sequence) '15, "Trolls" '16, "The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part" '19) plus TV, videos and shorts and co-directed by Stephanie MaShine (TV). The sequencing, pacing and staging was delivered with such preciseness that one certainly knew that these filmmakers did their homework. It was equally written well by Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger and Darren Lemke. It's no wonder why Universal and Dreamworks decided to produce yet another installment considering how many different directions one could take this story line. As long as Black is willing to keep reprising his Po role, the sky's the limit. Really, the only area up for question is that somewhere about a half hour into the running time, there were a couple of very small places of slowness, but it didn;t last long and then simply soared to a thrilling rest of the film. The animation by Dreamworks Animation never fails to show us what they can do with expertise. 

If you liked the three predecessors of this franchise, you'll love this. It has it all: action, adventure, humor, and fun all rolled up into a film that all the family will delight over. It definitely looks better on the large screen as opposed to a 25 incher, so grab the popcorn and enjoy.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                                         Rated: PG                                         94mins.