Ever since it was announced that the 3DS and Wii U's online services would be shut down in April, a dedicated group of Super Mario Maker fans set out on a mission to complete every level in the game that was yet to be beaten. That sounds simple, but levels in Super Mario Maker usually remain unbeaten because they're monstrously difficult, with only a handful of players capable of even getting close to completing them.
Kung Fu Panda 4 wastes its super-cool villain
06.03.2024 - 18:11 / polygon.com
In Kung Fu Panda 4,Jack Black returns to the role of Po the Panda, the super-duper enthusiastic kung-fu superstar and leader of the Kung Fu Panda franchise. This is the fourth movie in the series, which also includes three separate animated TV shows and several short movies. That’s a lot of Panda — which means there isn’t much material left to squeeze out into a solid, stand-alone movie.
From director Mike Mitchell (The Lego Movie 2) and co-director Stephanie Stine, Kung Fu Panda 4 has enough solid scenes to make it an acceptable fourth entry in a franchise, but the plot doesn’t come together in a way that would elevate it to the franchise’s earlier heights. That’s especially true when it comes to the main villain, whose super-cool power set is entirely wasted on a movie that’s mostly exposition.
[Ed. note: This review contains setup spoilers for Kung Fu Panda 4.]
In Kung Fu Panda 4, Po (Jack Black) is tasked with finding his Dragon Warrior successor — but once he gets a whiff of a new big villain on the horizon, he abandons his apprentice search and instead partners up with Zhen, a thieving fox played by Awkwafina, to take her down. That villain, the Chameleon (Viola Davis), is a powerful shapeshifting sorceress who can take on any appearance, including perfectly mimicking other people.
Mitchell and the other filmmakers emphasize in her introduction scene that anyone — including well-known, trusted friends — might actually be the evil crime lord in disguise. Yet beyond that first scene, this plot device is rarely used to its full effect. Instead, the Chameleon spends the movie sitting in her pretty little fortress and bossing crime families around. What’s the point of having a shape-changing villain if she’s just going to be completely open about her identity? Why emphasize that she’s sneaky and subterfuge-y, then have her spend the movie cackling loudly about her (completely bland) evil plans?
The final act of the movie does, thankfully, use her powers in more meaningful ways, but it feels disconnected from the first act. Most of the movie involves getting the characters where they need to be for the finale, but that place-setting isn’t done in any particularly fun way. Yes, it’s cool to see the city where the Chameleon rules, a bustling metropolis that’s a far cry from the tranquil valley Po hails from, but the plot and the characters don’t quite gel together.
The Furious Five, introduced earlier in the Kung Fu Panda series and presented as valuable, powerful allies for Po, have completely disappeared from the narrative. Po’s grumpy master, Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) is only around briefly to yell at Po and try to hammer in the movie’s message about accepting change. The new character and setting
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