The "Kung Fu Panda" movies have always been a reliable name among animated franchises. A distinctive style, star-studded voice cast and the winning Jack Black voicing Po, the roly-poly, dumpling-appreciating Dragon Warrior, is usually a recipe for success.
Or at least it has been. "Kung Fu Panda 2″ was even nominated for a best animated feature Oscar in 2012.
"Kung Fu Panda 4″ coasts on the elements that have worked before: Black's vocal charms and the franchise's signature style, which is inspired by various Chinese arts from painting to music to film. It's still a fun, beautiful, animated world to experience, but the rushed and harried story, overstuffed with plot and characters, gets short shrift thanks to the brisk 94-minute run time.
The film also falls prey to a few well trodden tropes, so what used to be fresh and singular now feels like every other animated sequel. There are cutesy killer bunnies and a giant monster thrashing around in a climactic battle; Awkwafina voices a sassy supporting character and feels very familiar and predictable quickly. (Remember her voiced characters in "Migration," "The Little Mermaid," "The Bad Guys," "Raya and the Last Dragon," "The Angry Birds Movie 2," "Storks" and more?)
But in Awkwafina's favor, this character, Zhen, is a bit more grounded and well developed than usual. She plays a thieving fox whom Po apprehends stealing relics. He tosses her in jail (even the Valley of Peace is a carceral state) but frees her when she promises to help him find a power-hungry mob boss known as the Chameleon (Viola Davis). The pair set off on a journey to Juniper City to find the Chameleon, who has been shape-shifting into different vanquished warriors and demanding monetary tribute.
Po finally gets to explore beyond the rural beauty of the Valley of Peace, and we get to see some urban landscapes. Except as soon as the pair arrive in Juniper City, they're chased into the criminal underground and then spend the rest of the film in the Chameleon's mountaintop palace, where she's using Po's Staff of Wisdom to steal kung fu from every powerful warrior he's sent to the Spirit Realm. Also, Po's two dads, Li (Bryan Cranston) and Mr. Ping (James Hong), are in hot pursuit of their son, worried that he left their cheerful Valley home.
On top of this Chameleon business, Po has to handle a nagging directive from his master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), who has instructed him to appoint a Dragon Warrior successor. Though Po is reluctant to do so, the appropriate candidate is immediately all too obvious. They'll just have to go on an unexpected journey together to truly get to know one another before the Staff of Wisdom and the requisite "Skadoosh" can be handed down, while Po retires to a life of writing proverbs.
The story is skeletal and often rushes by in a blur, and it relies on so many overly familiar beats that it's hard to muster up the energy to care about anyone's motivation. They could have been used as shortcuts to heartstring-pulling, but much like Po, "Kung Fu Panda 4″ just wants to vibe out, riding the wave of previous successes.
For little kids, it will be a fun diversion, but for anyone expecting the excellence of the previous films, this dumpling is a little too light on the filling.
'Kung Fu Panda 4′
2 out of 4 stars
Rated: PG for martial arts action/mild violence, scary images and some mild rude humor.
Where: In theaters Friday.
