Having earned the respect of his fellow martial art fighters and conquered inner peace in the previous instalments, Po (Black) is quite happy with where he's at in life – until trainer Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) announces that the Dragon Warrior will now be teaching the Furious Five's classes. Naturally, Po seems to be unsuitable for the role, with Shifu claiming that it's due to the factor that he hasn't found who he really is, and as such hasn't gained the power of chi – a life force which has extraordinary power. But Po's teachings are taken aside when not only his long-lost father Li Shan (Cranston) returns – much to the chagrin of adoptive father Mr. Ping (James Hong) - to reunite with his child, but also when the village is attacked by jade-coloured zombie iterations of classic martial artists; controlled through the evil Kai (Simmons), who broke into the living realm after stealing the chi of every master in the spiritual realm. With the ancient scrolls proclaiming that a secret village of pandas helped former master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) learn how to use chi, Li Shan opts to take Po with him to the secret village to teach him what it truly means to be a panda – but events that transpire may lead to Po having to teach the pandas how to be kung fu masters...
It should be worth noting that the story is a little formulaic – Po being happy with where he is to begin with; being faced with a challenge; people mocking him over it which he overhears; enter villain who introduces himself via well-choreographed action sequence; Po being trained (although in this case it's less with training to be a fighter and more to be a panda); Furious 5 members encounter the villain and pay the consequences; and then there's the big fight. Add the usually dull aspects of lead character teaching unlikely heroes how to fight (I went through this with Doctor Who recently) – thankfully in short supply here – and you have very standard Dreamworks fare going on here. But thankfully, the story does go at a fine pace and integrates each action beat easily, and while the 'liar revealed' aspect does come across as incredibly forced, it's at least limited to approximately five minutes of screen-time and isn't riddled by constant foreshadowing. It's a done tale but it's done in a fine way, with the constant clash between Po's two fathers does lead to some entertaining moments.
Outside the Kung Fu Panda series, Dreamworks isn't really one for outstanding character designs or animation, with the How to Train Your Dragon entries being the only noteworthy exception for its flight sequences – often applauded when seen in the 3D format. So it's perhaps because of its Asian collaboration that this film appears to be the most artistic in its approach, with anime-esque shots and recurring switches between 2D and 3D animation elevating the film's overall quality. Granted, some switches seem to be sporadic, such as a change of dimensions during a flashback scene which lacks proper transition and in turn feels disjointed, and the standard animation does in turn feel rather lacking in flair, but that's to be expected when switching between fine and great animation If anything, it sells the idea that this franchise would have been better suited to a 2D or heavily-stylised 3D animation format.
As expected by this point, all the regular contributors are well into their roles and have a good understanding of delivery. Jack Black still has to sadly continue on shouting out modern catchphrases like "Awesome!" and "Ska-doosh!" but he does sell the more emotional aspects well and remains bearable throughout; Dustin Hoffman remains the philosophical one of the main cast but doesn't have all that much to do this time around; Angelina Jolie as Tigress is there as a prominent female voice compared to Lucy Lui's Viper; Jackie Chan has more dialogue this time around but equally has little to do; the combination of David Cross & Seth Rogen allows for some entertaining dialogue between the two although they are ultimately reddened before the end of act two; James Hong's elevated role leads to the more appealing moments of the film thanks largely to his chemistry between the two pandas he teams up with (and perhaps has the only line which made me laugh); and Randall Duk Kim as the dead wise Oogway is limited but remains one of the better aspects of this series. As for the new recruits, Bryan Cranston seems like a name-only casting choice but manages to fit the role of Papa Panda to good effect; J.K. Simmons makes for quite the menacing villain as Kai (elevated further by an intimidating score from Hans Zimmer); and late replacement Kate Hudson as Mei-Mei – taking the place of the perhaps more-suitable Rebel Wilson – seems to be miscast, as the voice doesn't fit the character nor allow her for any real moments outside of her one character trait of wanting Po...until someone better looking turns up.
With a final battle as gorgeous as the one we have in Kung Fu Panda 3 and with a villain so different to what's been seen before, it's hard to imagine how a further instalment to this series would move on to better things. While Katzenburg will no doubt try due to how successful this series is, it does make for a fine conclusion to a possible trilogy. Formulaic story and underused characters aside, it features some excellent animation at times courtesy of Dreamworks' Asia-based sector and a good share of memorable moments. Perfect viewing for children before the release of Zootropolis in the next few weeks, and bearable enough for parents to be dragged along to. 7/10.
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