Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting/I got out of there fast as lightning. (Thanks to Carl Douglas for this intro).
I left the screening after almost an hour because there were babies crying. Not sure why parents feel bringing babies to a loud PG movie, even an animated one, is a good idea. Second, the film was awful. It’s a shame because the animation was beautiful, and the voice work from Awkwafina was fun. (At one point, she almost sounded like she was going to go into the “Scuttlebutt” song from “Little Mermaid” – a tune that should’ve been nominated for an Oscar, but that’s a whole other complaint for another time).
Along with Awkwafina, it was nice to hear James Hong at 95 still going strong. Jack Black was back, of course, as Po the Panda. The cast includes Dustin Hoffman, who somehow never got canceled after all his abuse of women, Bryan Cranston, Viola Davis, Ian McShane, and the comeback kid – Ke Huy Quan. My favorite was hearing Ronny Chieng, who is usually hysterical on screen (or on “The Daily Show”). He only had a few lines, though.
Po needs to find his successor as the Dragon Warrior, and become a Spiritual Advisor. There’s an evil sorceress called Chameleon that is creating havoc. When a fox named Zhen is caught stealing, but knows where the Chameleon hides out, she and Po team up to find her.
This was directed by Mike Mitchell, who gave us a Lego movie and a Trolls film. The writers have done all the other Kung Fu Panda flicks. Perhaps they ran out of jokes for this installment.
There’s a fight scene in a tavern that’s kind of fun, but this movie is basically just for kids. The first hour was rather boring. The crying babies did me a favor.
1 star out of 5.