The next installment of the Kung Fu Panda series, “Kung Fu Panda 4” came out recently to mixed reviews. Two San Luis Obispo High School students decide to go watch it and share their thoughts. Photo courtesy of Dreamworks Animation.
Sophomore Grant Laity: It wasn’t anything super extraordinary. I thought the other ones were certainly a lot better. It felt a little bit bland compared to the other ones, but I’d say it was still a relatively fun watch
Sophomore Bob Meyers: I thought the story was a bit too predictable at times. It followed a lot of the same tropes and it seemed to be recycling a stale formula.
Laity: Yeah, it felt like I was watching a different rendition of “Cars 3.”
Meyers: Without getting into spoilers, it also kind of disrespected some of the earlier films in the series. They got rid of some character development from previous movies. And it didn’t really feel like they developed existing characters any more. I felt like Po, the main character, didn’t really change at all. He kind of plateaued in the last movie and just stayed there in this one.
Laity: The new character was pretty fun. It wasn’t anything super amazing; there wasn’t any extraordinary character development from her. [The movie] felt a little bit linear, I agree, but it was still a relatively fun watch. I would say my experience with it was mostly positive.
Meyers: Yes, about that, it was still very fun to watch. I was surprisingly able to laugh at the jokes, despite them probably being aimed for people younger than me. Although it had shortcomings from its predecessors, I still felt entertained during the whole movie. It wasn’t until afterwards when I realized there were all these issues with it.
Laity: Yeah, there are certainly some very funny moments. And there’s also some bland moments too.
Meyers: So I think if you want to have an entertaining time you could go watch the movie and it’d be fun, but it might not be amazing if you’re a huge Kung Fu Panda fan expecting greatness.
Laity: Yeah, certainly not up to par with the other installments of the franchise. But if you’re looking for a fun watch and you have nothing else to do, I think you should go for it.
LAITY RATING: 7/10
MEYERS RATING: 5/10
