I can sorta buy into Shen mellowing in death. His constant fear was that Po would end him, and he has already met that, abolishing his major motive for villainy. It also kinda ties into the Soothsayer saying she hopes he finds happiness.
Kai on the other hand is an odd case, even ignoring Po "double killing" him earlier, it was made apparent his afterlife DIDN'T cool him down and he more or less pulled the same crap as the Chameleon.
Yeah, Kai's portrayal in 4 was kind of weird to me, too, not just because it sure looked like he was Deader than Dead by the end of 3 so I was kind of confused the moment Chameleon called out his name (and wondered if maybe they forgot that part?). I could buy Shen mellowing out, too, but Kai was just so aggressive and hated Po's guts to the very end that it kind of looked weird when he respectfully bowed to Po like everyone else did.
"Hey, least I didn't lose all my artistic talent when I crash landed in the arena here."So the co-director Stephanie Ma Stine said to the Hollywood Handle, " “This is definitely not the end of Po’s story. Please look forward to more.”
So that seems that a 5th film is all but confirmed. I think a TV show might come soon, hope it is set in Juniper City, there is a lot of storytelling potential there.
Sincerely S Awatching.Just got back from seeing the movie. Fun watch, I would put it about on par with 3, but definitely well below the first two. The charm, humor and action are definitely still there, but the genuinly hard hitting dramatic moments not so much.
I dont really mind that the plot was pretty predictable, rather the biggest issue I had was how fast the pacing was, which left quite a bit of stuff I felt could have used more time to develop. Though at least Po and Zhen's dynamic worked well enough for me that I was perfectly fine with her becoming his student at the end.
The Chameleon was unfortunately a step down compared to the previous villains. As a character she is just not very memorable, but at least her transformation powers made for some great action scenes, her combining traits from a bunch of different Kung Fu masters into a crazy chimera was especially neat.
Tai Lung's role was smaller then I would have hoped, which comes back to the rushed pacing, but him finally making peace with the fact that Po is the Dragon Warrior was still a good moment. Shen and Kai on the other hand really just felt like they were thrown in just for quick fanservice, I really dont buy that either of them would just be cool with Po by the end.
Yeah, that's been a flaw for the movies, the bathos issue of sometimes ruining serious moments with comedy. Didn't really happen in this final battle but still in a number of other places. I still think that Li Shan and Ping's subplot could have been replaced with more bonding between Po and Zhen.
Also randomly thought of a way to improve the twist; that the pangolin guy did take Zhen in, but he still hates her, and only later is it revealed that she got taken by the Chameleon, which Hun took as a betrayal.
Same for me.
I also wanted to add that I liked Zhen's dynamic with Po, allowed Po to not be the inexperienced rookie of the duo/group for once while still allowing him room to grow by virtue of understanding Zhen's grayer morality.
Prettiest Meta Knight Gijinka, nglSo some people around me have been saying there was an instance of AI art in the film… not sure how I feel about it.
You’re Gonna Carry That Weight.I think it was when Chameleon went crazy and started shapeshifing as she lunged at the protagonists.
You’re Gonna Carry That Weight.I hope you’re right…
Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Mar 10th 2024 at 10:29:32 AM
You’re Gonna Carry That Weight.Okay a user on Twitter cited a TikTok video. An unverified source said they used AI for her transformations. Honestly, I dunno if this is a good source.
https://www.tiktok.com/@animation.hustle/video/7344064129516178731

Saw the film. An improvement over 3 IMO, but below 1 and 2 still. Then again those two are high bars to clear so it's still a good film.
Liked the Status Quo shattering with its finale too. Though Tai Lung an Shifu not interacting nor Shifu even appearing to care hat Tai Lung was "back" was a huge miss. Also need more clarification on why Shen is now cool with Po (I guess he mellowed out post death) or how Kai is still around since he got double deaded]
Pretty amusing Po's gay dads decanonized Dragon Knight (like the show but t'was funny to think about)
Prettiest Meta Knight Gijinka, ngl