Kung Fu Panda is a four-movie franchise centered around a panda named Po Ping, who lives in the Valley of Peace in Ancient China.

The first Kung Fu Panda movie premiered in 2008 followed by the second in 2011, the third in 2016, and now the brand new fourth in 2024. Each movie follows Po as he goes on his journey learning Kung Fu and becoming the dragon warrior.

The new movie follows Po on his new mission from Master Shifu to find a new dragon warrior to replace himself so he can become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of the Piece. 

Po, voiced by Jack Black, sets out to find his successor but after falling short on the first candidates he goes back up to the palace to catch his breath when he finds a fox named Zhen, voiced by Awkwafina, stealing from the palace. After having a small fight and Zhen getting put into jail she begins to tell Po about a woman named The Chameleon, voiced by Viola Davis. The Chameleon is a sorceress that is a master shape shifter who can transform herself into anyone as well as gains all of their skills and abilities. 

Po breaks Zhen out of jail as she promises to take Po straight to the chameleon because she is the only person that knows where she is. They go on a long adventure together to find the chameleon.

Overall, the movie is great for young kids and is a cute progression in the Kung Fu Panda franchise. The movie lacked in characters as it really only followed Po, Zhen, Li Shan, Mr. Ping, The Chameleon, and a few appearances from Master Shifu. The lack of the members of the Furious Five made the movie feel like it was just missing something.

The whole movie felt like it almost made no sense, the movie was cute but it was unnecessary. The best part of the whole film was Black’s band’s Tenacious D cover of “…Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears.