Review: 'Kung Fu Panda 4' brings back Jack Black for martial-arts laughs, but without the surprise and visual boldness of the first three films

It’s been 16 years since audiences first met the roly-poly Po in “Kung Fu Panda,” and eight years since we saw him last in the third installment — so it’s a mild disappointment that the latest chapter, “Kung Fu Panda 4,” isn’t all that special.

Oh, it’s fine, entertaining and energetic, and Jack Black still is giving his all in providing the friendly voice to the franchise’s unlikely hero. But the visual boldness and verbal wit of the first three installments is a bit lacking. 

Black’s Po is enjoying being the Dragon Warrior, the local hero in the Valley of Peace. Po’s mentor, the red panda Shifu (voiced by Dustin Hoffman), is none too happy that he’s using the staff of wisdom, the jade emblem handed down by Shifu’s master, Oogway, to cut the ribbon for a new restaurant being opened by Po’s adopted goose father, Mr. Ping (voiced by the apparently immortal James Hong). 

Shifu tells Po it’s time for him to choose his successor, and take his next step in his journey — to become the valley’s spiritual leader. Po is hesitant, because he’s unsure he can fulfill that destiny, and because he’s having fun kicking butt as the Dragon Warrior. 

As he’s walking through the Jade Temple, Po catches a thieving gray fox, Zhen (voiced by Awkwafina), and throws her in jail. But when Po learns that Tai Lung (voiced by Ian McShane), his nemesis from the first movie, has seemingly returned from the spirit realm. The truth, which is more threatening, is that a shape-shifting sorceress, the Chameleon (voiced by Viola Davis), is seeking to expand her empire — so Po must go face her, aided by the one creature who knows the Chameleon’s movements: Zhen. (You could have guessed, right?)

Director Mike Mitchell (“Trolls,” “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part”) and co-director Stephanie Ma Stine create some eye-grabbing martial-arts animation and squeeze plenty of laughs from the script (by Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger, who co-wrote the first one, and Darren Lemke). Some of the best gags are the throwaway bits, like the weak cheers Chameleon’s pummeled guards give when she accomplishes something. 

As the movie progresses through its emotional beats, its subplot involving the partnership between Mr. Ping and Po’s panda dad, Li (voiced by Bryan Cranston), and its menagerie of comical side characters, it’s hard to shake the feeling that we’ve been here before. 

That’s not something one usually says about a “Kung Fu Panda” movie, because the series has had a strong run of visual inventiveness and cross-cultural artistry as it melds dynamic animation to martial-arts movement. So consider “Kung Fu Panda 4” a pleasant curtain call, and a chance for the franchise to stop before it runs out of steam.

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‘Kung Fu Panda 4’

★★★

Opens Friday, March 8, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG for martial arts violence, scary images and some mild rude humor. Running time: 94 minutes.