Kung Fu Panda 4 (March 15)

Despite the poster, there’s actually, like, quite a few famous people in the cast EVEN AFTER RETIRING THE FURIOUS FIVE for this movie. Ian McShane has a returning roll, despite being disposed of in the very first movie. Dennis Hoffman is back. James Hong. Awkwafina not doing the black voice (still haven’t seen Raya and the Last Dragon yet, forgive me for my sins it’s been so long). Viola Davis, continuing her streak of weird villain characters. (Fun fact, I learned while doing some superficial research for this review that the director intentionally made her backstory vague, what those in the biz call “strategic obfuscation,” also known to some internet cretins (and Polygon) as “shitty movie details“.) Ke Huy Quan is a sloth doing what I think is a John Leguizamo impression from Ice Age but could just be a coincidence?

Bryan Cranston! Which I didn’t even know, because my demon and I watched the second movie in preparation for this one but skipped the third because our supervisor said “it’ll make her weird to watch two movies on consecutive days,” and it looked like it was going to be about reconnecting with bio parents, which is a little out of my interest, as anyone who’s read about my thoughts on the new Star Wars movies would know. Demon requests that we listen to the soundtrack, co-written by Hans Zimmer every time that we walk out of a Kung Fu Panda movie, which I am here for.

But what I actually noticed and was surprised that no one has been talking more about, which is the striking resemblance between the plot of Kung Fu Panda 4 and The Mixed Up Chameleon.

Without giving too much away, The Chameleon in Kung Fu Panda 4 is a skillful sorceress who has the power to change not just her color but her entire appearance into other animals, much like the Mixed Up Chameleon, and also like the Mixed Up Chameleon, she does so out of a deep sense of insecurity. “Change comes from within,” Po quotes, presumably off of a bottle cap, at the end of this movie, reminding The Chameleon that no matter how much she accomplishes, no matter how much blood she spills, she won’t be able to truly claim the identity she craves because she didn’t “earn” it or something, which is pretty rich coming from a Panda who practically walked into the monastery where Tiger had been training her whole live to confuse an old turtle into giving him the title of Dragon Warrior before he’d proven anything. It kind of reminds me of that study where some people are given more money in Monopoly and then asked whether or not they earned their win at the end.

Anyway, anything that makes my brood practice kung fu in the park for two days after having seen it is a must watch in my book.