– Jack Black and Awkwafina in hurricane of slapstick more miss than hit

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The lead pair make a brilliant double act, but the franchise has run out of its signature sweetness and charm

returns as dumpling-loving panda Po, the unlikeliest of lean, mean fightin’ machines. It’s been eight years since Kung Fu Panda 3, and on the evidence here, the delay can’t be put down to KFP4 being a labour of love, the product of animation studio DreamWorks’ A team pouring in enormous amounts of effort. It’s a hurricane of slapstick and age-appropriate energetic fight scenes, but lacks the sweetness and charm of the franchise at its best.

The plot is a bit overfussy for its target audience of small kids, though the scriptwriters have been careful to make it work for newbies – no previous Kung Fu Panda experience necessary. It opens with Po being promoted from his role as Dragon Warrior to spiritual leader of the valley, taking over from his mentor Shifu . But before he can appoint his successor, Po apprehends Zhen , a streetwise thieving fox.

Zhen warns Po about a dangerous new villain, the sorceress Chameleon , who turns out to be pretty unmemorable as far as the franchise’s baddies go . The two biggest giggles in the cinema came from the grownups: first, in a hilarious scene involving bulls in a china shop; then some wry chuckling when Po tries to meditate – his thoughts quickly straying to his tummy: “Inner peace … inner peace … dinner please … dinner with peas.

 

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