Kung Pu Panda 4

Supremely mediocre animated flick will entertain kids and bore parents

Dreamworks Animation might be my least favorite of the active big animation studios.

Pixar and Disney battle it out at the top in my view, with Disney edging out Pixar for recent offerings in the past five to 10 years.

Illumination (“The Grinch,” “Super Mario Bros.,” “Despicable Me”) and Sony (“Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs,” “Across the Spiderverse”) are then somewhere next in the rankings.

But Dreamworks? Never been a big fan.

Despite Shrek’s box office dominance, I never understood the appeal. “Boss Baby,” “The Croods” and “Madagascar” are bottom of the barrel for me. I do appreciate “Trolls” and “How to Train Your Dragon” but Dreamworks seems hellbent on fart jokes, celebrity voices (even when they don’t fit), and sequel after sequel.

“Kung Fu Panda 4” is another chance for the studio to ring the last bit of moisture from the sponge of a once-decent franchise. This fourth entry comes after several Nickelodeon and streaming platform series (without the movie voices) and they are running low on plot ideas.

In this one, Jack Black returns as Po, the panda who has achieved the status of Dragon Warrior, a great protector. Life is going well for this local celebrity, haven defeated his enemies, and he prepares to open a noodle restaurant. He’s told he needs to prepare to name a successor but he’s reluctant to let go and wants to hold onto his title.

He runs into a tiny grey fox named Zhen, voiced by Awkwafina, who tries to steal a valuable relic. She tells him about a great threat, an evil sorcerer called The Chameleon, voiced by Viola Davis, who can transform into different animal spirits and use their fighting styles. Po and Zhen go on a journey to stop The Chameleon. They are successful. I couldn’t tell you much more about what happened. It was pretty generic.

The film is extremely… fine. It’s not terrible. It’s maybe slightly below average, but your child will like it. They won’t love it though.

I guess my complaint is it could have been so much more. Jack Black has an expressive voice, as shown with his turn as Bowser in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and his work in “School of Rock” and with the band Tenacious D. (The part I enjoyed the best was Jack Black singing “Baby One More Time” over the credits, a moment I already saw previewed in a Twitter video.) Yet, Jack Black’s voice isn’t used to its full potential. Oscar winner Viola Davis (who just won a Grammy for her narration for her audiobook) really mails it in. Awkwafina is even more subdued than her vocal performance in “Migration” or “Raya and The Last Dragon.” Nothing pops vocally.

The jokes fall flat and are mostly in the trailer.

I know it sounds like I’m bashing this film. It’s not terrible. It fits the formula. It’s better than watching Cocomelon on Netflix. It does the job… barely.