Film Shapes

It's been eight years since the release of Kung Fu Panda 3 , and that film may have felt like a nice way to wrap the series, what with Po, the Dragon Warrior, finding his 'pandas' and reuniting with his old pop. But when there's cash to be made, and a new crop of teeny tots to tweens (?) to be harvested for it, then here we are, at the fourth installment. This might sound cynical, and it is, but actually, I favour this 'franchise' (ugly word, I know) over any of the other DreamWorks fare. The film starts with Po (Jack Black) opening his dads' new noodle shop, fresh from a scrap with a massive stingray. The Dragon Warrior fame sits well with him but Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) is on his case to choose a successor and head 'upstairs' to a more exalted position as spiritual leader of the valley. The news of a burgeoning threat in far-off Juniper City gives Po an excuse to avoid this duty, and so off he trots with a reluctant partner in miscreant Zhen ...