Kung Fu Panda 4

Story

Po (voice of Jack Black) enjoys his status as a Dragon Warrior in the Valley of Peace. He’s therefore very concerned when Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) tells him that it’s time to choose a successor, because Po must go on to become a spiritual leader. Po doesn’t think himself capable of being a spiritual leader and decides to continue in his current role.

Po is befriended by a fox named Zhen (Awkwafina), who tells him that a villain is taking over Juniper City. Po decides that, in his role as Dragon Warrior, he must go to defeat the enemy.

The villain is the Chameleon, a shape-shifting sorceress (Viola Davis) who has many talents but can’t perform kung fu. She wants to take this power from Tai Lung (Ian McShane), Po’s old enemy who now exists in the spirit world.

Zhen tells Po where the Chameleon is and promises to take him there. Along the way, Po and Zhen meet many dangers and must fight off many enemies. When they arrive at Juniper City, Zhen betrays Po and leaves him in the Chameleon’s clutches. Po must find new strengths to meet this challenge, and he grows in spiritual wisdom as a result.

Themes

Fantasy; kung fu; animals in peril

Violence

Kung Fu Panda 4 has a lot of violence. There are many martial arts fight scenes with kicking, hitting, throwing, punching and knife-throwing. Other examples include the following:

Characters throw objects and destroy property.
Po fights a giant manta ray to release 3 little pigs.
A cicada’s head gets bitten off and put back on.
Zhen and Po are both tied up in chains.
Zhen spits at Po.
A fight breaks out in an inn when a rabbit crashes through a window and starts throwing knives. The inn is on top of a mountain and swings from side to side as the fighting continues. Eventually, it topples over the edge.
Po hangs from a tree and eventually falls off into the water. He’s saved by landing inside a boat.
Bull guards rampage through the streets, chasing Zhen and Po.

Sexual references

There are no sexual references in Kung Fu Panda 4.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

There’s some use of substances in Kung Fu Panda 4. For example, the captain of a boat is a pelican who pours drinks down his throat. He is said to ‘drink like a fish’.

Nudity and sexual activity

There’s no nudity and sexual activity in Kung Fu Panda 4.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in Kung Fu Panda 4.

Coarse language

Kung Fu Panda 4 has some coarse language, including ‘kicking butt’ and ‘screwed up’. There’s also some name-calling, including ‘reptilian runt’, ‘idiot’, ‘stupid’ and ‘loser’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Kung Fu Panda 4 is an animated comedy in which Po tries to learn new ways of dealing with conflict. Unfortunately, he must still use his martial arts skills to achieve his goals and, consequently, there’s a lot of violence in the movie. There are also scenes that show the spirit world and dead characters coming back to life. This means the movie is unsuitable for children under 5 years. We also recommend parental guidance for children aged 5-7 years.

These are the main messages from Kung Fu Panda 4:

Every footprint leaves a mark, no matter how small.
Real change happens from within.

Values in Kung Fu Panda 4 that you could reinforce with your children include bravery, courage, friendship, trust, forgiveness, willingness to learn from mistakes and openness to change.

Kung Fu Panda 4 could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the issues raised by Zhen’s situation. Zhen is used to lying and stealing and leads Po into a trap. She says you can steal whatever you want. But she does learn from Po that stealing is not a good thing, and she redeems herself in the end. You could talk about the difficulties Zhen would have faced as an orphan as well as the consequences of breaking the law.