Movie Review: ‘Kung Fu Panda 4’ Is a Sweet, Fun and Well Executed Passing of the Torch 

This image released by Universal Pictures shows characters Po, voiced by Jack Black, left, and Zhen, voiced by Awkwafina, in a scene from DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda 4." (DreamWorks Animation/Universal Pictures via AP)
This image released by Universal Pictures shows characters Po, voiced by Jack Black, left, and Zhen, voiced by Awkwafina, in a scene from DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda 4." (DreamWorks Animation/Universal Pictures via AP)
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Movie Review: ‘Kung Fu Panda 4’ Is a Sweet, Fun and Well Executed Passing of the Torch 

This image released by Universal Pictures shows characters Po, voiced by Jack Black, left, and Zhen, voiced by Awkwafina, in a scene from DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda 4." (DreamWorks Animation/Universal Pictures via AP)
This image released by Universal Pictures shows characters Po, voiced by Jack Black, left, and Zhen, voiced by Awkwafina, in a scene from DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda 4." (DreamWorks Animation/Universal Pictures via AP)

“Kung Fu Panda 4” finds our trusty, rotund hero Po at a career crossroads and he’s nervous. “Change doesn’t have to be a bad thing,” he is told. “Kung Fu Panda 4” also finds the franchise at an inflection point, but there’s no reason for us to be nervous. DreamWorks knows what it’s doing.

The series’ first new installment in eight years is a reliably funny, sweet and wonderfully realized passing of the torch, with a paw in the past and another into the future — an elegant goodbye and a hello. Many other filmmakers — ahem, Marvel and DC — might learn a thing.

When we meet him, Po — voiced as always by a lively Jack Black — is being asked to give up his dream role as Dragon Warrior and pick a successor. He’s being kicked upstairs to be Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace. (This is basically the Peter Principle illustrated in animation.)

Except Po doesn’t want to go into management. He loves smashing skulls and still has that lovable imposter syndrome he’s had since the franchise began. He tries to short-circuit any succession plans, change being too frightening.

A new enemy threatening an existential crisis offers a reprieve — The Chameleon — a wicked, powerful sorceress voiced by Viola Davis — looks like the lizard from the GEICO commercials who spent too much time at Graceland.

Po teams up with a new character — a Corsac fox named Zhen voiced by Awkwafina — who is an orphan-turned-thief and teaches the too-trusting panda to trust no one. The movie then becomes a buddy road movie as these two hunt The Chameleon and a chance to bundle their home and auto insurance.

Wait a minute, you might be asking: Where are The Furious Five — Tigress, Viper, Monkey, Crane and Mantis — who have been in each “Kung Fu Panda” iteration so far? They’re not really in “Kung Fu Panda 4,” but the film reaches back to the first installment to bring back the snow leopard, Tai Lung, voiced by the sonorous Ian McShane.

Bryan Cranston is also back to voice Po’s goofy biological father and James Hong returns as his spirited adoptive goose dad, while Dustin Hoffman reprises his role as eye-rolling master Shifu.

It’s a good balance of new and old characters but a masterstroke is coming: The Chameleon finds a way of accessing the spirit realm and bringing back every villain Po has ever faced. That results in a greatest hits-like fight scene that may be hard to top if there’s a “Kung Fu Panda 5.”

The third installment’s writers, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, are also back this time, joined by Darren Lemke. The film is helmed by “The Lego Movie 2” director Mike Mitchell and co-directed by Stephanie Ma Stine, who worked on “Raya and the Last Dragon.”

The last three movies have largely stuck to the rural Valley of Peace, so the filmmakers change it up this time and take Po and Zhen to an urban environment, Juniper City, packed with busy animals, rickshaws, and bulls as police officers (watch for a hilarious bull-in-a-jade-shop joke).

As always, it’s the animators who are the real heroes here. From the thick fur on the pandas, to clay tiles smashing on roofs to rain splashing on stones, barroom brawls and petals wafting from cherry trees, this is a visual delight.

Creating The Chameleon — and her scary Komodo dragon guards — gives the animators a chance to show a tiny lizard metamorphosize into an elephant in a few seconds and they relish it. They also sometimes dip into different animation styles, giving a viewer a visual break.

There are some missteps, like a pelican character controlled by a fish in its mouth and three cute bunnies who appear adorable and yet are deeply psychotic. (“Violence makes my tummy tingle,” one says.)

But, as Po would say, “Skadoosh!” The filmmaker have managed a very tricky assignment: Pave the way for a new franchise direction, find new ways to entertain us, remind us of lessons like “It’s never too late to do the right thing” and end the whole thing with the Black-led cover by Tenacious D of “...Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears. Embrace the change.



Hulk Hogan, Who Helped Turn Pro Wrestling into Billion-Dollar Spectacle, Dies at 71 

Hulk Hogan rips his shirt before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP)
Hulk Hogan rips his shirt before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP)
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Hulk Hogan, Who Helped Turn Pro Wrestling into Billion-Dollar Spectacle, Dies at 71 

Hulk Hogan rips his shirt before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP)
Hulk Hogan rips his shirt before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP)

Hulk Hogan, the American sports and entertainment star who made professional wrestling a global phenomenon and loudly supported Donald Trump for president, has died at the age of 71, World Wrestling Entertainment said on Thursday.

"WWE is saddened to learn WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has passed away. One of pop culture's most recognizable figures, Hogan helped WWE achieve global recognition in the 1980s," WWE said in a statement.

Police in Clearwater, Florida, said authorities had responded to a medical call for a cardiac arrest at Hogan's residence on Thursday morning. Hogan was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, they said.

The bleach-blond, mahogany-tanned behemoth became the face of professional wrestling in the 1980s, helping transform the mock combat from a seedy spectacle into family-friendly entertainment worth billions of dollars.

A key moment in that evolution came at the WrestleMania III extravaganza in 1987, when Hogan, billed at 6'8", hoisted fellow wrestler André the Giant before a sold-out Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan for a thunderous body slam of the 7'4" Frenchman.

Hogan parlayed his wrestling fame into a less successful career in Hollywood, starring in films like "Rocky III" and "Santa With Muscles," but kept returning to the ring as long as his body would allow.

In 2024, he appeared at the Republican National Convention to endorse the presidential bid of Trump, who in the 1980s had played host to Hulk-headlined WrestleManias. Hogan said he made the decision to support the Republican candidate after seeing his combative, fist-pumping reaction to an attempted assassination on the campaign trail.

"Let Trumpamania run wild, brother!" Hogan bellowed to a cheering crowd, ripping off his shirt to reveal a Trump tank top. "Let Trumpamania rule again!"

BECOMING 'HULK'

Born Terry Gene Bollea in Augusta, Georgia, on August 11, 1953, the future Hulk and his family soon moved to the Tampa, Florida area. After high school, he played bass guitar for area rock bands, but felt a pull to the red-hot wrestling scene in Florida in the 1970s.

Many of the details of his career were showbusiness exaggerations, representative of the blurred lines between fact and fiction in wrestling.

His first trainer reportedly broke Hogan's leg to dissuade him from entering the business, but he kept at wrestling, weight training, and - he later admitted - anabolic steroids. He gained in notoriety as his biceps turned into what he dubbed the "24-inch pythons."

The "Hulk" moniker came from comparisons to the comic-book hero portrayed on TV at the time. He would end up paying royalties to Marvel Comics for years. "Hogan" was the invention of promoter Vincent J. McMahon, the owner of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), who wanted Irish representation among his stable of stars.

His appearance as wrestler Thunderlips in "Rocky III," where he dwarfed leading man Sylvester Stallone, rocketed Hogan to the mainstream. Upon a return to the WWF, now controlled by McMahon's son Vincent K., he defeated the Iron Sheik in 1984 to claim the world championship, a belt he would hold for four years.

Hogan became a household name, appearing on the cover of magazine Sports Illustrated and performing alongside pop culture stars like Mr. T. The WWF came to dominate wrestling, anchored by its annual WrestleMania pay-per-view events.

"He drew more people to professional wrestling over the course of a career than anyone," said Dave Meltzer, a wrestling journalist and historian. "He paid the price in health for all of that stuff, being so big."

FACING 'THE ROCK'

Later, he joined competitor World Championship Wrestling, swapping his trademark yellow tights for black and taking on a persona as the villainous "Hollywood" Hogan, the head of a gang of rulebreakers known as the New World Order. The gimmick reinvigorated his career.

Hogan eventually returned to the WWF, now known as WWE, and faced Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson at WrestleMania in 2002.

"I'm in better shape than him," Hogan told Reuters at the time, five months shy of his 50th birthday. "I'll stand next to The Rock and pose down with him if he wants to." The Rock ultimately won the match.

Hogan was inducted twice into the WWE Hall of Fame, and referred to himself as the "Babe Ruth" of wrestling - after the New York Yankees' famed baseball player.

But Hogan's support of Trump in 2024 did not go down well with all wrestling fans, and he also faced other controversies. Gossip website Gawker was shuttered after it posted parts of a sex tape between him and a friend's wife and Hogan sued on privacy grounds, winning a $140 million judgment.

In 2015, he was suspended by the WWE after another surreptitious recording revealed that Hogan had used a racial slur. He was reinstated in 2018.

He was married three times and had two children, who starred alongside him and first wife Linda in a 2005-2007 reality TV show, "Hogan Knows Best."

Condolences for the Hulkster poured in across social media, including from Vince K. McMahon, his partner in the 1980s wrestling boom and the former executive chairman of TKO Group that absorbed WWE in 2023.

"He was a trailblazer," McMahon wrote in a post on X. "He leaves us with one of his favorite expressions, 'Train, take your vitamins and say your prayers.'"

"Today, we pray for him."