Tag Archives: Kung Fu Panda 4

Here Are The 2024 Annie Nominations!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On the 20th, the nominations for the Annie Awards were announced.  The Annies honor the best in animation.  There’s a lot of nominees so I’m just going to share the main film-related ones below.  In case you’re putting down bets on what will be nominated for Best Animated Film, the nominations below might provide some hints!

(A complete list of nominees can be found here.)

The winners will be announced on February 8th.

BEST FEATURE
Inside Out 2 – Pixar Animation Studios
Kung Fu Panda 4 – DreamWorks Animation
That Christmas – Locksmith Animation for Netflix
The Wild Robot – DreamWorks Animation
Ultraman: Rising – Netflix Presents in association with Tsuburaya Productions
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl – Aardman and Netflix

BEST FEATURE-INDEPENDENT
Chicken for Linda! – Dolce Vita Films, Miyu Productions, Palosanto Films, France 3 Cinéma, Distributed by GKIDS
Flow – Sacrebleu Productions, Take Five, Dream Well Studio
Kensuke’s Kingdom – Paramount Pictures
Look Back – Studio Durian Distributed by GKIDS
Mars Express – Everybody on Deck, Je Suis Bien Content Distributed by GKIDS
Memoir of a Snail – Snails Pace Films / Arenamedia

BEST SPECIAL PRODUCTION
A Bear Named Wojtek – The Illuminated Film Company and Filmograf
Mog’s Christmas – Lupus Films
Orion and the Dark – DreamWorks Animation
Tabby McTat – Magic Light Pictures
Yuck! – Ikki Films & Iliade et Films

BEST SHORT SUBJECT
Beautiful Men – Animal Tank, Miyu Productions & Ka-Ching Cartoons
In the Shadow of the Cypress – Barfak Animation Studio
Ruthless Blade – Ideomotor Culture Media Co., Ltd.
The Swineherd – Fleng Entertainment and Tumblehead Productions
Wander to Wonder – Circe Films, Kaap Holland Film, Les Productions de Milou, Beast Animation, Blink Industries & Pictanovo

BEST DIRECTION – FEATURE
Chicken for Linda! – Dolce Vita Films, Miyu Productions, Palosanto Films, France 3 Cinéma / Distributed by GKIDS, Chiara Malta, Sébastien Laudenbach
Flow – Take Five, Sacrebleu Productions, Dream Well Studio, Gints Zilbalodis
That Christmas – Locksmith Animation for Netflix, Simon Otto
The Wild Robot – DreamWorks Animation, Chris Sanders
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl – Aardman and Netflix, Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham

BEST WRITING – FEATURE
Flow – Take Five, Sacrebleu Productions, Dream Well Studio, Gints Zilbalodis, Matīss Kaža
Inside Out 2 – Pixar Animation Studios, Meg LeFauve, Dave Holstein
Kensuke’s Kingdom – Paramount Pictures, Frank Cottrell-Boyce
Memoir of a Snail – Snails Pace Films / Arenamedia, Adam Elliot

BEST VOICE ACTING – FEATURE
Chicken for Linda! – Dolce Vita Films, Miyu Productions, Palosanto Films, France 3 Cinéma / Distributed by GKIDS, Mélinée Leclerc (Character: Linda)
Inside Out 2 – Pixar Animation Studios, Maya Hawke (Character: Anxiety)
The Wild Robot – DreamWorks Animation, Lupita Nyong’o (Character: Roz)
The Wild Robot – DreamWorks Animation, Kit Connor (Character: Brightbill)
Transformers One – Paramount Animation, Brian Tyree Henry (Character: D-16 / Megatron)

Film Review: Kung Fu Panda 4 (dir by Mike Mitchell)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Po (voice by Jack Black), that Panda Bear who knows kung fu is back.

After finding fame as a Dragon Warrior and defending the Valley of Peace from numerous threats, he’s been told by his master, Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), that it is time for him to give up being the Dragon Warrior and move on to becoming the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace.  Po doesn’t really want to do that so, after being passive aggressive about auditioning replacements, Po goes on a quest with a plucky corsac fox and thief named Zhen (voiced by Awkwafina).  Together, they head out to defeat a new threat, the Chameleon (voice of Viola Davis).  The Chameleon is summoning past villains from the Spirit Real and stealing their kung fu powers.

Meanwhile, Po’s two dads — one biological (voiced by Bryan Cranston) and the other a goose who adopted Poe when he was young (voiced by James Hong) — also set out on a quest to try to keep Poe from getting into trouble.  It’s actually kind of sweet, even if I did have a hard time telling all the various Panda Bears apart.  Actually, so did everyone else in the movie so at least I felt a little bit less dumb.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is a typical Dreamworks animated film.  The characters are cute and kid-friendly.  The humor is self-referential and occasionally, an adult joke will slip in  but it’s never anything that would threaten the film’s G-rating.  The plot is pretty predictable and by-the-numbers but then again, this is a Kung Fu Panda film that we’re talking about here.  There’s only so much that you can do with that.  That said, the animation is nicely done and the voice actors all do a good job of bringing their characters to life.  I especially liked Dustin Hoffman as Master Shifu.  It’s an entertaining movie, even if it does ultimately feel a bit generic.

The release of a new animated film, even one as low-key as Kung Fu Panda 4, used to be a huge event.  Now, we kind of take animated films and their star-studded casts for granted.  It’s a bit of a shame that we’ve lost that excitement.

Here’s The Super Bowl Teaser For Kung Fu Panda 4!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s Super Bowl Sunday and you know what that means!  It’s time to watch and judge all of the Super Bowl commercials!  It’s also the time that those of us at the Shattered Lens try to post all of the trailers, teasers, and film-related commercials that air during the Big Game!

Let’s get things started with this Super Bowl teaser for Kung Fu Panda 4!