kung fu panda 4 is a deeply misunderstood masterpiece (SPOILER REVIEW)

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all of the movies have a recurring plot where po’s experience, training, and failures pay off, which happens once again in this film. the theme of the movie is what po told zhen, “it’s never too late to do the right thing.” it applied not only to zhen and tai lung, but also to po
it started with the same formula of shifu telling po he has to step out of his comfort zone and learn something new to better himself, but just like po, the movie changes. po has advanced in kung fu, inner peace, and chi faster than anyone, even oogway himself.
shifu wanted po to be like oogway, but po didn’t want to change. but on his journey he took his own advice and decided to do the right thing and choose a new dragon warrior. and he had amazing character growth along the way
oogway could have defeated tai lung at any time. but instead, he let po, his successor, defeat tai lung. in kung fu panda 4, we find out po could’ve beaten the chameleon any time with the staff, but instead, he let zhen, his successor, defeat her (or at least get a good hit in)
but after po revealed he could’ve broken out and beaten her himself, he gets the final blow and returns the kung fu to all of the masters she stole it from. this movie was po’s movie, he got more time to shine and prove that he was a more than worthy successor of oogway.
like i said, shifu wanted po to be like oogway, but po didn’t want to change. in the first kung fu panda, shifu was mad about oogway’s pick for the dragon warrior because nothing about him said dragon or warrior. po’s pick as the next dragon warrior had the same affect on shifu.
like oogway says, “one often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.” po went on an adventure with zhen so he wouldn’t have to pick a new dragon warrior, yet on this adventure he realized that zhen was destined to be his successor and the next dragon warrior
as for the lesson that po taught zhen, it went perfectly with the theme of this film. people can change. po changed, zhen changed, the villain changed a lot, and even tai lung changed. this is one of my favorite plots from the entire franchise.
po of all people would know it’s never too late to change, because in the first movie, he was a nobody. he even told shifu “every time you threw a brick at my head, or said i smelled, it hurt, but it could never hurt more than it did every day of my life just being me.”
po thought it was too late for him to change, so he tried to escape the jade palace explaining why he stayed, “i thought if anyone could change me, could make me not me, it was you.” and shifu was able to change him and even put him on the path to being equal to oogway.
this is not how it was for chameleon, who i thought was a great villain. hear me out, chameleon is basically the reverse of po, people thought po was too large to do kung fu even though he wasn’t, and people thought chameleon was too small to do kung fu even though she wasn’t
despite being beaten and rejected so many times, po pushed through and became a legendary kung fu master, while the chameleon took rejection too personal and went on a rampage because of it because she most likely didn’t have someone like oogway to inspire her
po is all about being himself and doing his own thing, which was made very clear in the first movie. but the chameleon is all about being jealous of others and doing other people’s things. tai lung, lord shen, and kai all committed genocide, but not chameleon
the worst thing chameleon did was push someone down the stairs, which shifu already did to po. all the other villains did their crimes out of hate, but chameleon did her crimes out of jealousy. so she could have changed when po told her it wasn’t too late.
she knew what po was capable of but she didn’t care. he was nothing to her but the final test of her strength after she stole the kung fu from all the other masters, so she gave po the staff that way she could fight the dragon warrior at his best. she’s like no other villain
the first villain was a student, and the villain of his teacher, shifu’s past, the second villain was the villain of po’s past, and the third villain was the villain of oogway’s past. but this time, the villain was the teacher rather the student, and the villain of zhen’s past.
speaking of zhen, her dynamic with po was truly special. her redemption arc was conspicuous yet satisfying, as it brought po’s wisdom from kung fu panda 2 to life. her and po seem incompatible since she’s a thief, yet they make a great duo, and zhen makes a great successor
the “dragon warrior” title is an idea of taking nothing and making something out of it. like how shifu made a great warrior out of po and po made a great inspiration out of a blank page. zhen was nothing before she met po because she was a thief and a cheap, lying traitor.