In recent years, Hollywood blockbusters have been particularly bleak in the mainland market.
Among live-action movies, each superhero movie is worse than the last, and by the time "Madame Spider" came to an end, it was beyond bad.
Tired of logging only speed, no passion.
Cartoons, which are the mainstay of family entertainment, are also not as good as before.
"Zootopia"'s "Zootopia" has a box office that is less than a fraction of the former; "Minions: Despicable Me Prequel" is less than a quarter of "Despicable Me 3"; "The Little Mermaid" is even more amazing...
It's hard to say about the live-action movie, but for the animated film, many people must be looking forward to this national treasure -
"Kung Fu Panda 4"
Po can still fight
"Kung Fu Panda 3" has actually been Itās a 2016 movie, can you believe it?
The top star "Po" returns after eight years of absence. It is necessary to briefly review his growth line.
In the first , Po fell from the sky and was appointed as the "Dragon Hero" by Master Oogway.
Unable to resist the temptation of delicious food, his heart was too full of chivalry. Abao practiced hard day and night, and finally understood martial arts and Zen.
finally used "Wizard Finger" to defeat Taro who went astray.
In the second part of , Po, who is only known as the Dragon Warrior, still cannot learn "inner peace".
Troubled by his life experience, he went out on a mission with the Furious Five to defeat Prince Shen who tried to attack the Central Plains with gunpowder.
Prince Shen of the Bird Clan was the initiator who ordered the massacre of pandas.
used Tai Chi to defeat Prince Shen and forgive him, which also defeated the nightmare in his heart. In the third part of
, Po came to the Panda Village to find his relatives, and met his biological father Li Shan, resolving the knot that had been in his heart for many years.
Abao learned how to become a "panda" in the panda village and found his "self" that conformed to his habits and heart.
After transforming the "external energy" given by relatives and friends into "qi", Abao finally integrated various identities and found himself.
He defeated the Tiansha who had been practicing in the spiritual world for 500 years, and truly became the "Dragon Hero".
In the first three movies, Po's character arc has been very complete, from being known as the "Dragon Warrior" to growing into a "Dragon Warrior".
What else will be filmed in the fourth part?
After 8 years of absence, Dragon Warrior returns.
A chubby body, fat pants, a cool hat...A Bao is still the same A Bao.
only has a jade scepter from Master Oogway in his hand, and a gray fox beside him.
This time Abao has two tasks.
First, find a successor to Dragon Warrior and abdicate in favor of someone more worthy.
Second, he succeeded Master Wugui as the spiritual leader of Peace Valley and became a great master.
is no longer hidden.
This fox Xiao Zhen, who looks like Fox Nick and Judy's child in "Zootopia", is an important character who replaces the Furious Five and accompanies Po to fight the villain boss.
She is a thief from Juniper City, and she and Po know each other in the Peace Valley Scroll Room.
The most important thing is that she brought news about the big boss who lives in Juniper City-
The Phantom Demon Queen, a lizard, female, has no martial arts, is good at illusions, and can turn into various big guys to threaten others.
For Po, being a master is not as satisfying as being a hero, where he can enjoy revenge and live a carefree life.
And he only likes to eat and support justice, and is not good at "talking" - educating others. In order to avoid the responsibility of selecting the next Dragon Warrior,
prevented himself from being transferred to the position of Grandmaster.
Abao, led by Xiao Zhen, embarked on the road to find the Phantom Queen.
also gradually entered the trap -
the Phantom Demon Queen wanted Abao's jade scepter.
After opening the spiritual world, if she uses the scepter as a guide, she can absorb the martial arts of all martial arts masters.
transformed from an illusion master into a master of martial arts.
Overall, this movie is fast-paced, less than 100 minutes, and among many 140-minute+ movies, it definitely manages to get out of the silt without being stained, without straining the bladder.
and the baggage is constant, it is worth watching.
has a design that has always been remarkable in the "Kung Fu Panda" series.
Such as interesting scene design + supporting character design.
A Bao and Xiao Zhen traveled all the way and came to the Cliff Tavern to take a rest.
The rabbits in this "Happy Rabbit Tavern" are not happy. The tavern is occupied by the wild boar proprietress who looks like a "charter woman".
The life of the working rabbit never stops, and it is as scary as this tavern on the cliff.
Xiao Zhen is still a thief who faces difficulties.
believes that playing mahjong would be meaningless if there is no cheating.
But the tavern on the cliff is like a seesaw and must be balanced.
As a result, wonderful action design was brought out.
Before the wild boar's poss was finished, Po moved and the house was shaking.
Another example is humorous language baggage.
It took Po three movies to gain the title of "Dragon Hero", but no one outside the Peace Valley knows about it...
But "Master Hero" is very intimidating in the evil-ridden Juniper City, our Shenlong The hero deceives people into becoming brothers and still has to rest on his laurels. It depends on the master.
However, everyone is still not clear about the fact that Master is a "red panda", and they always think of him as a raccoon or a squirrel...
These ingenious ideas continue the characteristics of the "Kung Fu Panda" series and are very interesting.
But with these, it only makes this work stay above the passing line.
The worst in the series
Whether at home or abroad, "Kung Fu Panda 4" has the worst reputation in the series.
imdb only has a 6.5, Rotten Tomatoes dropped to 71%, and Douban scored 6.7.
is far from the first three movies with high reputation.
The cost has dropped from US$150 million last time to US$85 million now, which is nearly half.
Itās not terrible to cut costs, after all, you can still produce excellent works at low costs.
is terrible, it is downgraded and perfunctory in all aspects.
First of all, it is a perfunctory representation of urban landscape with Chinese characteristics.
Take the script of the third film, which is also not outstanding, at least it has abundant and delicate spectacle performance. The
crew went deep into Qingcheng Mountain in Sichuan, shot scenes on site, and depicted a panda paradise hidden among the mountains.
The section of cable bridge you need to pass when returning to Panda Village originates from the Anlan Cable Bridge in Dujiangyan, which is known as the "No. 1 Love Bridge in the World".
Entering the Panda Village is even more unique.
Inside there are lush green trees, surrounded by glaciers, and a unique hot pool.
In order to comply with the panda's characteristic of storing harvests under the house, the panda's home was specially designed as a stilted building made of bamboo poles.
Pandas not only carry bamboo baskets on their backs, but also wear bamboo hats and use bamboo waterwheels at home. In the house design of
, the characteristics of moss growing on the roof in the real scene were also used in the creation.
A devilish detail: the bamboo roof facing the sun only has ice and snow accumulation, no moss, but there is some on the backside.
The morning glow and sunshine, living near the mountains, with scattered peach blossoms, are so beautiful.
In such a relaxed and comfortable environment, Abao gradually let go of his tense "learning" mentality and gradually found himself.
It is such a delicate design, coupled with a large number of naive panda shocks, that prevents the reputation of the third part from being greatly compromised. Can
be new?
Juniper City is a city with endless flow, a large population and a lot of evil. It should be very unique.
But the production team patched things together and made it look different.
Take the water city route outside and enter by boat. At first glance, I thought it was a Venetian water city-style metropolis.
But the interior is a solid land, focusing on the rugged architecture of the north + the layers of Sichuan and Chongqing.
There is something going on in the sewer.
But this dungeon is clean and empty, with no twists and turns. I feel that sending out officers and soldiers to clear it up can capture Po and Xiaozhen instantly.
The Phantom Queen's palace is located on the "Great Wall", which is the "step" that Po hates most.
But the final battle did not take advantage of any terrain characteristics, and it became an ineffective design.
Secondly, the big action scenes are perfunctory.
The emergence of the Kung Fu Panda series is indispensable as a tribute to Hong Kong martial arts and kung fu movies.
Its prosperity symbolizes the return of martial arts. In the first part of
, the fight between Taro and the Furious Five on the suspension bridge was particularly exciting.
Clamping bridges, shaking bridges, shaking bridges, throwing bridges, and finally ending with Taro's move to open the acupuncture points that has the color of martial arts legend.
The decisive battle between Po and Da Long is even more exciting, with Kung Fu tricks coming one after another.
In the great showdown between heaven and earth, Taro made a huge pit like the palm of the Tathagata in "Kung Fu".
The "Wizard Finger" used by Po is actually the "Flower Finger" of the Seventy-two Shaolin Styles.
In the second part, in order to show the fireworks spectacle brought by Prince Shen, no less preparations were made for the difficult night scene on the water.
The spectacle of Abao playing Tai Chi with a fireball on the water made the funds burn like crazy, and he also paid tribute to "Shaolin Football".
In the third part, Po transforms into a master and lets the pandas learn kung fu according to their characteristics.
Beauty Pandaās beautiful ribbon dance can be nunchucks.
The defense between the two fathers against the emerald "Master" is more like Jackie Chan's vaudeville kung fu comedy.
It feels like the funds for the fourth part were all spent on the duel at the Cliff Tavern.
When it came time for the decisive battle with the Phantom Demon Queen, the Demon Queen became the defeated generals of Po's former subordinates: Tai Lang, Prince Shen, Tiansha...
and even Po himself.
At this time, Abao no longer had the confusion of "who am I?", he directly called the other party an impostor, and then struck a blow.
? ? ? That's it?
Not only that, the baggage and jokes of the "Chinese characteristics" in the past have also become less.
The "abnormally spicy" dish that Hanjiaohu ordered in the past was actually noodles and chili served separately (on the side).
Abao complained about Master, "You are just as confusing as Master Wu Gui."
uses the onomatopoeia of "wizard finger" skidush, which is cleverly translated into "leave you~", which is very exciting.
In the fourth part, apart from the repeated use of "Heart as still as water", the jokes are all based on Po's love for food and his inability to speak philosophy, which makes it much less interesting.
In addition, the dubbing lineup necessary to create characters is no longer so star-studded.
Although the script of "Kung Fu Panda 3" is stretched, it is the first "Sino-US co-production" blockbuster with one-third of the production team being Chinese. It bids farewell to the 17.5% share of imported films and instead enjoys 43% of domestic production. Film box office split treatment.
There are 17 Chinese voice actors, including not only big stars like Jackie Chan, Jay Chou, Yang Mi, and Lucy Liu, but also powerful ones such as Huang Lei, Bai Baihe, Jiang Wu, and Zhang Jizhong.
Even special characters have the luxury of having two voice actors.
For example, the Chinese version of Golden Monkey is Jackie Chan and Jay Chou, the Chinese version of Spirit Snake is Lucy Liu and Zhu Zhu, and Mr. Ping is Wu Hanzhang and Zhang Guoli.
In this film, only three protagonists were dubbed by big names: Huang Bo + Yang Mi + Jiang Xin.
But the little fox voiced by Yang Mi and Na Ying had to say "this is difficult to evaluate" when he came.
How far can it go
So, if you didnāt want to make a good film, why would the "Kung Fu Panda" series that should have been completed continue to make 4?
is like what netizens said: makes money.
This IP, which is based on the unique "Kung Fu" + the national treasure "Panda", has been very popular since its release in 2008.
became the highest-grossing original animated film since the founding of DreamWorks. The next two and three films were also top-grossing at the box office, and the three films earned nearly 2 billion US dollars.
Judging from the box office, "Kung Fu Panda 4" is definitely a success.
has a prominent box office in North America, taking in 60 million in its first weekend, surpassing "Dune 2" the following week.
The box office in mainland China exceeded 100 million in two days. Although it has the accumulation of previous screenings, it is definitely better than the recent "Zootopia" label, which used the creative core of "Inside Out" to "Zootopia".
This is not to say that the series of movies will not last long, but it is not easy to come up with a good idea.
After all, not all animated movies can become "Toy Story".
Expressing the subject that keeps pace with the times through character arcs was once the best part of the "Kung Fu Panda" series.
The father-son relationship between Master and Taro in the first part touched the hearts of many East Asian children.
Taro's arrogance is the result of his master's strict discipline in martial arts and his great pampering in life.
Master trained Tailang according to the standards of Dragon Warrior, and the result of drinking ice for ten years was denied by Master Oogway.
Taro's "blackening" is more of the pain of Master not defending himself and not being acknowledged by Master.
Masterās recognition of Taro was 20 years late.
In the second part, Prince Shenās massacre of the panda tribe was not to counter Yang Xianguās words, āYou will be defeated by a black and white hero.ā
So he also believed that "I can't control my fate", but the more violent and the more mistakes he made, the more the prophecy was confirmed.
not only continues the fatalistic flavor of the first film.
Among them, "fireworks" and "gunpowder" are two sides of beauty and destruction.
The confrontation between "Kung Fu" and "Gunpowder", which one is new and which one is old, which one is strong and which one is weak, also coincides with the theme of many Kung Fu movies in Hong Kong.
Just like Master Yan said in "Once Upon a Time": "No matter how good our skills are, we can't compete with foreign guns."
How can individual strength compete with technological strength?
In the fourth film, Wu Zetian-style phantom queen appears, who is also the only female villain.
She is small in body, but powerful in illusion.
But she has no shaping except for the display of illusion.
What is her life experience, ambition, and method of practicing illusion? What is her purpose in wanting "the world"?
Even Xiao Zhen was baffled by being chosen as the "successor of the Dragon Warrior"...
Wait...
Isn't it true that he wants to stir up CP?
It is said that Kung Fu Panda will make a fifth film, which will expand to the bottom of the sea like "Avatar 2".
This time, Po's opening battle with Batfish is to take over the previous Dolphin Master and prepare for the next one.
But the budget was slashed, the spectacle was subpar, the characters were flat, and expectations were clearly not met.
If "Kung Fu Panda 5" is still like this, is it really necessary to film it?
