DreamWorks Animation Releases ʼKung Fu Panda 4ʼ Trailer

Awkwafina, Viola Davis, and Ke Huy Quan join Po’s next adventure, releasing in March

DreamWorks Animation has released the official trailer for Kung Fu Panda 4, starring Jack Black as Po, the Dragon Warrior, 8 years after the previous film.

With this fourth installment releasing in March it seems they’ve gone right to the official trailer, where Po is with Master Shifu, voiced once again by Dustin Hoffman, where he is being readied to become the spiritual master of the Valley of Peace. The film’s villain, the Chameleon, voiced by Viola Davis, is a power-seeking sorceress that has summoned Tai Lung, voiced once again by Ian McShane and absorbed his Kung fu. This allows her to shapeshift into him, as she wishes to do to all master villains in her quest for power. Awkwafina plays Zhen, who Po takes on as a protege to be the potential next Dragon Warrior but comes from thievery, brings him to the Chameleon and helps build a team.

Said team includes Ke Huy Quan as Han, the leader of the Den of Thieves. The film also brings back both of Po’s dads, James Hong’s Mr. Ping the adoptive dad and Bryan Cranston’s Li the biological dad. Notably absent are the Furious Five, who were very much sidelined in the third film and did not appear in the two animated series, Paws of Destiny and The Dragon Knight. In fact, it’s Mantis, voiced by Seth Rogen, who has the most recent appearance of them all, them being Jackie Chan as Monkey, David Cross as Crane, Angelina Jolie as Tigress and Lucy Liu as Viper. Mantis made an appearance with other Seth Rogen-voiced characters during Disney’s Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers movie, where Rogen voiced another Bob. Them not showing back up in the next movie is disappointing to many.

Announced in August 2022, Kung Fu Panda 4 is directed by Mike Mitchell, who previously directed Trolls, Shrek Forever After, and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, and co-directed by Stephanie Ma Stine, who comes from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. It is produced by Rebecca Huntley.

Source: Deadline