emwilliams-02657

I think the title of my review says it all. If I had to come up with a word to describe the film, it would merely be, "passable." I chuckled a couple of times and my kids (6 & 7) loved it. At the end of the day, I suppose that's money well spent. That being said, I am a huge fan of many DreamWorks franchises, including the first 3 KFP films, with the 3rd installment being the weakest of them, but still a good time. Compared to KP4, which didn't really add anything to the franchise, the 3rd film is a masterpiece. I found the pacing and the humor of KP4 all over the map. It felt like the film was rushing the audience along without time to really feel any of the emotions it wanted us to feel. It felt like a Saturday morning cartoon rather than a memorable addition to the KFP film canon.

So, in the end, I'm glad my kids loved it because I am promptly going to forget everything about this movie. When I think of KFP, scenes like Po finding inner peace in the ruins of his village in KFP 2 will always readily come to mind. I will continue to laugh at the jokes in the first 3 films, but even now I'm struggling to recall the best jokes of KFP4 and I just saw it not even an hour ago. The best, most enduring part of this movie is callback to villains of the previous films. Otherwise, it was one big colorful, fast-paced "Meh."

The kids will enjoy it though.

I grew up on Disney during the great Disney Renaissance-the pinnacle of creative achievement in animation. I went to Disney World about every other year since I was toddler. I went to Disney World as my high school graduation gift. I watched all my Disney VHS tapes until the practically disintegrated. My first ever cruise was on the Disney Magic during its second year. I slaughter friends and family in Disney Trivia Pursuit. To call me a Disneyphile is an understatement....so Disney's recent years, flops, sketchy business practices in the parks and elsewhere, and apparent creative bankruptcy all hurt and angered me as much as the next person. I laughed until I about cried watching South Park's recent parody. I would listen and nod along all the YouTube commentators and their biting analyses about what has happened in Disney animation and the company at large to explain how it has fallen so far. I canceled Disney+ long ago in protest. I have sought out other vacation options for my family, lamenting the Disney trips not taken.

So, when I saw this movie advertised, I groaned along with the rest of them (likely those review-bombing this film to feel good, and feel like they did something, to have some sort of "moment" online). With the direction Disney has been going lately (seemingly in free fall) I thought there could not be anything redeeming to this film. I only went to see it because my kids are out of school for the holiday and bored. They begged me to see it and I relented. I expected to cringe and groan to myself the entire time. To my surprise, I didn't!

Was it the greatest film Disney's ever produced? No. Not by a long shot.

Was it bad, though? Not at all. And NOT a sequel, finally! (Looking at you, Frozen and Toy Story)

It was decent. A perfectly decent animated film with a good message about the beauty of having dreams to chase and invest in, instead of giving up your deepest hopes and desires to a corrupt leader for the sake of some impossible "utopia". For standing up for what you know is right and true, instead of the easy, comfortable lie. It's one of the better messages to come out of Disney lately. There were a handful of decent musical numbers, but the soundtrack did not knock it out of the park. Which is a shame, considering what Disney has produced in animated musical past. The animation style, while drawing a fair bit of criticism, was meant to pay homage to the old classic by blending some 2D and 3D elements. Not everyone will find that appealing, and that's fine. I understand why they did it though. The story would have benefitted from the film maybe being 10-15 minutes longer to flush out some of the side characters and their motivations a little more. I heard a criticism that the villain song sounds like it was written by AI, and that's fair. The song was a bust, but the imagery and the character of Magnifico himself was a breath of fresh air from all the twist villains and generational trauma.

It wasn't an instant classic, okay? But it was entertaining and it did have some heart. For Disney, it is a step in the right direction for them. I want to support these kind of efforts in the hopes Disney might slowly be waking up to the damage they've done. If they are looking for a new way to steer the ship, I want them to notice this is the direction we want them to head in.

Beautiful 2D animation and style reminiscent of Cartoon Saloon (Secret of Kells, Wolfwalkers, Song of The Sea). Music is pretty solid too. The children's voice actors are pretty solid-which is great, because they are the main characters. The adult voice actors are a lot weaker, both in dialogue and performance, but the intrigue of the overarching narrative carries them through it. Sometimes the pacing is a little off-drags in places where brevity is needed, and rushed in places where the plot and scene need time to breathe.

Overall, though, I really enjoy watching it with my kids. The show holds their attention, appeals to their sense of magic and wonder, and presents likable young characters they can relate to. We will continue to watch this show. Excited to see where it goes. It's a very solid showing for Bentkey.