For many kids born in the mid 2000s Kung Fu Panda has been a staple of childhood entertainment. Up until now the franchise has released four movies and three television series. All of which had been centered around the main character Poe played by Jack Black, and his ensemble of friends, the Furious Five. However this changed with the release of the most recent movie Kung Fu Panda Four.
Poe’s Journey began when the trilogy kicked off in 2008. The adopted panda son of a goose father and famous noodle chef had aspirations to be part of the legendary Kung Foo team that protected all the lands, the furious five. While seemingly an unlikely pick for the team he was unexpectedly picked by a wise and powerful turtle named master Oogway.
From that point forward Poe became the dragon warrior and fought with the furious five against his first villain Tai Lung. Who thought that he was worthy of Poe’s title.
The second movie further expands on Po’s story as he travels to Gongmen city to defeat the evil emperor Lord Shen. Shen was responsible for the orphaning of Po and his separation from his true family. Throughout this time period his friends in the furious five are there to support him and help him with the emotional struggle.
After his impressive defeat of Lord Shen, Poe faces a villain so powerful that even Oogway, the one who ushered Poe into his legacy, wasn’t powerful enough to defeat. This villain in question is General Kai, an undead buffalo who utilized the power of chi to steal the power of other Kung Fu masters.
This third movie is the first movie to feature Poe’s separation from the furious five as early on in the movie Kai steals their chi and Poe has to fight for them back.
In order to win this battle Poe reunited with his lost panda family and learnt the power of chi in order to counteract Kai.
So as can be seen the majority of this franchise has been centered around Poe’s personal and physical growth. So it’s not a complete surprise that this newest movie, where Poe faces his greatest villain yet doesn’t feature any members of Poe’s team. This new villain is a sorcerer chameleon that has the power to shape-shift into all of Poe’s old enemies.
“The concept of the villain is honestly pretty good,” said junior, Chris Hoyt.
However, despite some widespread appreciation of the ingenuity of this new villain, many argue that the absence of the Furious Five is in direct conflict with the challenge of the chameleon.
It was only because Poe had the support of his team that he managed to defeat his past enemies. So the idea that he now has to fight all of them combined without them is simply wrong.
“Tigress was my favorite character, I’m sad she’s not going to be in this movie,” said seventh grader Evan Clark.
“I feel like watching Poe without the Furious Five is like looking for Santa without reindeer,” said Saucon Valley mom Heather Clark.
“The whole reason that the story of Poe even started was because he had a desire to be part of the furious five. That part of his character can’t just be left out,” said junior and long time fan of the franchise Peter Albano.
In summary, although it may be true that Poe and his life is the central idea of the franchise, the widespread opinion on the movie is that it feels wrong to not include the characters that have been part of the face of the franchise since the beginning.
