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Upcoming Summer Blockbusters 2024

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I thought I might give you a little schedule for the year’s blockbuster season!

ACTION/ADVENTURE

What kind of summer action movie is there that doesn’t have fights and explosions?

June 7th: Bad Boys for Life (Sony Pictures)

June 7th: Hit Man (Netflix)

June 21st: Trigger Warning (Netflix)

June 28th: Horizon: An American Saga-Chapter 1 (Warner Bros)

July 19th: Twisters (Universal/Warner Bros)

July 26th: Deadpool and Wolverine (Marvel Studios)

August 9th: Borderlands (Lionsgate)

August 9th: The Instigators (Apple TV+)

August 16th: Horizon: An American Saga-Chapter 2 (Warner Bros)

August 16th: The Union (Netflix)

August 23rd: The Crow (Lionsgate)

ANIMATION

Now that kids are out of school and homework is out of their schedule, they now have the time to check out these sequels and originals

June 14th: Inside Out 2 (Disney/Pixar)

June 14th: Ultraman: Rising (Netflix)

July 3rd: Despicable Me 4 (Universal/Illumination)

August 2nd: Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie (Netflix/Nickelodeon Movies)

COMEDY

If the movie is good, funny! If not, summer cricket sounds

June 28th: A Family Affair (Netflix)

July 3rd: Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (Netflix)

July 18th: My Spy: The Eternal City (Amazon Prime)

August 2nd: Harold and the Purple Crayon (Sony)

August 2nd: My Old Ass (Prime)

August 15th: Jackpot (Prime)

DRAMA

Laughing out loud is fine, but being a serious isn’t all bad.

June 21st: The Bikeriders (Focus Features)

June 21st: Kinds of Kindness (Searchlight)

June 21st: Fancy Dance (Apple TV+)

July 4th: Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot (Angel Studios)

July 12th: Fly Me to the Moon (Sony/Apple Studios)

July 12th: Sing Sing (A24)

August 9th: It Ends with Us (Sony)

August 23rd: The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat (Hulu)

August 23rd: The Forge (Affirm Films)

HORROR/THRILLER

One way to cool off during a hot day is getting chills and goosebumps.

June 7th: The Exorcism (Miramax)

June 14th: The Watchers (New Line Cinema)

June 28th: A Quiet Place: Day One (Paramount)

July 5th: MaXXXine (A24)

July 12th: Longlegs (Neon)

August 2nd: Cuckoo (Neon)

August 9th: Trap (Warner Bros)

August 16th: Alien: Romulus (20th Century Studios)

Fall Guy should be the reason people still goes to the movies.

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Rating: Full

Genre: Action, Adventure, Romance, Mystery

Studios: Universal Pictures/87North Productions

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Teresa Palmer, Stephanie Hsu and Winston Duke

Director: David Leitch

Writer: Drew Pearce

Based on: a TV show created by Glen A. Larson

Producers: Guymon Casady, Ryan Gosling, David Leitch and Kelly McCormick

Music by: Dominic Lewis

Rated: PG-13 for action and violence, drug content and some strong language

Release Date: 05/03/24

Runtime: 2h 6m

Tagline: N/A

Favorite Character: Colt Seavers

Quote: “I had no choice! I had to do some Jason Bourne shit!”- Colt Seavers

Fun Fact: A world record was broken while filming, for the most cannon rolls performed by a car, 8.5 exact.

The Review: Last summer, Oscar Nominated Ryan Gosling had showed the audience all over the world that’s he not just Gosling, he is Ken! He did that while he’s performing the song from Barbie at the 2024 Oscars back in March.

Ryan Gosling’s Colt Seavers is totally living it! He is a stunt double of a big action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and forms an excellent chemistry with camerawoman Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt) Yay! But…the free fall stunt ended horribly, breaking Colt’s back, and ceasing his time as an action man! Oh No! Thankfully, the scene actually fades into black before we actually see him take a hard landing, and maybe it’s the best thing for us. But even more bad news is that it also ended his and Jody’s relationship. Double Oh No!

After Eighteen months of living like a normal person with a job at a Mexican restaurant and living in the apartment, he is called back into action and after the certain period of hiatus, he walks back on the movie set…with her ex as a director. Out of the fictional movie within the movie, ‘Metelstorm’ is truly the most epic but it is also a possibly that the film itself may be flat in real life. that’s clearly a combination of Dune and Mad Max Fury Road. And to pull out something extra for the plot…Tom Ryder is missing!

Now some of the audience actually went to see the movie for the mystery plot of the missing action star which was unfortunally less of the original story so they may find that part a little disappointing. Some went for the romance which isn’t really that much. I mean it’s a action movie, not ‘Love Actually’ Speaking of action If you’ve gone just to see some crazy stunts, you’ve come to the right place. Man it hit the bullseye for that category! And i can safely say, it was a true dedication to all of the stunt doubles starting with 1903’s ‘The Great Train Robbery’

Director David Leitch was alright with his last film ‘Bullet Train’ Fall Guy was his better movie and thus made a lot of sense to have him sit in the director’s chair for this one. Once the movie wraps up, you might be able to tell your friends that this was the (Christopher Nolan’s) ‘Inception’ of the stunt performers. What that means was you are watching a movie about a stunt performer, who performs stunts that we all know has a number of stunt doubles. It’s basically a movie stuntmen within the movie about stuntmen. Mind blown! Just like the movie itself! Okey not as much, but it is still a explosive start of the summer movies filled with awesomeness!

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‘The Greatest Hits’ actually became ‘The Greatest Mediocre’

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Rating: Half-Full

Genre: Romance, Drama, Fantasy

Studios: Searchlight Pictures

Cast: Lucy Boynton, Justin H. Min, David Corenswet, Austin Crute and Reeta

Director: Ned Benson

Writer: Ned Benson

Producers: Ned Benson, Stephanie Davis, Shannon Gaulding, Cassandra Kulukundis and Michael London

Music by: Ryan Lott

Rated: PG-13 for drug use, strong language and suggestive materials

Release Date: 04/12/24

Runtime: 1h 34m

Tagline: Find the right song, change your past. Find the right person, change your future.

Favorite Character: David Park

Quote: N/A

Fun Fact: Played at 2024 SXSW Festival.

The Review: There are times when you will be hearing a certain song on the radio that will slightly bring you back to the moment of your past. Whatever it is, it is either a good memory you want to relive or a bad one you’d rather forget.

Both in her past and present, Harriet Gibbons (Lucy Boynton) is a music loving-ish main character who has been wearing headphones all the time. It’s not because she is trying to get lost in music. It is pretty much a opposite in fact. A couple years ago, she met and fell in love with a stranger (David Corenswet) at a music festival. As a couple years go by, it went all smoothly like it was a cheesy Hallmark movie.

Sadly, that whole Jack and Rose roleplaying ended when there was a car accident involved. Max was killed in that accident. While Harriet did survived, she ended up with some psychological scars from that moment. It was that exact horrible moment when Harriet would be like Barry Allen in the lab accident. She can time travel. No machine or fancy technology needed. All she needs was music that reminds her of her time with Max.

As much as time travel seems like a pleasing soulution, she just can’t seem to prevent the accident. And considering how much grief she’s in, she has to attend a Supporting Group (led by Reeta) of people going through loss. It is then she meets an David Park (Justin H. Min) an antique store owner mourning his parents along with his sister (Andie Ju) Sure David may be a great guy, but he cannot replace Max at least not according to Harriet.

Ned Benson’s idea of turning that moment into a time traveling feature does sound like something we all can relate to, especially if it’s the time when you are in grief. Unsurprised, it was a very thin romantic story that doesn’t cover enough romance to be consider one. The Greatest Hits, fortunately wasn’t The Greatest Miss but I think if Ned Benson could put more to the thought of the plot, then it would become The Greatest Hit with emotions. The ending was believe it or not, a good choice.

Abigail showed us that the horror genre are in good hands of the duo directors, Radio Silence

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Rating: Full

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Studios: Universal Pictures/

Cast: Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Will Catlett, Kevin Durand, Angus Cloud, Alisha Weir and Giancarlo Esposito

Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet

Writers: Guy Busick and Stephen Shields

Based on: Dracula’s Daughter

Producers: Paul Neinstein, William Sherak, James Vanderbilt, Chad Villella and Tripp Vinson

Music by: Brian Tyler

Rated: R for strong bloody violence and gore throughout, pervasive language and brief drug use

Release Date: 04/19/24

Runtime: 1h 49m

Tagline: Children can be such monsters

Favorite Character: Abigail

Quote: “I’m sorry about what’s gonna happen to you.”- Abigail

Fun Fact: 95% of Abigail’s stunts was done by Alisha Weir herself.

The Review: I’d bet horror fans everywhere are bummed about the fact that Wes Craven is gone, luckily there are two of the horror directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and have their own production company. Like other major directors, they would go off to explore other genres. Before that happens, we got another scary movie of theirs to explore.

Radio Silence’s retelling of the Universal’s 1936 Dracula Daughter tells us a different kind of a vampire story, about a talented little ballerina named Abigail (Alisha Weir, Matilda the Musical) who gave us her demo during the opening credits. There is one twist though, she is a vampire. And perhaps a talented actress too since her expression kidnapping was so real during that part. They didn’t confirm that she is a classic monster till later in the film but we all probably already knew that. We do see Abigail retiring to her bed, acting all like a human being and not a stereotypical vampire that sleeps in coffins.

Moving on to the kidnappers, The opening pulls off a stunt that makes you think ‘I thought this was a horror movie, not a crime movie’ because, well, it does feel like a crime thriller, for the first 10 minutes. The leader (Scream’s Melissa Berrera) leads the team to kidnap the daughter (Abigail) of the wealthy man and bring her to the wooden mansion, intend to have her handcuffed to bed until her father gifts them with $50 million. I love the fact that the mansion well ensembles the setting from one of Radio Silence’s other films, ‘Ready or Not’

The group wad given instructions by Gus Fri…err i mean…Lambert assigned codenames to them, preventing us from learning their real names and identities but don’t worry, you’ll find out about them later. For the first moments, Abigail will fool the kidnappers by acting all damsel in distressy. Then…Karma will take a bite on them. Let’s check the horror tropes for this movie. Lock in the mansion? Check! The group slowly getting picked off one by one? Check! The remaining survivors trying to survive and get out? Double Check!

I would like to credit Composer Brian Tyler for giving us an epic version of the Swan Lake in what perhaps is one of the best parts of the film! I am not gonna say much, you’ll have to check it out for yourself! I almost forgot to mention something. One of the members of the soon to be unfortunate kidnappers, Dean is played by Angus Cloud who sadly passed away last July. It was sweet for Radio Silence to make him a ‘In loving memory’ trope before the end credits.

This is more of a horror movie for those who enjoy more of the bloody parts than the campy jumpscares. Yes, the final film wasn’t all too bloody brilliant, but the idea of a vampire ballerina is indeed is! I mean, what horror filmmakers wouldn’t have thought of that?

Civil War wasn’t Alex Garlend’s masterpiece but it goes out with a Kaboom!

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Rating: Full

Genre: Thriller, Drama, Suspense, Adventure

Studios: A24/DNA Films

Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Sonoya MizUno and Nick Offerman

Director: Alex Garlend

Writer: Alex Garlend

Producers: Gregory Goodman, Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich

Music by: Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury

Rated: R for strong violent content, bloody/disturbing images and language throughout

Release Date: 04/12/24

Runtime: 1h 49m

Tagline: Welcome to the Frontline

Favorite Character: Jessie Cullen

Quote: “Okey. What kind of American are you? You don’t know?’-A soldier

Fun Fact: The decorations at the abandoned Christmas park wasn’t made for the movie. It was the real place that Alex Garlend used for one of the scenes.

The Review: A24 films just keeps getting on bigger. And just to be clear, no this isn’t a sequel to the 2017’s Captain America threequel, this isn’t even in the MCU. This is a potential ultra political reality film that tries to warn us about what may happen if America doesn’t shape up (I’m looking at you Biden).

The OG Spider-Man trilogy’s Kirsten Dunst makes a big comeback to the movies as a photographer, Lee Smith taking old fashioned black and white pictures of the unfortunate moments of the unlucky soldiers. She and her photography colleague Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) first witnessed a bombing in New York City that could slam the sound catagory for next year’s Oscars. They and the other press journalists (Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Sonoya Mizuno and Jefferson White) are on the assignment to take a field trip to Washington D.C. to interview President Nick Offerman. Considering with what’s been going on in that country, He may be a worse president than Biden.

But as you may know, this road trip was no vacation! This plays out as a apocalyptic version of the Oregon Trail computer game. I am not gonna say much, and it may not be from Dysentery but expect some of the ‘you died’ moments during the journey. Yep, some or most of the reporters taking on a very dangerous adventure may not return to New York, if they do at all.

Like the Oregon Trail game, there are pit stops along the way. It’s not to trade or to look at the Big Blue River, or whatsoever, instead what you’ll see are dead bodies all over the path. Chilling. Even the Christmas Theme Park during the film isn’t all full of happiness as it should be!

I do have to say, Civil War is full of crazy stuff like the potentially real life violence and contains an IMAX worthy sounds. And I will certainly say there are gonna be some moments where you are gonna wish you could pause a movie to take a few moments to catch your breath! Maybe get a drink of water or an ICEE or some Coca Cola or whatever drink you have in your seat.

I have heard people complaining about the ending before seeing this movie. I thought, ‘What sort of ending does it piss moviegoers off?’ Now, I do admit, the ending seems to have me have mixed feelings for it. Like the ‘All of that for nothing’ kinda feeling. I really do understand, however, that this ending wasn’t exactly the point of the movie, so I’ll let that pass.

As the title states, Civil War didn’t pass Ex Machina as Garlend’s best. And it wasn’t a 100% accurate film, I mean come on, California and Texas alliance wasn’t that realistic. However, it is a really intense film full of chaos that could top 2024’s most intense film! Sounds like a challenge for the other thrillers coming out later this year!

Road House (2024)

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Rating: Half-Full

Genre: Action, Thriller

Studios: Metro-Goldwyn Mayer

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Williams, Joaquim de Almeida and Conor McGregor

Director: Doug Liman

Writers: Anthony Bagarozzi, David Lee Henry and Charles Mondry

Based on: the 1989 film by Hilary Henkin and David Lee Henry

Producer: Joel Silver

Music by: Christophe Beck

Rated: R for violence throughout, pervasive language and some nudity

Release Date: 03/21/24

Runtime: 2h 1m

Tagline: Take it Outside

Favorite Character: Dalton

Quote: “It’s been a while since I’ve been clubbing.”- Knox

Fun Fact: There is a bar next to the book store called ‘The Double Deuce Restaurant’ which obviously pays homage to the original Road House movie.

The Review: It was 1989 when Patrick Swayze became a tough bouncer in the cult classic ‘Road House’ and when they remake cult classics, chances are it won’t meet up the fans expedition. I may even make them think ‘Why did they even have to remake it?’ like 2011’s Footloose. Thankfully, Doug Liman’s take isn’t those kind of remakes.

Just like the others, there are some major changes. Instead of giving us a character that didn’t need a backstory, gives us an added story to the main character. For Gyllenhaal’s version, he portrays a UFC fighter who just couldn’t get over the time that he accidently killed one of his opponents in a match. His second chance comes when a stranger (Jessica Williams) offers him a job as a bouncer in the road house called…well…’The Road House’ in the fictional Glass Keys in Florida Keys. Things however, don’t go smoothly, where he meets new friends also meets new threatening enemies.

Watch both versions of Road House back to back and you might see the one biggest difference, where it takes place. The remake swaps a midwestern Missouri town with the one in Florida Keys. But to be honest with you, I actually believe that 2024 Road House got the location right. It’s the setting that gives the viewers vibes of the stylish 1980’s TV series Miami Vice. Or to those who had a PS2 in 2002, the controversial Grand Theft Auto Vice City. Both of these media may actually have influenced Doug Limin to create a new type of story for the 2024 remake, I’d be surprised if they haven’t.

There may be one reason you would be checking out the 2024 Road House, the brawls . And talk about some of the insane stunts! For example, the one scene where Dalton takes a nice stroll along the edge of the bridge when suddenly the truck ran him over and…I won’t spoil it for ya but it is insane! I havn’t seen the original but i have a feeling the villain would be something to take seriously. The villains in the 2024’s version is not exactly memorable except for maybe Knox (real life fighter Conor McGregor).

2024’s Road House is much more of a silly flick you’d watch for just for the heck of it. Jake Gyllenhaal was pretty much acting all douche like he’s auditioning for the role of Deadpool but he would still entertaining enough to give the old viewers a chuckle and more violent enough to feel like they are in front row seats of Wrestlemania.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

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Rating: Empty

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Adventure, Monster

Studios: Warner Bros Pictures/Legendary Pictures

Cast: Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, Alex Ferns and Fala Chen

Director: Adam Wingard

Writers: Simon Barrett, Terry Rossio, Jeremy Slater and Adam Wingard

Based on: Godzilla by Toho

Producers: Alex Garcia, Jon Jashni, Eric McLeod, Mary Parent, Brian Rogers and Thomas Tull

Music by: Antonio Di lorio and Tom Holkenborg

Rated: PG-13 for creature violence and action

Release Date: 03/29/24

Runtime: 1h 55m

Tagline: Bow to your new king.

Favorite Character: Shimo

Quote: “Is that a mini Kong?”- Bernie Hayes

Fun Fact: The baby Kong in the movie is named ‘Suko’

The Review: Last time we saw a giant ape and a giant lizard crossover, they were fighting for…i don’t even know what they were even fighting for. All I know is that film was half epic, half boredom. Perhaps this sequel will be more epic….or not.

We continue their epic with Kong, who has been acting all too human, relaxing in the spectacular Hollow Earth (I wish that place was real) while Godzilla is sleeping in Rome’s famous Colosseum and gaining radiation in France. And for the human plot, a deaf girl Jia (Kaylee Hottle) is now living with scientist Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), trying her best to be a good mother and trying to get her newly adopted daughter to live a normalized life, but when she was once part of the Iwi Tribe, it ain’t gonna be easy. Especially when you have a psychic dream about Kong.

For the major event, the sinkhole opens and with that, we are in for another monsterous adventure. The transportation dives into a beautiful new world, I can tell you the audience will be seeing the screen in awe. There should be a storyline that would match the amazing mysterious inner planet. Nope. There really isn’t. Sure there is fighting involved, I mean why wouldn’t there be? But that is all there is for the rest of the film. Just preparing to fight and fighting. Just like the previous entree.

I have never seen last years Japanese Godzilla Minus One but after getting an VFX Oscar and getting critical acclaim, it tells me that GMO’s take on the classic monster is so freshing, as for Godzilla x Kong 2, it isn’t. Mostly because the uncanny CGI was too distracting. The new monsters added to the film series is the best part of the mindless Monsterverse the two titans for this film. Mothra’s return, wasn’t too bad but could improve. Baby Kong is cute, but he and Scar King fell victim to the could-have-been-better CGI. And as much as I want to love Shimo for it’s diamond sparkly fins, it looks more like a plastic toy you buy at Target.

Crossovers are supposed to be epic. There must be a better way to get the two monsters to work together. But if you are a fan of both Godzilla and King Kong, you will cheer. Try cheering at the theater, that makes the whole experience more fun.

Dune Part 2

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Rating: Overflowing

Genre: Sci-Fi, Adventure, Drama

Studios: Warner Bros Pictures/Legendary Pictures

Cast: Timothy Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Lea Seydoux, Souheila Yacoub, Stellan Skarsgard, Charlotte Rampling and Javier Bardem

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Writers: Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve

Based on: the novel by Frank Herbert

Producers: Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe, Patrick McCormick, Mary Parent and Denis Villeneuve

Music by: Hans Zimmer

Rated: PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, some suggestive material and brief strong language

Release Date: 03/01/24

Runtime: 2h 46m

Tagline: Long live the fighters

Favorite Character: Feyd-Rautha

Quote: “You may die. You may see. The beauty and the horror.”- Lady Jessica

Fun Fact: It took 44 days to film to film the Sandworm riding scene.

The Review: When it comes to franchises, sequels don’t usually live up to the original, but sometimes, it does. Some may surprise you like last years Dungeons and Dragons movie and others it actually isn’t surprising, like the part 2 of this beautiful epic sci-fi movie.

Part 2 picks up after the first one on a desert planet, Arrakis where Paul Atreides (Timothy Chalamet) and his pregnant mother (Rebecca Ferguson) are with the Fremen clan that they finally found with some help of Paul’s literal dream girl (Zendaya). Now in order for Paul to gain the Fremen’s trust he needed, he must complete some training one involving a megazilla moment of him riding on what they called a ‘Grandfather’ Sandworm. Meaning it could be the largest sandworm in the desert!

Dune 2 succeeded in bringing the audience to a new world. And these sets, I don’t know if they are real sets or CGI. Now if you aren’t familar with Frank Herbert’s story, you might at first think one of the first scenes takes place on Mars. I don’t blame you because that, my friend, is how good the cinematography is. and the part with the Emporer’s nephew (Oscar nominated Austin Butler) being the highlight of the film along with the Harkonnen’s black and white film sequence gives the film more of a specticule. That, the visual effects and score is already up to win those categories for the 2025’s Oscars (bring it on Furiosa).

You might have noticed that as we get further into the movie series or franchise or whatever, we also get further into the story that was created from the mind of Frank Herbert. For those who say the 2021’s Dune doesn’t have a plot, I can tell you that this one adds more to the plotline. Now the one negativity about the film was the whole entire movie feels like it only tells the 2nd act of the story, meaning when the film ends, the Sci-Fi chronicle still won’t be even over yet!

I can tell you, Dune Part 2 ROCKS! Totally exceeding the first one by far, but I swear if they don’t make the third one and make it like Return of the King, there will be problems for the franchise. So we’ll just have to wait for a couple of years to see if Villeneuve can properly close the book.

Damsel

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Rating: Empty

Genre: Fantasy,

Studios: Netflix

Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Ray Winstone, Brooke Carter, Nick Robinson, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Angela Bassett and Robin Wright

Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo

Writer: Dan Mazeau

Producers: Chris Castaldi, Jeff Kirschenbaum and Joe Roth

Music by: David Fleming

Rated: PG-13 for sequences of strong creature violence, action and bloody images

Release Date: 03/08/24

Runtime: 1h 50m

Tagline: This is not a Fairytale

Favorite Character: Elodie

Quote: “This is the end of your story.”- Elodie

Fun Fact: N/A

The Review: Once upon a time, there was a Fast X screenwriter in Los Angeles who decide to try pull off a unique take on the classic stories like Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Princess and the Pea, etc. He wanted the script to have both Fairy Tales and Game of Thrones vibes. Eventually, he did succeeded in putting it on Netflix, but what he failed at is trying to make us appreciate old tale like 2007’s Enchanted and the Shrek franchise did.

The story begins with two girls Elodie (Eleven aka Millie Bobby Brown) and Floria (Brooke Carter) living in a village suffering with hunger and their father (Ray Winstone) and Stepmother (Angela Bassett) waiting for a miracle. If a miracle means arranged marriage to the prince of Aurea (Nick Robinson), then that is exactly what they got. Arriving there, we meet the queen of Aurea (Robin Wright) and the Prince being the one to marry Elodie. Before the wedding, things are going as expectedly well with an exception of the stepmother having a feeling that something is about to go wrong.

Then the wedding begins and it looks like Elodie is gonna get her happily ever after after all…but, as we guess, that didn’t happen. Instead the Prince does the unthinkable by throwing his new wife in the pit of the black, badly designed dragon (with a well done voice acting courtesy of Shohreh Aghdashloo) whose CGI tail was whipping too fast. This all turned out to be a royal sacrifice to keep the kingdom at peace. It wasn’t until later (but not too soon either) that Millie Bobby Brown went from being a princess to being Eleven in the different era.

The main point of Damsel was supposed to be that princesses can be warriors like Princess Merida from 2012’s Pixar film Brave. Sadly, Elodie’s characteristics has more Damsel in distress than the latter. Now with every evil there is good. What do i mean? I was talking about some of the redeeming qualities. The blue lightning in the cave not only saves the princess but the movie too. The best CGI in the movie has to go to the pretty looking glowing slugs that has a magic to heal wounds. And the climax wasn’t really too lousy since it went exactly the way I was gonna do if I am in that situation.

Hollywood has so many ways to twist fairy tales, but this one was made into a story that was slow, flat and has a lack of storytelling, like it was rejected by the publisher in the kingdom long, long ago.

Kung Fu Panda 4

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Rating: Full

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Material Arts, Action, Adventure

Studios: Universal Pictures/Dreamworks Animation

Cast: Jack Black, Awkwafina, Bryan Cranston, James Hong, Ian McShane, Ke Huy Quan, Dustin Hoffman and Viola Davis

Director: Mike Mitchell

Writers: Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger and Darren Lamke

Producer: Rebecca Huntley

Music by: Steve Mazzaro

Rated: PG for material arts action/mild violence, scary images and some mild rude humor

Release Date: 03/08/24

Runtime: 1h 34m

Tagline: N/A

Favorite Character: Zhen

Quote: “Now, who wants to do the right thing for the wrong reasons?”- Zhen

Fun Fact: Looking at the info, it seems Kung Fu Panda 4 ignored all events from the two TV series.

The Review: Movie Franchises are a big deal, but by the fourth film, the franchise runs out of gas. You may think that Kung Fu Panda 4 gonna be part of the getting-sick-of-the-franchise movie but really, it actually doesn’t lose it all quite yet.

I have only seen the first Kung Fu Panda film. So i won’t really say anything about the 2nd and 3rd films, besides the fact that Po (Jack Black) now has a neon green Ying Yang staff. We all knew Po is Dragon Warrior, for right now. He is loving every minute of it. Kicking butt, Fame (but mostly kicking butt). Now that we reached the fourth entree, It won’t be long before Po has to retire from being a Dragon Warrior and must choose who take his place when the panda becomes a spiritual leader of the Valley of Peace. Like other heroes in animated movies, the flabby panda clearly wasn’t ready for it!

And in every Kung Fu Panda film, we had to have a new villain to root against. This one has the shape shifting sorceress Chameleon who is called…the Chameleon (Viola Davis). She is probably the most anticipated KFP villian since she can shapeshift into Po’s other enemies. Sadly, unlike Tai Lung, the Chameleon didn’t come out much. We do, however have more new characters with crime lord Sunda pangolin (Kue Huy Quan), a fish living in a pelican (Ronny Chieng) and my new favorite Dreamworks sidekick, a sly fox thief Zhen (Awkwafina). Zhen led Po throughout the journey to the Juniper city stopping at the restaurant called ‘Happy Bunnies’ that has bunnies in forced labor, representing child labor in China (poor little guys).

But for some very unknown reasons, the comeback characters has left a huge disappointment in the fans. Furious Five was hardly in it (they did confirm their whereabouts in the beginning) with only Seth Rogen’s Mantis do make any noise in the film. And despite Lord Shen and General Kai appearances, the producers didn’t even bother to call Gary Oldman and J. K. Simmons. Fortunally, Zhen totally makes up for it! We did get Po’s adoptive and biological dads (James Hong and Bryan Cranston) storyline that we expected and wanted, coming together to find their son, looking like they had a rivalry in the 3rd film (I don’t know if they do, as I said, I haven’t seen the 3rd one yet).

Even if the film is over, Po’s story isn’t over yet! and while it seems this animated franchise is at its weak point, it still have some of the awesomeness! Here’s a tip. Stay during the end credits to listen to Jack Black’s kickass cover of Britney Spears ‘…Baby One More Time.’