Kung Fu Panda 4 4K review
May 31, 2024- Permalink
In Kung Fu Panda 4, Po (Jack Black) is informed by Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) that he must accept a new role and choose a new Dragon Warrior. When Po faces an evil sorceress named The Chameleon (Viola Davis), he must join forces with a fox bandit named Zhen (Awkwafina) to defeat her. The voice cast also includes Ian McShane, James Hong, Bryan Cranston, Ke Huy Quan, Ronny Chieng, and Lori Tan Chinn. Universal has just released a 4K set of the movie and I had a chance to take a look.
The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded upscaled 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. The CG animation looks beautiful with amazing detail in the furs, feathers and skins of the animals. The backgrounds of the animation are also highly detailed. Primaries pop off the screen, and warmer, darker colours look great as well. Black levels are deep with no sign of crushing.
On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English Dolby Atmos that folds back to Dolby TrueHD as well as a French Dolby Digital 5.1 track and a Spanish Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 track. Subtitles are available for English SDH, French, and Spanish. The soundscape is highly immersive, with action effects moving throughout the surrounds. The subwoofer gives an extra oomph to the proceedings during the kung fu battles. The score is dynamic and dialogue is clear in the mix.
The Kung Fu Panda 4 4K also comes with a Blu-ray copy and a digital code, though once again there’s no code for the Canadian version. Extras include commentary from director Mike Mitchell, co-director Stephanie Ma Stine, production designer Paul Duncan, head of story Calvin Tsang, and head of character animation Sean Sexton, a “Dueling Dumplings” short with an introduction by Jack Black and Awkwafina, deleted scenes, cast and behind the scenes featurettes, and tutorials on shadow puppets, cooking dumplings, and drawing the characters.
A fun story is combined with a great voice cast and amazing audio/visual presentation. Season it with a nice collection of extras and the Kung Fu Panda 4 4K is a recommended addition.