‘KUNG FU PANDA 4’ Rated PG

The saga of a lazy, overweight panda named Po (voiced by Jack Black) began 16 years ago when he dreamed of leaving his family’s noodle shop to join the world of Kung Fu to study with his idols, the legendary Furious Five.

For this chapter of the lovable panda’s adventures, “Kung Fu Panda 4” begs the question of whether eight years after the last episode this fourth journey of an action-comedy franchise is necessary.

Whether the answer is negative, what matters most is that young fans of the franchise are the target audience and the relative dearth of family-friendly films makes the fourth “Kung Fu Panda” a worthwhile entertainment even if the episodes may have run their course.

Time does not look to be on Po’s side either. After three death-defying adventures defeating world-class villains with his courage and martial arts skills, Po’s standing as the Dragon Warrior is facing an unwanted retirement.

Po’s warrior mentor Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) decides to tap the rotund martial artist to become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace, which is not exactly the destiny he wants.

Returning to his roots, Po is busy starting his own noodle restaurant, and reconnecting with his adoptive goose father Mr. Ping (James Hong) and his biological father Li (Bryan Cranston).

Other than his own concerns, there are obvious problems since Po knows as much about spiritual leadership as he does about dieting, and he also needs to quickly find and train a new Dragon Warrior before assuming his lofty new position.

A new enemy arrives on the scene in the shapeshifting tiny lizard known as the Chameleon (Viola Davis), a wicked sorceress with her beady little eyes coveting Po’s Staff of Wisdom, which would give her the power of the master villains Po had vanquished to the spirit realm.

Desperately needing some help, Po reluctantly enlists crafty, quick-witted thief Zhen (Awkwafina), a fox who gets under his fur but whose skills prove invaluable.

Slapstick humor and generous fight sequences with plenty of predictable action results in adventure for “Kung Fu Panda 4” that should certainly appeal to the target audience. Innocuous family fun is delivered as expected.




‘RICKY STANICKY’ Rated R

Beware of unintended consequences. This adage apparently did not occur to three childhood friends during their adolescent years when they created an imaginary friend who would take the blame for their pranks.

As the director of “Dumb and Dumber,” Peter Farrelly, who performs the same duties for Amazon Prime’s raunchy comedy film “Ricky Stanicky,” works in his comfort zone of portraying characters that have failed in many ways to leave adolescence behind.

Dean (Zac Efron), JT (Andrew Santino), and Wes (Jermaine Fowler) are first seen in 1999 as their younger selves, pulling a Halloween practical joke that goes so horribly wrong that they create the fictional Ricky Stanicky as the scapegoat.

The deception works so well that the ruse carries on into adulthood. When JT’s wife Susan (Anja Savcic) plans a baby shower, the trio of friends living in New England claim that Ricky has cancer as an alibi to leave town for a gambling trip to Atlantic City.

While gambling and drinking at a casino, they meet Rock Hard Rod (John Cena), a crazed alcoholic who wants to be an actor to do something more profound than performing bawdy parodies of famous rock stars at the dingy Slot Swamp Casino.

A premature birth of Susan’s baby causes the gang to rush back home, where the existence of good friend Ricky comes into question, particularly from JT’s suspicious mother-in-law who seems to have figured out the fictitious nature of someone no one else has ever seen.

As the spouses and partners of the trio demand to finally meet the fabled Stanicky, the boys decide on the dubious scheme to hire celebrity impersonator Hard Rock Rod and bring him to life.

With the mystery man apparently in “remission,” Stanicky arrives to attend the Jewish ceremonial of the baby boy’s bris, going so far as to lend a hand in the ritualistic tradition.

With a lot of bravado and swagger of an ersatz cowboy, Hard Rock Rod portrays his alter ego with a fabricated backstory of charitable work helping starving people in Africa

Just so you know that the subterfuge is fraught with risk, Dean’s wife Erin (Lex Scott Davis), a television journalist seeks to advance her career by pushing the idea of a story about Stanicky’s heroic nonprofit work.

Meanwhile, seeking to embellish his acting craft, Ricky commits to his role so successfully that he manages to impress Mr. Summerhayes (William H. Macy), the boss of Dean and JT, that he’s offered a high-paying corporate job for which he is obviously not suited.

The gang realizes they have created a monster, as the unintended consequences come into full play. Even before the story arrives at this stage, “Ricky Stanicky” succeeds in delivering enough gags and laughs for an amusing diversion.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.