Stanislaus

After eight years, the obese, gluttonous and clumsy Dragon Warrior Po (soon-to-be spiritual leader of the Valley of Peace) returns to the scene to face perhaps his most diabolical opponent yet, the Chameleon. Kung Fu Panda 4 is quite average, offering essentially another generally straightforward adventure with no major surprises or demands on the viewer. I had the feeling that they didn't use the (literally) multilayered potential of Chameleon and were just after a spectacular show, but I praise the voice-acting of Viola Davis. I found the final confrontation a bit rushed, as if they suddenly remembered that they had a burning deadline to submit the final film and needed to cut it as quickly as possible. The film is not boring in the cinema, but a few days after the screening you won’t remember much about it.

On the eve of this year's Czech Lions, the choice fell on the film with the most nominations and also our foreign-language candidate for the Academy Awards. Brothers could have at least taken a back seat to more promising projects for the Oscars, as it is an at times overly aloof and stilted biographical drama that, like the opinions on the real brothers, comes across as controversial. The film would have benefited from a shorter running time and a stronger coherence between scenes (especially in the first half). That said, I commend the action sequences depicting the brothers' movements in Eastern Germany, as well as the scenes with the female cast (Tatiana Dykova and Karolina Lea Nováková), which were powerful to the point of being chilling. Better three stars!

I haven't seen the original animated series (yet), nor the remake by Shyamalan, but because I couldn’t make any comparisons to those projects, and I also wasn't familiar with the story beforehand. The current version has a fairly slow start, but it picks up speed from the middle point onward, only stopping at the very end of the first season. Despite the child friendly concept (except perhaps for the last episode), the adventures of Aang and his friends managed to deliver some tension, but also to entertain, and at times even move me. I praise the technical aspect, which is on par with high-budget cinema films; it was a pleasure to see the various settings, duels of the elements and creatures – in this respect, I enjoyed the episode with the demonically multifaceted Koh the most. The cast was generally well chosen, though I have some quibbles, but the main character, Aang, is really likeable – and that counts. I hope that we will see a second season, for which the ending of the first one was enticingly "fiery".