Western Animation / Kung Fu Panda 4

Spoilers for all previous installments, including Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight, will remain unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

This is the moment you’ve all been waiting 4.

"Once I possess the kung fu of every master villain, no one will dare question my power. (as Tai Lung) Not even the great Dragon Warrior."

— The Chameleon

Kung Fu Panda 4 is a 2024 animated fantasy action comedy film and the fourth theatrical installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise from DreamWorks Animation. It once again stars Jack Black as Po alongside franchise veterans Dustin Hoffman, Bryan Cranston, Ian McShane, and James Hong, as well as newcomers Awkwafina, Ke Huy Quan, Lori Tan Chinn, Ronny Chieng and Viola Davis. Mike Mitchell (Trolls, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part) directs, with Stephanie Ma Stine (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power) co-directing, franchise veterans Jonathan Aigel & Glenn Berger (King of the Hill) returning to write the script alongside Darren Lemke (Shrek Forever After), and Rebecca Huntley (The Bad Guys) producing.

The film follows Po as he takes on his most daunting mission yet: becoming the spiritual leader of the Valley of Peace. But before he can retire as the Dragon Warrior, he first needs to find a successor to the title. There’s also the matter of stopping a dangerous new foe, the Chameleon (Davis), a shapeshifting sorceress who has a horrifying plan to bring back all of Po's greatest enemies — including Tai Lung (McShane) — to steal their kung fu abilities and conquer China. Now, Po's only hope of stopping the Chameleon is to join forces with a quick-witted young fox named Zhen (Awkwafina) and raise an unlikely army to stand against the greatest threat to the Valley yet.

The film was released on March 8, 2024. Black's band, Tenacious D also contributed a song for the film's end credits — a cover of Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time".

Previews: Trailer

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Kung Fu Panda 4 provides examples of:

• Abusive Parents: The Chameleon practically raised Zhen, but is nothing but critical and controlling of her, and makes it clear she'll cast Zhen aside if she no longer proves useful to her, a threat she sticks to when Zhen turns against her.
• Accidental Hero: Both Mr. Ping and Li Shan are on a mission to help Po, but their stop at the Happy Bunny Tavern sees them liberate the bunnies from their harsh indentured servitude to Granny Boar as a side effect, even though their mission objective was to help someone else.
• Action Dad: Both of Po's dads take great length to protect their son and take part of the action of the movie.
• Actor Allusion:
  • Viola Davis brings forth a group of villains that she screws over for their talents and her own ambitions, in addition to being a mean mentor to a criminal who was hated by society, and gets her Just Desserts from said villains she's screwed over.
  • Once again, Awkwafina voices a snarky thief in a DreamWorks film who undergoes a Heel–Face Turn.
• Adjective Animal Alehouse: The Happy Bunny is a tavern staffed by rabbits, built on a cliff.
• Admiring the Abomination: Po admits that the Chameleon's One-Winged Angel form looks cool.
  Po: That is awesome! I mean, it's disturbing, but it's awesome!
• Advertised Extra:
  • The return of Tai Lung, along with Ian McShane reprising his role for the first time since the original film, was a major selling point in the trailers and marketing. He only appears sparsely in the first half as one of the Chameleon's disguises, while the real Tai Lung doesn't appear at all until the third act and spends most of it imprisoned — though to be fair, he's surprisingly impactful.
  • The three Cute Psycho bunnies of the band of thieves at Juniper City appear in the two main posters, the trailer, and in a LOT of the TV spots. They only appear in the scene they're introduced in and in the climax. Meaning that if you watch said trailers and TV spots, you have already seen half of their screen-time.
• All Your Powers Combined: When facing off against Po and Zhen together, the Chameleon transforms various parts of herself all at once to augment her strength with the abilities of all the masters she's stolen powers from. Although in effect this turns her into a monstrous One-Winged Angel rather than actually granting her their powers.
• Ambiguously Gay: Given just how well Mr. Ping and Li Shan work together for their son, it is very possible they become a thing in between movies.
• Army of Thieves and Whores: Obviously, there aren't going to be any of the latter in a family picture, but when Mr. Ping points out the Chameleon has an army, Zhen takes Po to a city of thieves to convince its ruffians to fight alongside them.
• Bad Guy Bar: The Happy Bunny Tavern. The bunny employees are abused by their manager and her wolf clients, one of them even getting thrown out the window when Po and Zhen arrive. One of them even stirs broth while they're standing in it and is constantly yelled to stir faster. As Po tips one of them with a coin, a wolf steals it.
• Bad Moon Rising: The Chameleon decides to wait until when the blood moon is perfectly in the sky that she will use the Staff of Wisdom to open a portal into the spirit realm. However, it's not because the blood moon grants any special properties, it's just for dramatic effect.
• Back from the Dead: Tai Lung, who for all intents and purposes was killed at the end of the first movie, is brought back to the physical plane by the Chameleon. The same happens with Lord Shen, General Kai, and many other dead villains as they are each brought back by the Chameleon for their powers.
• Back for the Dead: While Tai Lung's role is slightly more significant out of everyone who was brought back, at the end of the day all of the major villains simply return without words, only to be sidelined straight after when their powers are taken. When the Chameleon is defeated, they all return to the Spirit Realm anyway, taking the Chameleon with them.
• Batman Cold Open: Po makes his first appearance in the movie defending a village from a giant child-eating stingray that is irrelevant to the rest of the movie.
• Becoming the Mask: While she spends much of the film leading him into the Chameleon's trap, Zhen comes to genuinely bond with Po throughout their journey through his kindness and mentorship, and ultimately pulls a Heel–Face Turn as a result.
• Breast Attack: The three rabbits that attack Po, after an implied Groin Attack, latch onto his nipples (or where they would be, due to Animals Lack Attributes) painfully.
• Brick Joke:
  • Early in the movie, Po mentions a fire-breathing crocodile as being one of the villains he's defeated over the years, though he can't remember his name. Later, when he sees the deceased, evil kung-fu masters the Chameleon resurrected and put in cages, he finds the crocodile in one of the cages, who gets annoyed that Po doesn't remember his name (Scott).
  • Both Po and Zhen have scenes of trying to convince the criminals of Juniper City into doing the right thing, only for them to horribly misconstrue the advice given.
• The Bus Came Back: Zig-Zagged with the Furious Five, Shifu, and Kai, as while they were present in the previous film, they were largely absent from the franchise overall for 8 years as they weren't featured in the two series that were released in-between 3 and 4. Played straight with Tai Lung and Lord Shen, who hadn't been seen since dying in the first and second movies respectively.^note While Tai Lung did technically appear in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, that was an illusion created by Po.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Zigzagged with Po's memory of Scott, the evil, fire-breathing crocodile kung-fu master. He remembers him, but forgot his name and didn't recognize him when he saw him.
• Canon Discontinuity: While the TV shows have always contradicted the movies and even each other to varying degrees, only The Dragon Knight was officially declared non-canon beforehand. An interview with the co-director shortly after the film's release confirmed that all of the shows are officially non-canon as a whole. Some details in the movie that confirms this include:
  • Following Kung Fu Panda 3, the non-canon spin-off shows The Paws Of Destiny and The Dragon Knight had Po changing his title to Dragon Master. This film completely ignores this change, and Po is instead still going by his original title of Dragon Warrior. Additionally, by the time of The Dragon Knight, it was shown that Po as the "Dragon Master" by that point was a national folk hero in China considering the food tour he was going on and how the Emperor of that series took away his title and made him a nationally disgraced pariah. This movie dials back that development and scales Po back down to being just a localized hero whose adventures and fame haven't traveled all that wide and a lot of people in Juniper City don't even know who he is or why he's so important.
  • While travelling with Zhen to Juniper City, Po claims he has never had to work with a wanted criminal before, and is horrified when his association with her gets him his own wanted poster. This makes it abundantly clear that the events of The Dragon Knight, which also revolves around Po becoming a fugitive — including getting a wanted poster — and teaming up with other criminals, is not part of this continuity.
  • At the end of The Dragon Knight which was the last KFP iteration before this movie, Mr. Ping ended up with the pirate queen Forouzan as an Official Couple, with Forouzan essentially becoming Po's stepmom. In this movie, all of that is overridden and Mr. Ping is single again, spending most of the movie on misadventures with Li Shan. His past as a pirate also is fully absent.
  • In both The Paws Of Destiny and The Dragon Knight, Po and Ping have clearly taken residence in the Panda village as their new home with Ping even having a new restaurant there to continue his business, but this movie shows them still living in the Valley of Peace much like the previous movies and Legends of Awesomeness, with this time being the inverse in where it's Li Shan who moved away from the village to live in the Valley of Peace (along with a few other pandas, as seen when Po returns).
  • Even in the design department, both The Paws Of Destiny and The Dragon Knight feature the rabbits having totally different designs from those depicted in the movies and the original series, while this movie goes back to the rabbits' original designs instead of their newer ones.
  • In The Paws of Destiny, Ping still saw Li as a rival for Po's affection and does not get along with him, yet in this film Ping sees Li as an equal and both help each to co-parent Po.
  • The last time Oogway's tree was seen was in Legends of Awesomeness episode "Enter the Dragon" in where its disintegrated, however it shows up fine and well in this film.
  • Po comments that he broke the Urn of Whispering Warriors twice as shown in the first and third movies, even though it would be three times it's broken as it was broken once in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness. ^note Though to be fair Li broke it in the third film and not Po, while Po accidentally destroyed it in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, so he's technically not wrong that he broke it twice if one were to take the show into account.
  • In the shows, Mr. Ping could casually fly in the air and stay airborne whenever the plot called for it. In this movie when we see him flying for the first time, he can only fly in very short bursts from one stone step to another and needs Li Shan's help in giving him a lift to achieve his short bursts.
• Cardboard Pal: Due to the Furious Five going on separate mission to protect China, Po and his two dads made cardboard cutouts of the Furious Five.
• Chekhov's Skill: During the fight at the Happy Bunny Tavern, Po defeats the criminals there by summoning his golden dragon from the Staff of Wisdom. He later tries teaching Zhen how to do it. In the final fight, after Po is "trapped" in rocks thrown by The Chameleon posing as Po himself, Zhen is given the Staff of Wisdom and defeats The Chameleon with the exact same golden dragon technique which Po taught her.
• Combat Pragmatist: During her initial clash with Po, Zhen uses the environment to her advantage, and distracts Po by throwing valuable artifacts at him.
• Comically Missing the Point:
  • When Po doubts his ability to be spiritual leader, Shifu rhetorically asks him what he's holding. While he's referring to the Staff of Wisdom — which Po inherited from Oogway — Po instead holds up his other hand to show the cookie he's eating.
  • This is later flipped when Shifu brings Po to Oogway's peach tree to meditate, and once again asks him what he's holding. This time, Po does answer the Staff of Wisdom, but it turns out Shifu is actually talking about the peach pit he's holding in his other hand, which the latter uses as part of his symbolic lecture.
  • When telling Po about the Chameleon, Zhen claims that Po will need someone in the know to track her down. While she's clearly referring to herself — since she must know a lot about the Chameleon in order to explain all of this — Po instead asks if Zhen knows where he can find someone in the know.
• Continuity Nod:
  • In the first movie, Mr. Ping's noodle shop was heavily damaged during Po's battle with Tai Lung, with the subsequent sequels still showing visible cracks and fillings where it had been repaired. At the beginning of his film, Po, Ping and Li host a grand reopening of the restaurant, which appears to have been renovated with all of the previous battle damage completely gone.
  • The Hall of Heroes is shown to have been remodeled and reorganized, after it — along with the rest of the Jade Palace — was destroyed by Kai in the third film.
  • One of the objects in the Hall of Heroes is the Dragon Scroll.
  • During their first encounter, when Zhen tosses the Dagger of Denoa at Po, he dodges it in Slow Motion just as Shifu did during his fight with Tai Lung in the first film.
  • When Zhen toys with the Urn of Whispering Warriors (which is repaired again), Po laments that he already broke it twice. As expected, it gets broken again.
  • The film ends on a shot of the peach tree that Oogway and Shifu planted during their final conversation in the first movie, having grown so much... and a second tree having begun to grow next to it.
  • The training montage during the end credits takes place in the training hall, with several moments from the first movie recreated with Zhen. However, Zhen is slowly getting the hang of it. At the very end, both Po and Zhen are training at the roof top and the two bow to each other.
• Cooldown Hug: After fighting Po to try and stop him from encountering the Chameleon, Zhen finally hugs him to prove how worried she is for him.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: After discovering Zhen was secretly working for the Chameleon the entire time, and had tricked him into handing the Staff of Wisdom over, Po realizes Shifu was right: if he hadn't gone on this adventure to stop the Chameleon and just let one of the Furious Five handle it, the staff never would've been able to end up in the Chameleon's hands to begin with. On the other hand, if he hadn't gone with Zhen, he wouldn't have discovered his successor as the Dragon Warrior, or settled into his role as a spiritual leader and mentor.
• Cruel Elephant:
  • One of the forms the Chameleon takes is a huge, ferocious-looking Asian elephant. She uses the form to blackmail the crime lords of Juniper City to give her 60% cut of their money and uses her trunk to push one of them down a flight of stairs.
  • She later takes on the elephant form again to grab Zhen with her trunk and tell Zhen she should've left her in the gutter after siding with Po.
• Cunning Like a Fox: After seeing Zhen's pictures on wanted posters which are hung around the city, Po learns to his shock that she is a criminal. Unfortunately for him, Zhen poses in front of a large wall covered in them, showing that her cunning most likely helped her evade the law.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Zhen confides in Po that she was once a poor orphan living on the streets, with flashbacks showing her as a cub having to steal what she needed to survive, until she was eventually taken in by a mentor who raised to put her thieving skills to greater use. As it turns out, the one who took her in was none other than the Chameleon.
• Deadpan Snarker: Zhen doesn't seem to be afraid when Po wants to use his Staff of Wisdom against her:
  Zhen: Oh, no! He's got a walking stick! What are you going to do, stroll me to death?
• Death Glare: When the Chameleon transforms into an amalgamation of the undead warriors, Lord Shen and General Kai can be seen scowling indignant as she takes on their traits.
• Delicious Distraction: Po attempts to meditate on his Inner Peace, but par for the course, slips into a mental tangent about what he wants to eat for dinner.
  Po: [thinking] Inner Peace. Inner Peace. Dinner, please. Dinner with peas in a sesame soy glaze. Snow peas... [out loud] This is not working at all.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • In all three prior movies, Shifu took part in the climax and had at least one fight scene, if not more. In this one, he appears at the beginning, but disappears after Po goes to Juniper City, and does not reappear until after the story is over, at the very end. Just like the second movie, this could be justified since Shifu has to keep an eye on the Jade Palace.
  • Despite being advertised to appear in the movie in some capacity according to interviews, the Furious Five only appear at the end of the movie during credits to help Po train Zhen and get no speaking lines^note only Seth Rogen has a voice credit, and it's because Mantis uses archival grunting, despite being more prominent supporting characters in the previous movies.
• Desperate Object Catch: Po spots Zhen sneaking into the Jade Temple and tries to catch the thief, but she distracts him by tossing around all the precious artifacts stored (among which the Dragon Warrior Scroll) and forcing Po to desperately catch every one of them. This includes the Urn of Whispering Warriors (Po mentions having already broken it twice) that Po saves at the last split-second from a fall by catching it with the Staff of Wisdom. But then it still gets broken by Zhen.
• Dirty Cop: The guards who arrest Po just for trying to talk them into letting Zhen go.
• Ditto Fighter:
  • After the Chameleon absorbs Tai Lung's kung fu powers, she briefly transforms into Tai Lung himself and attacks the real Tai Lung with his signature nerve attack.
  • After the Chameleon's chimeric One-Winged Angel form is seemingly defeated, bringing down Po with her, Zhen runs into what she thinks is Po, but is actually the Chameleon, who has transformed into Po himself — albeit a giant, horrifying version of Po with fangs, scales, and horns along his shoulders.
• A Dog Named "Dog":
  • The chameleon sorceress named Chameleon.
  • The credits show that the fish boatman who ferries Po and Zhen to Juniper City is just named Fish.
• The Door Slams You: When Zhen walks out of the prison with Po, she slams the entrance door open in the face of one of the two goose guards. He gets stuck between the bars of its small window, and Zhen shakes his wing through it, thanking him for the brief stay. The guard can still be seen stuck in place afterward when Shifu closes the door.
• Do with Him as You Will: After the Chameleon is defeated and the stolen Kung Fu skills are returned to their rightful owners, Po sends the deceased Kung Fu masters back to the Spirit Realm, and also allows them to take the Chameleon with them in revenge for stealing their Kung Fu and locking them up in cages. The Chameleon begs Zhen to save her, only for Zhen to throw her third rule of not caring about anyone's feelings back at her.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Although Po is famous, he learns to his dismay that he is not world-famous, and nobody in Juniper City has even heard of him, except the Chameleon. He's even more annoyed when he learns that although the people of Juniper City haven't heard of him, they have heard of Shifu.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Zhen is confused when Po offers her half of his cookie, believing that he must want something in return.
• Eviler than Thou: The Chameleon resurrects several villains, steals their kung-fu skills, and puts them in cages, including Tai Lung, Lord Shen, and General Kai, the big bads of the previous three movies.
• Eye Scream: During the tavern fight, Zhen throws a bowl full of chili pepper into a wolf's face, who screams from his eyes turning painfully red.
• Face Death with Dignity: Downplayed. Having already died before being abducted by the Chameleon, Tai Lung and the other previously deceased masters, villainous or otherwise, have no qualms about returning to the Spirit Realm after her defeat, with Tai Lung outright asking Po to "send [them] home". Subverted with the Chameleon, who begs Zhen to save her and screams in terror as Tai Lung takes her with him to the Spirit Realm.
• Five-Aces Cheater: When Po and Zhen arrive at the Happy Bunny Tavern, Zhen asks to play mahjong with the boar lady manager and wolves saying she's never played and ends up winning a buffet for herself and Po under the excuse of beginner's luck. Po gives her a pat on the back, causing mahjong pieces to fall out of her tail.
• Five-Finger Discount: How Zhen used to survive on the streets as a street urchin, and is still a dedicated thief to this day. Although she calls it a "Four-Finger Discount" when suggesting to Po that they'd steal a boat, since as a Funny Animal her paws are Four-Fingered Hands.
• Foreshadowing: After Zhen briefly beats Po in their first encounter, as soon she grabs the Staff of Wisdom she turns to leave the Hall of Warriors. Then come the third act of the film and Zhen is revealed to have been working with The Chameleon and was tasked with stealing the Staff of Wisdom.
• Fragile Speedster: When Po confronts Zhen in the Hall of Heroes, she runs circles around him at first. But once he stops trying to protect the relics and focuses entirely on her, she goes down in two hits.
• Freudian Excuse: The Chameleon reveals that, like Po, she was once looked down upon and underestimated for her appearance, and her attempts to learn Kung Fu were met with rejection and mockery. Out of spite, she has now resorted to abducting other masters in order to forcefully steal their abilities for herself, and intends to vanquish the legendary Dragon Warrior and conquer the world to cement herself as the greatest Kung Fu master, as well as get revenge on everyone who disrespected her.
• Fruit Cart: During the pursuit in Juniper City by the bull policemen, Po falls into a cart full of durians — twice over. The second time, the poor pig vendor starts crying (which might be a shout-out to the cabbage merchant from Avatar: The Last Airbender).
• Furry Confusion: The stingray in the beginning of the movie is largely non-anthropomorphic, is not shown to be capable of speech, and actually eats people, leaving it ambiguous whether it's actually sapient like every other animal is shown to be.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: Parodied; a little Shifu appears floating over each of Po's shoulders, but they are both advocating against using violence.
  Po: Shouldn't my inner Shifus have different opinions?
• Graying Morality: While this movie does have a clear hero and villain, there are a lot more characters who are on the grey scale than the previous films had.
• Guilt by Association Gag: After Zhen gets arrested by the cops in Juniper City, Po tries to talk the cops into letting her go, only for them to arrest him, too, for no reason.
• Guilt-Ridden Accomplice: After The Reveal that Zhen has been playing Po all along to get his Staff for the Chameleon, Zhen is visibly regretful for betraying Po's trust.
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • Zhen, actually the Chameleon's adopted ward, initially betrays Po and gives his Staff of Wisdom to her mentor. She soon comes to regret her actions and helps Po to stop her master.
  • After witnessing him defeat the Chameleon and liberate him from her control, Tai Lung bows to Po in respect, and part with him on good terms as he willingly returns to the Spirit Realm.
• Height Angst: The Chameleon reveals that she was laughed at by every master she tried to train under, all because of her small size.
• A Hero to His Hometown: Zigzagged with Zhen. Although the people of Juniper City know she's a thief and con artist, she's very popular, and everyone who sees her smiles at her and greets her, even a pig placing her wanted posters.
• Hollywood Chameleons: Rather than merely changing her colours as the real animal does, the Chameleon is capable of outright shapeshifting into any form she desires and can even change in size.
• Human-to-Werewolf Footprints: When Po investigates the alleged return of Tai Lung, he finds footprints in the snow that start out as the expected snow leopard's, but quickly shrink to those of a small reptile, hinting of the Chameleon's shapeshifting nature.
• I Am Not Weasel: Shifu takes quiet offense to being called a squirrel by Zhen, immediately correcting that he's a Red Panda. Zhen seems genuinely without a comeback to this, seemingly surprised it got to him.
• Ice-Cream Koan: A lot of Po's attempts at proverbs come out like this, proof in his mind he isn't meant (or ready) to be a spiritual leader and source of wisdom. Unsurprisingly, most of them end up being related to food, and even once he manages to achieve some eloquence in one of the movie's final scenes, he still ends up slipping back into this when he starts trying too hard.
  Zhen: Why does everything come back to dumplings with you?
• If I Had a Nickel...: When the Chameleon makes a "Not So Different" Remark to Po, he responds, "If I only had a dumpling for every time a villain talked about how much we had in common."
• Ill-Timed Sneeze: As Po and Zhen attempt to sneak past a squadron of sleeping komodo guards, the latter's tail tickles Po's nose, causing him to begin sneezing. Zhen holds it in, but the sneeze makes its way through Po's body and out his butt, making a fart loud enough to wake the guards.
• Impact Silhouette: When Mr. Ping walks into the Happy Bunny Tavern and asks around if the patrons have seen his son, he's pointed toward a Po-shaped hole in the wall, left from the panda exiting the tavern during the previous brawl.
• Impossible Theft: The monkey thieves in the Juniper City underworld manage to steal Po's pants right off his body while he's distracted talking to Zhen.
• Informed Species:
  • While the Chameleon has a head crest and very long tongue, she's missing the distinctive eyes that real chameleons have (instead having typical reptilian eyes) and has unusually long spines along her tail (more akin with the spines of an iguana).
  • Apart from their large size, her komodo dragon guards look little like the real deal, having dark green scales rather than golden-brown scales like real komodos, and also have long spines along their heads and tails, which real komodos lack.
• Instantly Proven Wrong:
  • After Po sees a wall full of her "Wanted!" Posters, Zhen dismissively tells him that, "The law has better things to do than look for me." Immediately after saying it, she bumps into a pair of bull policemen.
    Bull 1: Hey, fox!
    Bull 2: We've been looking for you!
  • Li Shan proudly declares that, since he left his village in the mountains, he's become "... a bit of warrior. Strong. Brave." Then the sound of a whip scares him and he jumps into Mr. Ping's arms (wings?) for a Security Cling (naturally squashing the goose under his weight).
• Interspecies Adoption: The pelican captain Po and Zhen meets has a fish for a son, which endears him to Po, who was similarly adopted by a different species.
• Jerkass: The Rabbit Triplets, Played for Laughs. Despite their young age and cuteness, they're sadistic, bloodthirsty criminals who talk about how much they love violence.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: When Zhen tries convincing the other thieves of Juniper City to help her overthrow the Chameleon because it's the right thing to do, she fails. They only agree to help when they realize that without the Chameleon keeping them under her thumb, they'd be able to commit all the crimes they want. As Zhen puts it, they do the right thing for the wrong reason.
• Juxtaposed Halves Shot: During the final battle, once the Chameleon has taken Po's form, there is a split screen of both opponents facing each other, which then fuses into a juxtaposed shot of Po's face on the right, and the mutated Po-lookalike on the left.
• Kick the Dog: Whe the guilt-ridden Zhen calls herself "the worst friend ever", Li Shan states that "friend" might be kind of stretching it.
• Killer Rabbit: Literal case with bunny triplets — when Po tells them to be careful with fireworks, they growl at him while barring sharp teeth and moments after that attack him. They later say that "violence makes their tummies tingle".
• Levitating Lotus Position: Master Shifu on the poster. Also, the little "inner Shifus" that appear floating over Po's shoulders in a parody of Good Angel, Bad Angel are also in the Lotus Position.
• Like an Old Married Couple: While Mr. Ping and Li Shan have become closer friends, they still argue with each other a lot.
• Loophole Abuse: Played for Laughs. While Shifu insists that Po must choose the next Dragon Warrior, he does not specifically say that it has to be someone else. So naturally, Po — still wanting to keep his title — chooses himself, to Shifu's chagrin.
• Make Way for the New Villains: The Chameleon easily defeats Tai Lung (the Big Bad of the first movie) by sucking out his kung fu powers. She even does the same to Lord Shen (the Big Bad of the second movie) as well as Kai (the Big Bad of the third movie) quickly and offscreen, and other villains that have said to have been defeated by Po offscreen.
• Mantis Mating Meal: Mantis' Put on a Bus excuse is that he's gotten married offscreen, and is trying to keep his wife from biting his head off.
• "Mission: Impossible" Cable Drop: This is how Zhen starts stealing the Jade Temple's artifacts, dangling on a rope from the ceiling and dropping down whenever Po has his back turned.
• Mister Big: The Chameleon's army consists of komodo dragons, all of whom naturally tower over her.
• More Diverse Sequel: Non-human example: the movie features more animal diversity than the previous three films with mouflons, pangolin (Hun), fox (Zhen), golden snub-nosed monkeys, wolves, boars, badger, elephant (which form Chameleon takes), manta ray (that fights with Po), crocodiles, buffalos, rhinos and oxen all appearing in just one trailer.
• Morphic Resonance: With each form the Chameleon shifts into, subtle hints of her true identity remain, such as her scaly skin.
• Myopic Architecture: The Chameleon manages to trap Po in a magically enchanted cage that's too heavy for him to lift on his own and too tough for him to break out... but there's no bottom to the cage, so Po manages to escape by breaking through the stone floor of the Chameleon's palace.
  Chameleon: That's frustrating for a number of reasons...
• Never Mess with Granny: Granny Boar, a Hot-Blooded elderly boar sow that can take out her tusks and use them as weapons and is the leader of a gang of boar and wolf bandits.
• Never Trust a Trailer:
  • Most of the marketing implies that the Chameleon already has the ability to summon Tai Lung and other past villains from the Spirit Realm, with this enabling her to take on their forms. In the actual film, she's already taking on their appearances from the start — with her impersonation of Tai Lung being the opening scene — and actually needs Po's Staff of Wisdom to access the Spirit Realm to summon the real masters, which doesn't happen until the third act.
  • In the final trailer, the Chameleon's voice during her Motive Rant briefly shifts into that of J. K. Simmons as General Kai, seemingly suggesting that the latter would be reprising his role in the film. This effect is not present on her voice when she says this line in the actual film, and while Kai appears, he has no dialogue.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Part of what pushes the already-regretful Zhen into a Heel–Face Turn is the Chameleon making it clear that she only values her if she acts as a ruthless, heartless villain, and won't hesitate to cast her aside if that ever changes.
• Nightmare Face: The Chameleon puts one on when she takes another's form, most notably that of Po himself during the climax.
• Nonchalant Dodge: When Zhen and Po arrive at the Happy Bunny Tavern, an ax flies at Po and only misses him because he ducked down to take his backpack off. Then he uses the ax, now lodged in the wall next to him, to hang up his hat.
• Noodle Incident: When explaining the absence of the Furious Five, Po mentions that Crane now rules over a tribe of crocodile warriors. How or why Crane came to be in this position is never elaborated on, with Po only claiming that it's a "long story".
• No OSHA Compliance: The Happy Bunny is perched precariously on a cliff, which Po and Zhen point out. It takes Li to finally send it falling into the water.
  Zhen: Who designs a tavern on a cliff?
• "Not So Different" Remark: The Chameleon notes that she and Po are quite similar, as they were both underestimated due to their appearance. Po lampshades how villains always seem to be saying that to him.
• Painted CGI: Downplayed. While not as explicit as previous DreamWorks Animation films with this trope, particularly Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and The Bad Guys, the combat scenes briefly using ink-brushed painted backgrounds.
• Passing the Torch: Shifu tells Po early on that it is time for him to take Oogway's place as the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace, and that he must choose a successor of his own to be the next Dragon Warrior. Po is resistant to the idea and rejects most of the applicants, feeling he's better off staying in this position he's comfortable with. Throughout the film, Po begins to mentor and bond with the young thief Zhen, including teaching her Kung Fu, and after they defeat the Chameleon, he ultimately chooses her to be the new Dragon Warrior.
• Pass the Popcorn: As the criminals of Juniper City are fighting with the Chameleon's guards, Ping and Li Shan sit down with cups of fruit punch to watch the fight.
• Playing Possum: During their clash in the Hall of Warriors, Zhen pretends to have been knocked unconscious in order to get Po to let down his guard.
• Plot Parallel: When Shifu informs Po that he needs to choose a successor because he has now been chosen to become spiritual leader of the Valley (as evidenced by Oogway's gift of the Staff of Wisdom), part of his explanation is that all things change, and that only by becoming "more than what you are" can Po continue progressing in kung fu and fulfilling his destiny. Later, when Po admits that his determination to go with Zhen to face the Chameleon rather than choose his successor is because he's afraid of change and wants to stay the Dragon Warrior, both Ping and Li speak of how their lives have changed for the better thanks to knowing him, so that change is not always bad, and should not be feared. In immediate contrast Zhen is told by the Chameleon that she only took her in because she saw potential in her as her tool, and would get rid of her if she ever stopped being useful... so "don't change." She eventually decides to defy her Evil Mentor and follow Po's example. Best summed up by the lesson, "It's never too late to do the right thing."
• Powers as Programs:
  • Despite the Kung Fu moves and styles being mostly mundane, the Chameleon's abilities transfer those of the spirits to her. This renders the spirits unable to use the moves, even though a lot of them were simply moving a body part in a specific manner, while also making the Chameleon an Instant Expert for them. This is touched on by the Chameleon, who remarks that while Kung Fu is mostly mundane, part of it lives "in the soul."
  • Averted when it comes to moves that were explicitly spiritual, like Po summoning the spirit dragon.
• Protection in Mouth: The pelican captain keeps her son in her mouth the entire time they're together. The one time he's flung out, he nearly falls in a fire and has to be saved. When they overshoot the dock and run their boat into it, the fish silently closes the pelican's mouth on himself to save face.
• Put on a Bus: When attending a ceremony at the start of the film, Po claims that the Furious Five are off on other missions and can't attend, explaining their absence from the story. They finally return in the ending scene to help Po train Zhen.
• Recognition Failure: Because it's apparently so far from the Valley of Peace, nobody in Juniper City, except for the Chameleon, has ever heard of a Dragon Warrior, much to Po's frustration.
  Po: Aw, man. Are my adventures really that regional?
• Recruiting the Criminal: Zhen is recruited as an expert on the area and the Chameleon after being caught attempting to rob the Hall of Heroes.
• Redemption Rejection: Po follows Shifu's advice in his confrontation with the Chameleon, trying at least once to appeal to her better nature and offering her redemption. She turns it down and he gives up, falling back on combat.
• Remember the New Guy?: One of the deceased, evil kung-fu masters the Chameleon resurrects and cages is Scott, a fire-breathing crocodile who apparently fought Po and died at some point in the past.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The movie's Big Bad is a female chameleon named Chameleon, who also has army of komodo dragon guards.
• Repurposed Pop Song:
  • The first trailer is set to a dramatic remix of "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes.
  • In the movie proper, as Po and Zhen both navigate Juniper City to evade the bull guards, a Chinese rendition of Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" can be heard.
• Rule of Symbolism:
  • One of Zhen's flashbacks shows The Chamaleon giving her a seed-shaped jewel from her fake tree, while in the present narrative, Po gives her the pit of a peach that he had been eating earlier. Although the Chameleon's gift seems shiny and valuable, it's ultimately false and transactional, while Po's gift — albeit more mundane and humble — is completely genuine and holds the promise of actual growth.
  • In the original film, Shifu planted the pit of a peach in the ground during his last conversation with Oogway, with the latter telling him the tree can be nurtured and guided to grow over time, a clear parallel to his relationship with Po. In this film's ending, that seed — representing Po — is shown to have grown and matured into a peach tree of its own, with a smaller, younger tree — representing Zhen, Po's own protégé — now growing alongside it.
• Sadist: The three rabbit children who love violence.
• Samus Is a Girl: Po witnesses a hooded thief breaking into the Hall of Warriors to steal some artifacts, and refers to them as "Dude" during their fight. During a slow-motion shot, the hood is removed and Po is surprised to see that the thief — Zhen — is actually female.
• Saved by the Platform Below: Li and Ping are climbing up a series of steps built on what seems to be a high mountain side. Suddenly, the step Li is standing on gives way and he falls... and lands on a path six feet below.
• Save the Villain: Po fights to save all the deceased kung-fu masters after the Chameleon steals their kung-fu and puts them in cages, even though all of them are evil and some of them are old enemies of his, such as Tai Lung, Lord Shen, and General Kai.
• Scenery Porn: Every Kung Fu Panda film has had stunning visuals and this one is no different. It's particularly impressive when you find out this was made for half the budget the other films had.
• Security Cling: Right after Li Shan declares that he's become "... a bit of warrior. Strong. Brave.", the sound of a whip scares him and he jumps into Mr. Ping's arms (wings?). Of course, Li Shan is a giant panda and Ping is just a goose, so he ends up squashed under the weight.
• Sequel Hook: The film ends with Po and the Furious Five training Zhen to become the next Dragon Warrior.^note On December 3, 2010, then-DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg confirmed that Kung Fu Panda was originally planned as a six-film series. Prior to the release of Kung Fu Panda 4, Mike Mitchell and Rebecca Huntley stated that the film could potentially launch a new trilogy.
• Shake Someone, Objects Fall:
  • Po grabs Zhen by the tail and shakes her to knock out a stolen object hidden inside it while fleeing the Happy Bunny.
  • Later in Juniper City, a guard shakes a passerby in the same way to rob them.
• Shapeshifter Mashup: During the final showdown, the Chameleon takes on an amalgamated form composed of pieces of all the masters whose powers she stole.
• Shapeshifting: The Chameleon's power, due to her natural abilities coupled with her sorcery, enables her to change her form at will.
• Secret Test: In the final battle, the Chameleon traps Po in the remnants of her enchanted cages, leaving only Zhen left to defeat her. Using the skills that Po taught her, she manages to do just that, at which point Po reveals he could've escaped from the cage any time he wanted, but he wanted to give Zhen a chance to shine. Po used Zhen's lesson in method to teach her. It was revealed earlier that Zhen could have broken out of prison the first time Po caught her anytime she wanted to, so Po used that lesson on Zhen to get her to fight the Chameleon on her own.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: The wolf who gets a bowl of chili pepper in the face during the tavern brawl lets out a particularly shrill scream.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Po shuts down the Chameleon's attempt at a villainous speech by revealing he already knows her plan, and trying to appeal to her better nature.
• Sinister Stingrays: In the beginning of the film, Po is seen fighting a giant, monstrous-looking manta ray.
• Songs in the Key of Lock: As Po and Zhen are fleeing the Juniper Police, they end up in a dead end alley filled with drums. Zhen starts playing the drums and one of them opens up, leading them to an underground community to evade the police.
• Spell My Name with a "The": When Po learns about the Chameleon, he asks Zhen, "How do we defeat this 'the Chameleon'?"
• Squirrels in My Pants: When Po is attacked by the three psycho little rabbits, one of them manages to slip into his pants, presumably to try a Groin Attack.
• Stopped Numbering Sequels: Averted. This is the first DreamWorks sequel since Universal's acquisition to be numbered instead of using sub-title, which started with How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: Po attempts to meditate under the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom, only to be quickly distracted by many conflicting mental images of himself (in the form of floating heads) having conversations with each other. At the end of the movie, the same floating Po heads interrupt Shifu in the same situation.
• Swallowed Whole: The manta ray in the Batman Cold Open swallows multiple children which stay in its belly during Po's battle with it, and are safely regurgitated at the battle's close.
• Title Drop: It is the first film in the series to actually say Kung Fu Panda out loud, said by Po in this case as one of his titles when trying to convince the Juniper City guards to free Zhen from their clutches.
• Tom the Dark Lord: Scott the evil, fire-breathing crocodile kung-fu master.
• The Tooth Hurts: When Li Shan tries to play himself off as an intimidating force at the Happy Bunny Tavern, he chews on some mahjong pieces — but ends up spitting out some of his own teeth.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: The small bunnies who were treated like slaves in the Happy Bunny Tavern are now free since Li Shan made the tavern fall off a cliff and land in the river.
• Trailers Always Spoil:
  • Several shots in the trailer reveal that the Chameleon gets her hands on Po's chi staff at some point in the film.
  • While the main trailers had attempted to avoid showing Lord Shen and General Kai, their appearances were eventually glimpsed in some TV spots closer to release.
  • Several scenes from near the end of the movie are shown in the trailers, such as the Chameleon transforming into a monstrous-looking version of Po, Zhen and Po fighting the Chameleon together, spoiling her Heel–Face Turn, and Zhen encountering Li Shan and Ping to rally together Juniper City's criminals against the Chameleon's army, all of which only happen in the last twenty minutes of the film.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: The Bunny Triplets from the Den of Thieves love violence and mayhem as shown when they say that "violence makes their tummies tingle" and excitedly choose the "slow and painful" option that Han offers to Po.
• Unexplained Recovery:
  • Despite Oogway's staff being broken in the original film and shown repaired with a metal fitting in the latter films, here it's suddenly intact again without explanation in the film and has a completely different texture from its previous appearances.
  • Despite exploding after trying unsuccessfully to absorb Po's chi and seemingly being rendered Deader than Dead in Kung Fu Panda 3, General Kai appears fully intact in the Spirit Realm once the Chameleon summons him, and the movie doesn't explain how he managed to come back from his demise.
• The Unintelligible: The pelican that helps Po and Zhen get to Juniper City. She can only squawk, and no-one understands what that means except her son (a fish).
  Fish: Wait, why are they leaving? You said yes.
• Villain Cred: The Chameleon says she's a "big fan" of Tai Lung.
• Villain Respect: Following the Chameleon's defeat, Tai Lung admits that Oogway made the right choice in making Po the Dragon Warrior.
• Visual Pun:
  • At the beginning, Li Shan tells Mr. Ping that he shouldn't worry about Po, since "... he's probably just kicking back and catching some rays." Immediate cut to Po kicking a giant manta ray.
  • The Juniper Police Force, entirely staffed by bulls, is chasing Po and Zhen, when they enter an antique shop. All of them slow down and thread carefully as to not damage the merchandise, the employee looking on anxiously before sighing in relief as they miraculously avoid breaking anything. That was a lot of bulls in a china shop...
• The Voiceless: Lord Shen, General Kai, and the Furious Five all make non-speaking appearances in the film.
• "Wanted!" Poster: Po learns that Zhen is a criminal when he sees her picture on wanted posters all over the city; Zhen even poses in front of a large wall covered in them. Not long after encountering the city guards, Po gets a poster of his own.
• Was It All a Lie?: When Zhen decides to turn against the Chameleon and reunites with Po, she tries desperately to apologise for her betrayal. Po is understandably skeptical whether Zhen is being honest this time.
  Po: Did your master tell you to say that too?
• Wasn't That Fun?: The movie opens with Po fighting a giant manta ray, and when defeated it spits the three piglets it was trying to eat. As their worried parents rushes to hug them, the laughing kids excitedly say that it was fun and want to do it again.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The Chameleon is shown taking regular tributes from the four crime bosses of Juniper City. After she sends them back to acquire more loot after being dissatisfied with the quantity of their latest haul, they're not seen again, not even during the fight against the Chameleon's forces during the climax.
• With Catlike Tread: Po and Zhen sneaks into the Chameleon's Palace through a tunnel inside the giant staircase, emerging right in the courtyard where dozen of komodo guards are sleeping. They tread silently among them, but Po leaves the manhole cover to slowly roll toward the stairs... and fall down each step one by one with a loud metallic sound. Miraculously, the guards don't wake up for now... although they do after Po farts.
• Worldbuilding: The film expands the franchise's setting beyond the Valley of Peace with the new location of Juniper City, which is filled with Scenery Porn, detail, and citizens with unique personalities.
• The Worf Effect:
  • Downplayed with Tai Lung. When the Chameleon summons him from the Spirit Realm, Tai Lung quickly lays waste to all of her troops with ease, showing that he's just as worthy of being The Dreaded as he was in the first film. Immediately after this impressive display, the Chameleon suddenly latches onto him in a surprise attack and steals his Kung Fu abilities, severely weakening Tai Lung before she dispatches him with his own signature nerve strike.
  • Played straight with Lord Shen and Kai. After being formidable opponents to Po within each of their respective films, the Chameleon instantly paralyzes and captures them both within seconds of summoning them from the Spirit Realm, giving them no chance to defend themselves or even to see what's going on.
• Wretched Hive: Zhen describes Juniper City as the home of "the best crooks and criminals".

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♫ My loneliness is killin' me (And I...)
I must confess, I still believe (Still believe!)
When I'm not with you, I lose my mind
Give me a sign
Hit me, baby, one more time! ♫

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