Kung Fu Panda franchise

Something I'm expecting here is for one of Po's fathers to die, either Mr. Ping or Li Shan. There's two of them, and they're competing for Po's attention. One of them will lag behind and subsequently die at the hands of Kai.

Mr. Ping dying would make the most sense in light of the movie's arc for Po, which is moving one from youth to maturity (i.e from apprentice to master, in this case), which could be represented by the traumatic loss of the physical embodiment of his youth: the man who raised him.

Of course I'd rather not anyone die, but this is what I'm predicting.

By stealing self-confidence. If you lose that, you cannot fight.

According to the wiki, he doesn't just steal kung fu, he outright steals the chi of his victims. As in their Life Energy. Meaning he is literally killing them, or at least rendering them comatose. The end result is an inanimate jade statue either way, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

Goddamn Kai, the more I learn about you, the freakier you become.

@Gaon God I hope not! So far only villains have died in this series, and I hope that continues. Losing a father might be too sad for Po (and the kids in the audience.) Besides it's unnecessary; while Po might need to choose where to stay (and odds are that he will return to the Valley of Peace) that doesn't strictly require such a loss. The lesson is the same.

Normally I'd agree but the second movie had panda genocide as a plot point. panda genocide, man. I guess that just scarred me for life and convinced me this franchise can be as dark as it wants to.

Not true. We've also lost Oogway, Vachir, Thundering Rhino, and a whole lot of pandas, including Po's mom. Regardless, I think we've already reached the darkness quota for this movie.

edited 5th Nov '15 6:01:38 AM by Berserker88

Mr. Ping secretly following Po and Li is a good guess, I can imagine that's what happens. After all, Po would be worried about his adoptive dad when hearing that the Valley of Peace has been attacked (like you said, by Tigress words is even "all gone") so it wouldn't make sense why he stays in the panda village to happily train the pandas not knowing what happened to his dad, meaning, Mr. Ping is there with them.

And I love the guess that Po training the pandas will be a Call-Back to how he was trained by Shifu; it will appear to be hopeless at first until we get the "everything is kung fu" realization and he trains them using their own talents, e.g Mei Mei with her ribbon dancing.

Also, I think I spotted two clips where we see Tigress watching while Po is training the pandas. Seems like a good setup for Po/Tigress moments that many fans are hoping for, seeing as she's staying with him.

Po losing one of his dads might be a bit too similar a plot to How To Train Your Dragon 2 though, but I imagine something tragic happens that causes Po being sent to what appears a spirit world to communicate with Oogway, unless it's merely a dream he has early in the film that leaves him wondering what it meant and he has to find out.

edited 5th Nov '15 9:37:17 AM by Lancelot07

I'm thinking near-death experience. Maybe that scene where he mouths off to Kai ends with him being chucked off a cliff.

I agree, a near death experience seems the most likely, although that might be a bit too similar to the second film where he was hit by Shen's cannon and afterwards managed to remember his past which gave him the resolve to return and confront Shen. Perhaps what happens in the third film isn't that he nearly dies, but Kai ends up stealing his kung fu skills like the rest (or turning him into one those jade statues..?), which is what leads to Po reuniting with Oogway's 'spirit' helping him get it back. I'd be getting a real first season-Legend of Korra feel from this film in that case, as we have a villain taking people's powers away and the main character reunites with a past 'master' to get it back, plus we even have a voice actor from Korra as Tenzin's actor, J. K Simmons, voices Kai (this is only if the 'Po losing his skills' theory is correct though).

I'm worried what the Valley of Peace being "all gone" implies as well, perhaps this will be the first film of the franchise to have a bittersweet ending if it ends with them all having to rebuild their home, unless it's turned into a fast paced montage like the ending of How To Train Your Dragon 2. Whatever it means though, it has to be serious for Tigress to look all beaten up and having traveled all the way to find Po and deliver those news. I can't wait to see how heartbreaking scenes this film will have compared to the second.

edited 22nd Nov '15 10:50:52 AM by Lancelot07

I've always gotten quite the Avatar vibe from this franchise. There's the same balance of comedy and drama and the fight choreography is of a similar style. And now we've got a "Spirit Realm" too. Maybe that's where Po and Oogway meet, though it's also where Kai comes from so that raises some questions on what exactly it is. If that is indeed the same area, it sure looks nice.

I can definitely picture a bittersweet ending. If the Valley's not completely destroyed, I imagine it's at least ravaged enough that it won't just snap back to normal off-screen. This series has always had a pretty strong sense of continuity, so that'll likely carry over to the fourth film (even if it's way too early to be thinking of the fourth film).

Random fact: I've just noticed that there is now a KFP villain represented by each of the primary colors. So that's interesting, I guess.

edited 23rd Nov '15 9:25:11 AM by Berserker88

New clip.

Well, not exactly new per se, but cute regardless.

edited 24th Nov '15 5:40:28 PM by Berserker88

Oh it's Newman!

That was hilarious!

Anyone else notice that every other panda besides Po goes barefoot? It's just an odd little detail I picked up on. I guess it's to emphasize them being rural farmer folk or something.

EXACTLY.

When you're just planting radishes all your life, you don't need shoes for long-distance traveling.

China released a music video with more brief clips from the film.

The brief clip where Po presumably sees Mei Mei for the first time is really cute. Even if there won’t be a reciprocal romance there, I can still see him reacting to meeting a female panda, and a beautiful one at that (which I’ve no doubt Mei Mei is supposed to be).

There are definitely similarities between KFP and Avatar. I really like the idea of there being some sort of ‘spirit realm’ in the KFP universe, it would make perfect sense and give the opportunity for a lot of creative scenery, just like the Oogway scene is suggesting (if I'm not mistaken, there are some clips visible of Oogway and Kai fighting in what appears to be some sort of 'otherwordly' place as well.)

Only two months left!

edited 4th Dec '15 4:49:38 AM by Lancelot07

Damn man, not even. It's amazing how we've been waiting for so long and now it's suddenly rushing up on us.

Every time I see that "Spirit Realm" place, my heart skips a beat. It's just so freaking beautiful to look at. If there's a big fight scene there (as looks to be the case), it's going to be the most amazing thing to ever come out of this franchise.

Here's something else I stumbled upon. Pretty good animation for a short promotional clip.

Well damn. Now they're just overloading us. Not that I'm complaining. :)

edited 4th Dec '15 8:08:23 AM by Berserker88

That song was awful.

i'm assuming this is the chinese equivalent of k-pop. c-pop :'p?

I kinda liked it, albeit more for the video than the actual song.

On the subject of the international trailer, I appreciate that they're finally showing us more of the emotional side of this movie. I especially liked the little cameo of Mama Po. :)

edited 4th Dec '15 2:30:17 PM by Berserker88

Official soundtrack details. Spoiler warning.

edited 7th Dec '15 1:14:24 PM by Berserker88

SPOILER DISCUSSION FOR THE SOUNDTRACKS BELOW

Ugh, I immediately got feels at 'Passing the Torch'. That makes me scared someone is going to die, though it doesn't necessarily mean that. Who is passing the torch though? Is it Po's father making the Po the new village/panda leader? But that would suggest that Po stays behind at the village which I can't imagine. The worse, yet more likely option is if it's Shifu handing his position as the Furios Five's leader/kung fu teacher to Po, though if this is true it would mean that either Shifu gives Po the position as he's gotten too old, or (swallows) he dies.

Wow, I really hope this is not true as I imagine Shifu would pass away in the last KFP film they made, not as 'early' as this one. Then again, it might be used as the transition for the fourth film with his death giving Po his role and having to grow into it, specially as that soundtrack is the second to last one, meaning the 'passing the torch' scene is at the end.

I shouldn't jump to conclusions based solely on the name of the soundtrack though, it could simply be that Shifu gives Po his role because he feels that Po is 'ready' (because of how well he trained the pandas), and so he'll step aside, and perhaps also because he's old. There could also be Po's father being the one who dies and makes the Po the panda leader, although I strongly doubt that as it would just be too similar to HTTYD 2.

Aside from all that though, it appears that the film will open with a prologue about Oogway. And we got confirmed spirit realms!!!

edited 7th Dec '15 4:01:18 PM by Lancelot07

To be honest, I just assumed "Passing the Torch" was Oogway passing his legacy on to Po. I personally don't see Shifu dying in this film, mainly because it seems like he doesn't even get anywhere near the panda village where such a scene would happen. Then again, we also don't see any sign of him after that bit with Kai and the Jade Palace...

I'm a bit more creeped out by the track "Jaded". I have a few ideas of what that track could be for, none of them good.

But yes, this seems to be confirmation that the spirit realm is not only going to play a big part, but be the scene of the final battle. That. Is. Amazing!

edited 7th Dec '15 4:50:51 PM by Berserker88

Not sure what you mean by 'Oogway's legacy', as in the greatest kung fu warrior and/or the only one besides him who could defeat Kai? I could sort of see that being the case though, anything but Shifu dying.

I'm looking forward to hearing 'Mei Mei's Ribbon Dance', sounds like what's going to be a beautiful track, plus, based on that brief preview clip, I can't wait to see Po going "Oh shit a female panda my age?!" Just look at the way he drops the dumpling, lmao. (Unless his reaction there is because Li told him it's his fiancee, which could be the case as well).

OH, one track that really intrigues me though is 'The Dragon Warrior'. I think someone else made a guess about this as well, but what if the reason the track is literally named like that is because Po will somehow take the shape of an actual dragon while fighting Kai in the spirit world? Not that he'll 'transform' into a dragon, but a dragon spirit will manifest around him. I'm really thinking this is the case as otherwise, why would the track simply be named that? Po already had two epic 'dragon warrior' moments in the last films, but this time he's going to actually become a dragon.

This better be true now, or I'll honestly be disappointed, haha.

edited 8th Dec '15 3:18:49 AM by Lancelot07

That's pretty much what I meant, yeah.

The Japanese trailer had a scene where Po gets a dragon-shaped Battle Aura, so that's probably what it's talking about.