Kung Fu Panda franchise

I see my theory was correct.

Considering he had literally two lines, I don't see what's so perplexing about it. They made more changes to his appearance. (Which I'm thankful for. His original look was kinda bland.)

Speaking of voices, JK Simmons as Kai was amazing. Highlight of the trailer for me.

I also noticed that Po apparently made action figures of Tai Lung and Shen. Nice touch.

After two chapters full of ACTION, we finally get a more mellow quirky chapter.

Emphasis on more...

The movies have been getting lighter in general as the series goes on, especially since the genres shift somewhat between films.

Unless they trailers are lying (which they certainly could be), Kai seems to be a bit more humorous than Shen, who was himself a bit more humorous than Tai-Lung.

Just a warning. Avoid watching ads for this movie like the plague if you want to avoid spoilers. I heard they pretty much spoil the whole freaking movie.

Good thing I'm a total Spoiler Hound then. It's probably for the best, considering those ads are pretty much the only thing building any hype for this film.

You have to be the only person on the planet who found the second film lighter than the first. Note that "more humorous" does not necessarily mean "less menacing".

Oh, and something I just noticed? "Kai attacked the Valley. It's all gone." Like...ALL gone? Damn.

edited 3rd Nov '15 12:48:59 PM by Berserker88

Have to agree with peacock avatar man; there is no way the second movie is lighter.

Considering that the big bad attempted to commit genocide..

The first movie was a story of a person with no self esteem discovering that he's not worthless, as the people around him come to accept themselves and their own pain as well - it's a very personal, almost "coming of age" style movie, and as a result the film is a great deal more down to Earth. The series has always balanced fun action and somber characterization, and the latter is at its strongest in the first movie - with Po's insecurities and inability to fit in or accept himself being the front and center plot thread. The stakes are much lower, but the plot itself is far more intimate - and as a result, the movie tone is more grounder.

In contrast, the second movie is a far more straightforward bombastic martial arts homage. While the villain's actions are far more horrible, the tone of his actions are far lighter - played in the style of a larger than life epic story. The movie is grander in tone and while there are certainly many personal and tragic moments in the movie, the plot is noticeably far more fun than its predecessor.

Compare A New Hope to The Empire Strikes Back: the latter is largely considered a darker movie than the former, even though the former involves the villains blowing up a planet of innocent people while they do nothing near that horrible in the latter. The plot is more centered on them dealing personal blows to the protagonists, and though they harm the characters personally in Hope, those moments are reflected on and then moved past rather than making up the basis of the plot.

Or in short, tone is far more than simply what the characters do - it's how the characters' actions are portrayed.

And as I also brought up the villains specifically: Tai-Lung is hammy and airy, but his personal plot gets more weight (since it's central to Shifu's character, and in turn Po's arc) and little of what he does is played for laughs until his humiliating defeat. Shen is wry but murderous and genocidal, but is involved in a lot more of the fun moments than Tai Lung (a lot of humor, for example, is derived from circumstances undermining Shen's attempts at being dramatic or serious) and - while no less serious - is ultimately more personable.

Po's confusion over his past is part of his character in the sequel, but since he has no context for it until right before the climax that's more on Po than it is on Shen.

edited 3rd Nov '15 1:30:01 PM by KnownUnknown

Does anyone know if there is a trailer without the irritating rock songs? I love ACDC but I HATE their music being placed in an animated chinese epic.

Personally, I find a villain who can be friendly and personable while doing horrible things to be a lot more frightening than one who stays serious all the time. The latter just shows that he's the bad guy, while the former implies an extreme Lack of Empathy and a willingness to do anything to get what they want.

That pretty much fits Shen to a tee. Tai Lung...well, frankly I'm not sure he even had a plan outside of "Be the Dragon Warrior". That makes him more realistic sure, but hardly more menacing. Maybe he could've been a serious threat to China had he won, but the more likely scenario is that he would've just went around causing more wanton destruction until someone finally put him down. Being a One-Man Army only gets you so far. With Shen, there was little doubt that he would've succeeded in conquering China and worse had he escaped that harbor.

I suppose it all comes down to what exactly you consider to be "darker", because it's a pretty broad term. I personally find scale to be a more important factor than somberness. With The Empire Strikes Back, it's considered darker chiefly because The Bad Guy Wins, thus adding more tension to the conflict and upping the stakes. Personal issues and character development are certainly a part of it, but that's not what's causing the conflict.

Both Chinese trailers. But hey, at least the irritating rock song is less prevalent in this latest one, and set alongside some actually fitting music.

edited 3rd Nov '15 2:02:36 PM by Berserker88

Eventually China will take over the world and they will force us (as in US) to like their music.

It will be the era of no AC/DC.

Fine. I like Chinese Music believe it or not.

As you should. It's good music.

I love Chinese traditional music!

Wait until you listen to it for 30 years. You'll get bored of it, and be begging for Highway to Hell.

edited 3rd Nov '15 8:04:34 PM by KlarkKentThe3rd

So guess what? I've already found people complaining about the new trailer and shouting Ruined Forever because of the overabundance of comedy, unfitting music, and lack of emotional depth. Because apparently they didn't learn from the first two films.

... or ... any Dreamworks film.

Not any. Unfortunately, trailers like that are sometimes entirely accurate.

Animated movie trailers are the worst, so grain of salt at best.

Did anyone else notice that we only see Po and Li travelling together to the panda village, yet at 1:09 in the trailer when they arrive, Mr. Ping is there with them?? My guess is that what they have you believe is their arrival is actually somewhere at the end when Mr. Ping is introduced to the pandas. Or else, what is he doing there in that random shot?

I'm really confused by what the order of events in this film is. Po reunites with his dad and goes with him to the panda village, meanwhile Kai attacks the valley of peace and the furios five, causing Tigress to run to Po for help. This causes Po having to train the pandas to fight. But in the clips showing him fighting the green statue things that appears to be Kai's doing, he's fighting with the furios five and the pandas are nowhere to be seen. Perhaps the statues fight scene takes place before Po leaves with his dad as they defeat them and don't consider them to be a further threat. But why is Shifu fighting with them? And what is Tigress doing while Po trains the pandas, chilling somewhere in the village? Curios to see how it all plays out.

Also I can't wait to see what happens for Po to reunite with Oogway in that gorgeous, spiritual setting we've seen in the Chinese trailers.

edited 4th Nov '15 8:50:10 AM by Lancelot07

It's funny you bring that up, because I was just talking about this. My theories:

First off, it was confirmed that Li and Mr. Ping have a lot of interaction with each other, so its makes sense that Ping would be there the whole time. My guess is that he wasn't intended to come along, but followed Po and Li in secret out of jealousy issues.

As for the order, my guess is that the rooftop fight indeed happens before Po leaves, and possibly before Li even comes into the picture. I imagine it would take a very serious crisis for Shifu to say "No, you can't go spend time with your long-lost father and meet your ancestral people, we need you here", so the threat is kind of dismissed at the time as something he and the Five can handle on their own.

Then later, while Po/Li/Ping/Mei Mei are having their own character development, shit goes down and Kai wrecks the Valley (exactly how much he wrecks it still worries me based on Tigress's comment). Then she goes to Po and is unable to actually help due to being injured (she looks pretty roughed up in the trailer.

The only thing I'm unsure about is where the Oogway part comes in. I'm guessing it'll probably be shortly before the climax, kind of like the whole "Po finds the Truth" scene.

edited 5th Nov '15 10:16:57 AM by Berserker88

I hope they keep the running thing of Mr. Ping being already knowing the life lessons Po learns in every movie.

edited 4th Nov '15 12:12:58 PM by KnownUnknown

I'm just happy he's actually getting a prominent role for once.

How exactly does Kai steal their Kung Fu, anyway? It's not a super power.