The title of the movie. Think about it: When you think about a Dreamworks movie called "Kung Fu Panda", starring Jack Black as a Panda, you probably roll your eyes and look for something else to watch. But just like how Po ended up becoming a mighty Kung Fu artist despite his appearance and intelligence, so did this movie surprise many with its clever writing and thought-provoking messages. The title of the movie perfectly demonstrates the film's message of choosing to believe something is special.
Observe the Logo Joke for each film in the series: it involves a character jumping up to the DreamWorks Animation logo (an unknown animal in the first film, then Oogway and Po for the sequels). Simple enough, but Oogway and Po both die, or at least go beyond their normal plane of existence. Both ended up achieving transcendence, which is not only a religious theme in Buddhism (and a major theme for Chinese kung fu masters, as the first film showed) but is Breaking the Fourth Wall!
The title. Many consider Shifu a deuteragonist of the first movie. Then you do some research and realize that Shifu is a species called a red panda, and realize the title could refer not only to Po, but to Shifu as well.
There is no secret ingredient. This is not fraud on Po's dad's part; it's an explanation that hard work, dedication, and understanding of his craft are what made his noodles the best. Mr Ping's noodle shop has grown into a successful business not because he put something no one has thought of in his soup — he has perfected his recipe and his business over many years of hard work and exertion and dedication to his craft. Same as the Dragon Scroll, and Po gets it. It really is "just you." The secret ingredient isn't a physical thing; it's the soul of the soup's creator and everything about how they make it that makes the soup special, much as the Dragon Warrior's true power is just themself and how they fight.
Really, it's incredible how much The Dragon Scroll and Mr. Ping's secret ingredient soup have in common. Both are nothing more than a common item with just a special name. We were more focus the scroll that the soup is treated as the lesser, despite having been quietly given it's due on how important and special it is throughout the film, first by Mr. Ping himself when Po allegedly had his noodle dream and when Po says his soup doesn't compare to it either when he cooked for the Five. The Five, barring Tigress, couldn't believe Po's soup wasn't as special and genuinely compliment his soup and his talent in cooking. If anything, Po had already figured out the secret ingredient without even knowing it, because his soup was already as good as his father because he had so much confidence in his cooking, able to have a conversation with the Five while doing so and not even requiring to look what he's doing. He was already a master cook, it just wasn't the field he preferred in life. When his father told him the true secret about the secret ingredient, it clicked for Po because here is his father, and teacher, telling him his most prized secret is nothing more than his own hard work, hard work he learned from him, so he was always a good cook.
Mr. Ping was the one who had figured out the secret of the Dragon Scroll all by himself. This isn't so surprising in hindsight, because successful shopkeepers tend to know psychology and how to trick you into buying their products even if the customer doesn't believe they need them, and some of that psychological manipulation went into the Dragon Scroll's whole appeal. An interesting challenge to prove this in practice is walking into any supermarket and only buy the one thing you came for. It's very difficult since no matter what you're after, you have to walk past all that other merchandise that has been made as attention-getting as possible, and you have to do this twice in order to get to a register to pay for it. In order to even glimpse upon the Dragon Scroll, you have to walk past all the legendary kung-fu artifacts in the Jade Palace, and the Scroll is said to be for the Dragon Warrior's eyes only... but the Scroll itself amounts to a shiny piece of paper. Mr. Ping made a simple noodle dish famous in the village by pretending there was a secret ingredient, much like how Oogway motivated his students by making a shiny scroll appear more mysterious than it actually is.
The Dragon Scroll has a reflective surface. A mirror is mainly used to examine oneself and find any flaws to correct.
Mirrors also enable reflection, to think deeply on oneself and what one should/can do.
Additionally, as a trophy it’s a mark of achievement and when you look at it you see what you’ve done. When Po sees his face in the Scroll, it shows him that he has done great things on his own merit. When Tai Lung, who believes the Scroll is an item of power, sees his face in the Scroll, for him it’s like coming up against a wall.
This all proves reflective of Shifu: before his fight with Tai Lung, Shifu identifies the scroll as blank (he still doesn't acknowledge his flaws, he feels that he has failed (people), and only after realizing the scroll is blank does he think about what he can do); towards the end of his fight with Tai Lung, he apologizes for bearing responsibility for what has transpired up to that point (he finally acknowledges his flaws, realizes that he has failed Tai Lung and how, and finally thinks deeply on what he should have done and should do now); and by the end of the film, he fully recognizes Po as the Dragon Warrior (he has finally corrected himself, found someone who can and has brought peace to the valley, and can now devote himself to a life of inner peace).
When Po first looks at the Dragon Scroll after figuring out the secret, he sees his own reflection, with his eyes glowing gold. This facial characteristic has been framed as a bad thing up until now, since in this film Gold represents Heroism, and Tai Lung's eyes, as well as Tigress represented them seeing themselves as the hero, a mark of self-destructive pride. Up until this moment, Po has always considered himself a fanboy, an outsider, someone who stumbled into this whole "kung fu" thing by accident and doesn't really belong in the company of his lifelong heroes. But now, understanding that "there is no secret ingredient", he finally sees himself as a hero in his own right, and his epiphany is reflected within the Scroll.
As mentioned on the Tear Jerker page, Tai Lung has golden eyes — the color of heroism. In the scene where he is denied the scroll, Tai Lung is backlit by gold (matching his eyes), Shifu and Oogway by the green of the Jade Palace. Before Po receives the scroll, he is standing with his back to the jade pillars, his eyes matching their colors. If eyes are representative of souls, then Tai Lung's eyes are gold because he sees himself as the hero of the story, and Po's eyes are jade because he sees himself as not the hero or a great warrior — the great warrior — but just a fanboy/lover of the art of kung fu, and the Jade Palace is where his soul belongs.
When Po opens the Dragon Scroll, his face is bathed in the golden light of its reflection. When Tai Lung opens it, however, his face stays dark, despite him having the sun at his back. It's perfectly symbolic of how the scroll's message is lost on Tai Lung, but not Po.
Just to drive it home? What does Tai Lung say when he sees his reflection? "It's nothing!"
In the end of Secrets of the Furious Five, the children wonder what Po's experience at becoming a kung fu master were like. After looking through every comical misfortune in the first movie, Po exclaims, "It was AWESOME!" Misleading? Not quite. Because there's a common theme to Secrets of the Furious Five: nobody's born perfect, not even legends. Each member of the Furious Five had their hardships before they became who they are today. Viper had to work around her handicap of lacking fangs or venom, Monkey's trouble-maker tendencies were borne from being bullied, Crane previously had issues with his confidence, and Mantis had to make the mistake (of falling for a trap) before he could learn patience. Even Tigress was once a misfit who struggled with being singled out as a "monster". Meanwhile, you have Po whose experience was all of the above (handicapped by his portly shape, bullied by the Furious Five, singled out by Shifu, made his share of mistakes, and struggled with self-confidence). Po is realizing that if the Furious Five became what they are today because they were previously misfits with hardships, him being the biggest misfit with hardships makes him doubly awesome.
Oogway refused to grant the Dragon Scroll to Tai Lung because he saw "darkness in his heart". An odd thing, but then we see how Tai Lung reacts to the decision: He just breaks, went full berserker-mode by rampaging through the Valley, and Oogway was forced to stop him after Shifu failed to do so. Oogway knew that Tai Lung was not capable of understanding the meaning of the scroll due to how he was raised, and Tai Lung immediately proved the old turtle right.
Additionally, with all that's been revealed in the third movie, there's a good chance Oogway saw many qualities of Kai within Tai Lung, and considering how Kai turned out...
The main plot of the first film may be that Po is an Ascended Fanboy who is The Chosen One, but the film is really more about Shifu than Po. The first film dealt with him inheriting the role of master after Oogway's death, and thus he is to train the Dragon Warrior, whom he is refusing to BELIEVE is the Dragon Warrior. He had to learn to accept Po for who he is in order to properly train him, and in the process, Po trained Shifu to be a better person and to find his inner peace. Thus, in the sequel, Shifu became a secondary, if not minor character, because it wasn't about him. It was about Po discovering himself.
There's also the fact that Shifu himself is red panda, meaning that he, alongside Po, is a "kung Fu Panda."
If Shifu can be considered the main protagonist of the first film, then Shen can be considered his Foil. Both tried to avert a prophesied disaster, but in doing so inadvertently caused said disaster to happen. Both also had an elder who watched over them during their development. However, where Shifu tried to keep Oogway from leaving and later held onto his teachings regardless of the circumstances (he obviously had no idea how to turn Po into the Dragon Warrior, even till the end), Shen sent away the Soothsayer and decided his own choices were better than hers. Bonus points since both elders could see the future, but only the pupil that listened was able to attain happiness.
The Holiday Special works on several wonderful levels — for one, it is the Chinese mid-winter solstice festival; and secondly, Po gives an answer to the assembled Masters at the Jade Palace for his need to leave to get back to his Dad's noodle shop that, in Chinese culture, would excuse just about anything — "I need to go home, so I can be a good son." In simple terms, it's filial piety. They all turn up at the noodle shop later, thinking that he's clearly made the right decision.
In addition, Po knows that a good meal happens when everyone pitches in; setting up the lavish winter banquet was thanks to enlisting the aid of the Furious Five and Wo Hop. And his Dad's noodle shop is successful because Po is there to help him serve, clean up, and cook. Teamwork was what allowed him to forge good bonds with those he knows.
That Shifu's father was a con-artist highlights how Shifu taught Tigress to control her strength in Secrets of the Furious Five by playing dominos with her. Of course, they were blank wooden dominoes which are both easy to carry and remake in the case of accidental smashing, but it isn't exactly a stretch for con artists to fix gambling games.
How was Po able to beat Tai Lung so easily, despite just finishing his training shortly before facing him? The answer is in the Wikipedia page about the Leopard Kung Fu: Tai Lung's style relies on speed, counterattacks (it has no blocks, as it prefers striking for defense), debilitating blows and outsmarting the opponent. And, as it happens, Po is the worst possible opponent for Tai Lung:
Speed and Counter-attacks: Po is able to redirect most if not all of Tai Lung's attacks by recoiling — which means Tai Lung's speed and strength just ends up being used against him. The recoiling counterattack is also something that should be dodged or deviated, but since Tai Lung's style lacks blocks or dodges, he cannot do so.
Debilitating strikes: Tai Lung has these — his nerve strikes — but Po is extremely hard to take down with a debilitating strike due to being bulky (as best shown when Tai Lung used his nerve strike and Po was just tickled), and that's made worse by Po knowing how to use that bulk in defense.
Outsmarting the opponent: As a nearly obsessive kung fu fan, Po already knows where Tai Lung's strengths lie, while Tai Lung has no idea of what Po can do, so outsmarting Po is difficult at best. Furthermore, if you observe Tai Lung in his fights, he is able to analyze his surroundings and come up with ways to use his enemies' tools against them: in his prison breakout, he used his enemies' feather, spears and dynamite against them, he used the bridge against the Furious Five, and he threw the Masters' weapons at Shifu in their temple fight. He gets outmatched by Po because Po is the one who uses the terrain against him; Tai Lung is too focused on the Dragon Scroll to pay serious regard to anything else.
On top of all that, think back to Tai Lung's Training Montage: his master for his entire life was Shifu, and by the time he was an adult, he was massive. Throughout the film, Tai Lung is constantly battling smaller opponents, with only the rhinos coming close to his size and they're not martial artists at all. Then he meets Po. This may very well be the very first time Tai Lung has ever encountered someone who's actually big enough to take his hits straight on and return fire.
And all of this is made worse by the fact Tai Lung was focused on the Dragon Scroll and didn't consider Po a serious threat, which ended up costing him. Most of the fight is Tai Lung trying to get the Scroll while Po (albeit unintentionally by just trying to keep the scroll away) lands hit after hit in the most debilitating spots. Even while they were rolling down from the stairs, each time they landed, it was Po landing on Tai Lung in some form or fashion. Po proceeded to punch, knee and step on Tai Lung in the noggin each time he landed — at least eight times, especially when Po does indeed sit his panda girth... on Tai Lung's head. By the time Tai Lung decides to focus on getting Po out of the way to have free access to the Scroll, he has endured over two minutes of one of the most savage beatings in the history of kung fu movies, and has barely enough times to show he could have won rather easily before his strength deserts him and Po (who is still mostly fresh) starts fighting him straight... now deliberately aiming for Tai Lung's head. By this time, it wouldn’t be surprising if Tai Lung had an actual concussion from all that.
You can also interpret the scene from the point of self-confidence. Po's main character arc is his self-esteem issues, as he considers himself a fat loser who can't master kung fu and especially couldn't fight Tai Lung in a straight-up battle. Even after his training from Shifu, he still feared the leopard due to his reputation as an unbeatable warrior — he was visibly terrified when Tai Lung first charged at him and focused mostly on keeping the Dragon Scroll away from the leopard rather than actually fighting him. After his accidental counterattack sends Tai Lung flying, Po gazes at his own paws in amazement as if thinking “Holy crap, I just punched Tai Lung!”. In that moment, he realizes that his opponent isn't unbeatable and untouchable, and that if Po can hit him once, he can do it again. Thus, all his fear vanishes, and when Tai Lung comes for him again, Po's confidence is at an all-time high and he's ready for him, while Tai Lung isn't ready for a panda who has the guts to fight back.
This style also explains how he was able to defeat the Five: in addition to the explicit advantages he has as shown in the film (he outsmarts them by using the terrain against them and manipulating it so he never has to take them on all at once, then uses his nerve strikes to finally crush them), none of them have any more defense than he does - if at all - so he's able to counterattack them and strike them hard.
If you take a look at each of the Masters, each one actually has a personality/way of talking/banter style based on their type of Kung Fu. Tai Lung hits you with hard verbal strikes at your weak points, Tigress hits you with aggressive and harsh verbal blows, Viper is very gentle with her speaking and tries to not to hurt anyone's feelings, but can make a quick strike if you tick her off, and Po takes any verbal abuse and redirects it back at the opponent.
This is best exemplified at the beginning of fight between Po and Tai Lung. Tai Lung tries to hit Po where it hurts by making fun of his fat, but Po uses it to make a small Badass Boast and does indeed follow on said boast, much to the (physical) pain of Tai Lung.
Noodles were really in his blood — when Po emerges from the smoke as the Dragon Warrior — he's wearing a wok on his head. Who said both destinies were mutually exclusive?
Po is not the Dragon Warrior for no reason. A virtue often associated to the Dragon animal form in Chinese martial arts is solidity, which is somethingPo thrives on.
Everyone claims that Oogway made a mistake in deeming Po The Dragon Warrior, but he only smiles and claims there is no such thing as accidents. Seeing how he is a tortoise and is perhaps the most powerful martial artist to ever live, he knows that appearances don't count and that even someone such as an overweight panda can become a Master Warrior just like he did.
What's also important to consider is that as a Kung Fu Grandmaster, Oogway very likely knows at this point that being able to take a beating is just as important as knowing how give one. Considering that his first encounter with Po involved seeing the panda fall in front of him from a high altitude that would have resulted in a normal person walking away with at least some fractured bones, but only briefly knocked Po unconscious, Oogway probably figured out from the get go that Po was already capable of taking a lot of damage and only needed training to know how to dish it out.
And on top of that, Po made one heck of an entrance, showing both his creativity and determination. He's got the toughness, he's got the brains, and he's got style; all he needs to learn now are the actual moves.
Po's insistence on staying no matter how much Shifu and the Five are beating him up. At first, you think it simply has to do with him being The Determinator, but after you've watched his fight with Tai Lung, another reason comes to mind; no matter how many times Shifu and the Five kept flooring him all day, he likely didn't feel much pain from it.
Po displaying some great kung-fu moves when he doesn't think about it makes perfect sense when you consider who Po is: a huge kung-fu geek with self-esteem issues. He most likely went through the moves time and time again during his whole life but never believed himself to be actually capable of doing them for real. All he needed was to perfect them and a little confidence boost. That's also the reason Po only needed to train with Shifu for a little while; he already did, without realizing it, plenty of training by himself.
If you watch Po throughout the films and specials, whenever he's cooking, he displays a very casual degree of grace and poise that speaks of long hours of learning how to work in the kitchens. In the first film, he's able to hold a stack of bowl in his hand and flick his wrist to line all of them up on his arm simultaneously. This is especially apparent in the holiday special, where Po and Ping put on a tandem cooking show for the holiday. That sort of thing is as difficult if not moreso than a martial arts kata. It's more than Po being a fan of kung fu; it's the weight of working all his life. Yeah, maybe he doesn't have the cardio or stamina of a fighter, but he still has years of learning delicate, deliberate, precision actions and movements to fall back on.
Oogway suggests to Shifu that maybe a peach might be able to stop Tai Lung. A continuation of the subtle 'Po = Peach' metaphor that Oogway and Shifu had been dancing around in the conversation prior? Or a hint to Shifu about using food to incentivize Po?
Either case further vindicates Oogway's opinions of Shifu's effects on Tai Lung and Po's assured victory: in the former example, the metaphor seems rather lost to Shifu (he outright believes Oogway meant a literal peach - "But a peach cannot defeat Tai Lung!"); in the latter, Shifu fails to pick up on the hint, while Oogway realizes that there is a way to train Po by witnessing an upset Po eat the peaches of the sacred peach tree of heavenly wisdom.
For that matter, there is a post-credit scene to the film: Po and Shifu eat under the peach tree as it regains its greenery, while - behind them - the seed Shifu angrily and inadvertently planted earlier in the film has begun to grow into a sapling.
A subtle bit of foreshadowing: in a world full of funny animal people (and kung-fu masters who practice the style associated with what animal they are), no dragons exist. The secret of the dragon warrior is likewise essentially non-existent.
One of the first things Oogway says in the movie is warning Shifu that one often meets his destiny on the path he takes to avoid it, and he'd know that better than anyone: he's the one who wrote the Dragon Scroll, to be given to the one who would bring Peace to the Valley (and Shifu himself), but that exact scroll is the reason Tai Lung became a threat to the Valley and a source of strife for Shifu. His effort to avert all that pain actually brought it on.
Additionally, it was Shifu sending the messenger to check on Tai Lung that directly led to Tai Lung escaping.
There is no such thing as a bad student, only a bad teacher. The first film demonstrates how Shifu’s flaws caused Tai Lung to become a villain:
Shifu is proud, impatient, easily angry, condescending at times and has difficulty dealing with Po — qualities Tai Lung has himself. And also qualities a teacher should not possess.
Shifu asks Oogway to choose who can be trusted with the title of Dragon Warrior, referring to it as the secret to limitless power; an upset Oogway says he doesn’t know. While he may genuinely not know, he doesn’t want the Furious Five to start fighting with each other. There is no need to be competitive amongst students, they just have to improve on themselves and be better than themselves.
Shifu repeatedly says Po doesn’t deserve to be the Dragon Warrior or to be taught kung-fu, and goes out of his way to make him quit. A good teacher is not selective about who to teach, but accepts all who wish to learn from them.
For all the twenty years Tai Lung was in prison, Shifu never visited him because he was too ashamed of him. At first this sounds fair given Tai Lung’s rampage, but if you think about it, Shifu should have cared for his adopted son enough to visit him and and at least try to work things out, which he never did.
Shifu couldn’t stop Tai Lung from being bad, because by his own admission, he loved him too much to see what he was becoming. A good parent cannot spoil their child without imposing discipline and showing them right and wrong, which Shifu didn’t do because he had no real idea himself until it was too late.
Should ''Legends of Awesomeness" be taken as canon, Shifu's method of raising Tai Lung like he did is understandable; for those unaware, the show presented Shirong, Shifu's father and a conman by trade who involved Shifu in his scams since his son was 3 and left him at the palace at the age of 12. While Shirong did love his son, he acknowledged he was a bad father and would often leave Shifu feeling confused and frustrated when he used large (made-up) words when his son was young.
Something I noticed after watching Secrets of the Scroll is that Shifu initially believed that his style of Kung Fu was the only correct one but as the special goes on, he realizes his mistake. But considering the five new styles he taught and developed, they all have speed and offense in common. Tigress is a power combatant much like Tai Lung, Monkey and Crane use speed while Viper, Mantis and Shifu are agile fighters. Po meanwhile has a very defensive style, much greater than what Shifu usually taught. That could be why he has so much trouble teaching Po, since it was such an alien concept to him of having a purely defensive style of Kung Fu.
Which makes sense given that Shifu is a red panda, and is rather small. A blow that might stagger Po might be crippling to something as small as a Red Panda, so agility is vital in Shifu's Kung Fu styles.
It gains more significance when Po starts fighting with them in the next two movies; by taking offense and defense, two different styles of fighting, and mixing them together, the Furious Five learn to fight better as a team than they did without Po.
There are Buddhist themes in the story that not only suit the Chinese setting but help in understanding the characters:
Transience: Times change, and what works for one era cannot work in the next era. Shifu trained the Furious Five the same way he trained Tai Lung, trying to recreate the same circumstances that made Tai Lung a great warrior but not understanding that it won't work with defeating him. He eventually has to train Po using a new technique that Tai Lung can't handle.
Oogway himself accepts life's changes, including his death, with no regrets, and advises Shifu to be adaptable as much as he can in order to manage life's surprises.
Enlightenment: Wisdom and understanding provide clarity of vision and guidance to the right path. Po comes to understand himself and understands that the Dragon Warrior needs no magic power but simply his own ability. Tai Lung was so clouded by ambition and rage, he couldn't even understand the evil he'd done — and when he got the Scroll, the Scroll's message is lost on him.
Balance and Imbalance: Po and Tai Lung both have imbalances in how they think of themselves: Po thought too little of himself and Tai Lung thought too much of himself. Po trained hard to gain strength and overcome his flaws as much as he could, while Tai Lung refused to accept what he'd done was wrong and was driven to seeking the scroll to satiate his ego.
Master Oogway is an Elephant in the Room situation: he's a tortoise who is a kung fu grandmaster, not to mention his being a former warlord. If a tortoise can manage that level of awesome, who's to say a panda can't? His life is proof of anyone being able to change their ways, and so he is vindicated in passing on his faith and beliefs to the next generation.
With the above in mind, note that Shifu and the Furious Five are generally dangerous animals: there's a tigress, a viper, a praying mantis, and cranes and monkeys can be dangerous when provoked. Shifu is a red panda, considered a vicious omnivore. Compared to them, the giant panda is a gentle giant that can eat meat but prefers a plant-based diet. Looks like Po was the best choice of them all.
Tai Lung is a snow leopard — which is, ironically enough, one of the least dangerous wild cats. Shifu's flawed mentoring turned what is a benign predator to a dangerous beast.
The Tiger Versus Dragon trope means that Tigress could never be the Dragon Warrior.
When Shifu apologizes to Tai Lung for failing him, his exact words are "...I loved you too much to see what you were becoming." Coming from the stern Shifu, an admittance of failure is huge, but Tai Lung doesn't see it that way. To someone as prideful as Tai Lung, who could never recognize his own flaws, he could only see it as Shifu continuing to blame him, and would interpret it as "I couldn't stop you from turning into a monster, because that's what you are."
The Cover Version of "Kung Fu Fighting" by Ceelo Green and Jack Black that plays over the end credits: On the surface it seems the song was just chosen because it's a well known upbeat song about Kung Fu, and a likely motivation for rewriting the verses was the fact that some lyrics from the original 70s version haven't aged well (e.g. "they were funky Chinamen"). However, the original song is basically from the POV of a Kung Fu fanboy (much like Po at the start of the movie), and the revised end credits version is almost an Answer Song to the original — instead of just marveling at skilled kung fu fighters, the lyrics of the end credits version are about having the perseverance and self-confidence to become one yourself.
When Vachir, the head guard of Chorh-Gom prison, steps on Tai Lung's tail to show he's completely immobilize to Zeng, this might have been the moment that sealed his fate and Tai Lung's eventual escape. His tail was completely exposed, but after spending 20 years immobilized, Tai Lung was either meditating or something and probably forgot if he could move his tail. When Vachir stomped on it, Tai Lung clearly felt it. This was the moment Tai Lung either remembered or learned that he could move it, and as soon as he saw Zeng's feather fall in front of him, his plan was set into motion.
If you really think about it, Tai Lung really was empowered by the Dragon Scroll throughout the film and just did not realize it. He was imprisoned for 20 years, completely immobilized, but as soon as he hears someone was going to receive the scroll, something he believed to be rightfully his, he immediately got to work to get it. His escape from Chorh-Gom prison, defeating the Furious Five and Shifu? All of it was his drive to get the Dragon Scroll. Similar to Po and food, the scroll was Tai Lung's motivator throughout the film, to the point where he did technically defeat Po and gotten the scroll. Once he saw what the scroll actually was, he lost that motivation, which contributed to his defeat.
Why was Monkey seemingly the first to warm up to Po? Because Po made jokes during the dinner scene! Being a former comedian, of course Monkey would respect someone with a good sense of humor!
Shifu is a red panda, but he never appeared to get any attention from Shen. Shen's prophecy claimed he would be struck down by "a warrior of black and white"; while your average panda would qualify, Shifu is red and white, and thus he and his kind were exempt from Shen's genocide.
In the beginning of the Holiday Special, Mr. Ping's nightmare begins with Tai Lung appearing and growing to the size of a Kaiju that seems ready to eat Po whole, only for Po to grow to equal size and soundly trounce him. This might not make sense at first, but the brilliance of this lies in how Mr. Ping is the only one out of all the major characters in the first film who never directly interacted with Tai Lung. Nearly every major character, from Po to Zeng, encountered Tai Lung face to face, but the closest Mr. Ping ever got to be to Tai Lung was probably during the latter's rage-driven rampage through the valley after being denied the Dragon Scroll. The Tai Lung we saw in Mr. Ping's nightmare very likely reflects on the goose's impression of the snow leopard: a dangerous monster who caused god knows how much destruction to his home. Dream!Tai Lung's act of nearly eating Po only for Po to turn the tables on him very likely represents how Mr. Ping felt during the climax of the first film: the monster that had destroyed his home two decades prior was returning and his son, who had only been training under Shifu for at least a few days, was probably going to die by Tai Lung's hand until Po miraculously bested him.
In the flashback, when we see Shifu trying to fight Tai Lung, there's a scene where Tai Lung attacks Shifu's legs with a backhand, and a cracking sound can heard. When we flash forward to him training Tigress, he's holding the reed that he uses as a cane sometimes. Then you realise what that crack was: Shifu's legs breaking. A side strike to the legs like what Tai Lung used is fairly damaging if done right. Factor in their relative sizes, and you realise Tai Lung crippled his old master with a single strike. Notice that after Oogway takes Tai Lung down, Shifu crawls toward him, and throughout the movie Shifu walks with a slight limp.
During the Flashback, we see Master Oogway take down Tai Lung immediately by manipulating his chi and shutting down his body. Why a chi technique though? Surely Oogway could've mopped the floor with Tai Lung six ways from Sunday. So that got me thinking, what if Oogway couldn't? After all, he may be a master warrior but he's still an ancient turtle. And we see later on that Shifu can't take him either. What if Tai Lung really was the strongest in the valley and Oogway's attack was the only way to stop him? It would certainly explain Shifu's terror at the idea of him getting loose.
Right after Oogway proclaimed him the Dragon Warrior, Shifu insults Po to his face, then catches him in the Wuxi Finger-Hold when he objects. In this moment, Shifu is legitimately threatening to kill Po in cold blood, just because he doesn't think Po is worthy of a title he never asked for. Not to mention how scared Po was, he knew the move the instant it was placed on him and did not think for a moment Shifu wouldn't use it on him.
In the film's opening dream sequence, the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five confront a huge army of mountain demons. One of the "demons" is shown looking back at them, and its face is that of a snarling wolf. Given that it's Po's dream generated by his subconscious, it's an early hint that deep down, Po rememberswhat happened to his birth village.
Prior to the second film, Tigress is depicted as noticeably more guarded than the rest of the Furious Five, is rarely shown taking part in their more fun activities, and in some incarnations is sometimes reluctant to refer to Po or her other teammates as friends at all. The short film Secrets Of The Furious Five reveals that Tigress was once a very happy and playful cub, but because she was bigger and stronger than the other children and even the adult caretakers at the orphanage, they were all afraid of her and she spent most of her time there locked in her room, even being outright called a monster. Tigress' more distant nature is not merely an introverted personality, it's lingering trauma from how she was treated as a child.
: Tai Lung's style relies on speed, counterattacks (it has no blocks, as it prefers striking for defense), debilitating blows and outsmarting the opponent. And, as it happens, Po is the worst possible opponent for Tai Lung: