Headscratchers / Kung Fu Panda 4

• The first time Chameleon traps Po in a cage, he can't escape by breaking it, he has to hit the floor. Later on, she throws a bunch of cages at him and once again can't escape, entrusting his staff to Zhen. After Zhen comes out victorious, Po reveals he was only pretending and could've gotten out anytime to give Zhen the opportunity to grow. He can't bust out of one cage, but can break out of at least three cages piled on top of each other?
  • The cages probably weren't attached to each other as tightly as the Chameleon assumed they were; Po might not be able to break the cages individually, but he could probably disconnect them from each other. Also, the cages had been thoroughly smashed up and also set on fire by that point, which could easily weaken their structural integrity.
• After her defeat, Tai Lung holds Chameleon by the neck to take her to the spirit realm. She's a shapeshifter. Why not morph to an animal Tai Lung can't hold, then change to a flying and/or fast animal to escape?
  • Given the huge fight she just had with Po and Zhen, it's possible that she's simply out of power, especially after Po drained all of her absorbed Kung Fu energy. Her shapeshifting powers stem from her sorcery, so she could've easily exhausted her magic to the point where she can't use it. And that's assuming that she's capable of using her powers at all after Po skadoosh'd her.
  • She's also surrounded by the spirits of several dozen masters who A. are all stronger than her now that her powers reverted to them and B. have very good reason to dislike her. Even if she transformed, it's a virtual certainty that they'd still easily overpower her even if she can use her shapeshifting powers.
• Just how was the Chameleon turned away from every training dojo she applied for her small size when there are countless smaller kung fu masters in the films, including Master Shifu and other parts of the franchise (that goldfish from Legends of Awesomeness) and too "lowly", when half the Furious Five are orphans.
  • For Shifu, it was because he was taken in by Oogway personally. He's not the type to care much about something like that.
  • Juniper City is implied to be fairly far away from the Valley Of Peace, so the Chameleon wouldn't have had easy access to most of the kung fu masters shown in the previous instalments. For all we know, the masters who rejected her could have all been larger and stronger animals, and were probably elitist jerks with unreasonably high standards and biased prejudices against "weaker" animals like herself. So the Chameleon likely assumed that all kung fu masters were like this, and that travelling far out to find any others - like Shifu or Oogway - would get the same results and be a complete waste of time.
  • Here is another idea, maybe the Chameleon was just lying about her backstory? If she was truly turned away from every Martial Arts master, she would be more jealous and resentful. Instead, she seems more greedy and lustful taking the Kung-fu skills of Martial artists instead of actually earning it. She did not care about the Art, she only saw it as a means of conquest. That would be more plausible as to why she dove into Sorcery instead because those Martial Arts master were able to see through her dark intentions with Martial Arts and how she would just corrupt it.
• Don`t expect the "right" answer, but legitimate question, why aren't the furious five in the film?
  • Po says they are on a mission. So the most likely right answer would be that they were too busy somewhere else and only got back at the end, possibly even facing similar threats we never got to see.
  • The plot wouldn't work if Po had other people to talk to and rely on. He's being forced to rely on his own skills and wisdom and trust in Zhen. If the Five were along for the ride they could have just brute forced the whole issue.
• Why did Shifu need Po to pick a new Dragon Warrior so soon? Judging by that peach Tree Shifu planted in the first movie, Po has only been Dragon Warrior for about two years. That is way too short for Po to give up being the Dragon Warrior when he is still in his prime while Oogway was extremely old when he chose the Dragon Warrior.
  • It has nothing to do with age or time. With Po receiving Oogway's staff from the previous movie, Shifu wants Po to take Oogway's place as the Valley of Peace's spiritual leader. A new position for Po means another person needs to fill his old position.
    • Just because Oogway chose Po as his successor does not mean Po needs to get a successor of his own already when he is still very much in his prime. And if Shifu really feels that the Valley of Peace needs a Spiritual leader, why doesn't he do it then? He is far more suited to the job with all his experience and discipline than Po who still has a lot of growing up to do. What is Shifu even doing with himself at this point? Sounds like the plot is grasping at straws to give Shifu any sense of relevance at this point.
• How is Kai somehow revived?
  • Apparently he was overwhelmed by Po's chakra to the point he was explosively reverted to his base state; he never did die as a spirit in the first place.
    • I thought the whole point of Po overloading him with Chi is to blow his spirit up for good because he is too dangerous to be allowed to exist any further. What is stopping Kai from just repeating the process of stealing everyone's Chi so he could return back to the mortal realm hundreds of years later. Honestly, I chalk up to the director not caring that his survival does not make any sense.
  • Kai may have been beyond repair under normal circumstances but the Chameleon was a powerful sorceress and may have used magic to fix the damage.
• Also how does The Chameleon even know about Kai? I thought the last movie made it clear that Kai was basically wiped from history with precious little information recorded about him.
  • The previous film states that Kai captured and zombified almost every living Kung Fu master in China, and those masters would have likely passed on this story after they were freed by Po. Even if Kai's backstory is still an obscure myth, his more recent endeavour had too many far-reaching ramifications to go unnoticed.
• Some have wondered why Oogway isn't one of the spirits summoned by the Chameleon. Does the Chameleon say at any point that she intends to summon any heroic kung fu masters? She talks a lot about how she's summoning all the villains that Po has fought in the past. Are we not meant to assume that all the characters she summons were fought by Po, even if only offscreen?
• Why is it treated like a surprise that Zhen is a wanted criminal in Juniper City? She literally just got convicted for stealing in the Valley of Peace, and Po has tried to stop her from stealing many other times before they reach the city.
  • Why is she even wanted in the first place? She might be a thief, but she's essentially the right hand of the local ruler. The Chameleon's other minions do more stealing in a single day than Zhen can by herself with a month of effort. Why do the cops care about her so much in particular?
• Why is Po acting like he’s never seen a city before to the point he initially thinks Juniper City is a large village from a distance? It’s like the film is ignoring his experience with Gongmen City to exaggerate the Fish out of Water story.

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