Heartwarming / Kung Fu Panda 4

• Mr. Ping and Li Shan now working together as both friends and Po's co-dads. When they fear for Po's safety on his new adventure, they both head out to make sure he doesn't get hurt.
  • Also becomes double heartwarming when you consider that Mr. Ping still saw Li as a potential rival for Po affections in Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny - though a little of the shine is taken off of this since all the shows have been rendered non-canon.
• After Tai Lung and Shen both rejected his forgiveness and forced Po to end them, and Zhen just broke his trust, you’d be forgiven for thinking Po wasn’t even going to try for forgiveness with the Chameleon. But staying true to the film’s themes of change, he earnestly gives her a chance.
  • And while she rejects him immediately, Tai Lung, Shen, and even Kai have turned over a new leaf as shown below, proving his forgiveness wasn’t for nothing after all. Perhaps with enough time, even the Chameleon will find peace…
• Zhen is relieved to discover Po alive, albeit calmly angry over her duping him. She does everything to make him not to face the Chameleon. After fighting him fails, she hugs him and pleads for forgiveness. Though it doesn't budge Po on his intent, he understands and comforts Zhen, before telling her to get to safety.
  Zhen: (voice quavering) Please, Po. Just let me do one thing right.
  Po: (gently) You're not the only one who's made some bad choices lately.
  Zhen: You're really gonna go through with this, aren't you?
  Po: (rueful smile) 'Fraid so.
  Zhen: And there's nothing I can do to talk you out of it?
  Po: I'm afraid not.
  Zhen: You can't beat her, you know?
  Po: (shrugs) You're probably right....but I have to try. (runs onward determined) Get as far away from this place as you can.
• Before Po sends the evil kung-fu masters back to the Spirit Realm, all of them - especially Tai Lung, Shen, and Kai - give him the fist-and-palm salute, all just to show gratitude towards Po not only for defeating the Chameleon, but also for freeing them and restoring their kung fu powers to them.
  • Tai Lung especially is more poignant, since throughout the entire first film, he has tried his best to prove to Oogway that he was the Dragon Warrior and wasn't willing to accept Po. Here, after seeing firsthand how much Po has grown since their first fight and that he was able to defeat the Chameleon (thanks to Zhen's help), Tai Lung has finally accepted that Po is indeed the Dragon Warrior, even commenting that Oogway was right about his choice.
    Tai Lung: Maybe Oogway was right about you. You aren't completely useless after all.
    Po: (stunned smile) Oh my gosh, thank you so much.
    • All the evil kung-fu masters then peacefully return to the spirit realm, and Tai Lung (taking the Chameleon with him) respectfully tells Po that he will see him again "on the other side".
      Tai Lung: See you on the other side, Dragon Warrior.
    • Likewise, Po's last encounters with Tai Lung and Shen when they were alive ended with him offering words of advice and even forgiveness, but they rejected it which resulted in their deaths. But upon meeting them again, both Tai Lung and Shen have developed some respect for Po after he saved them from the Chameleon. Even Kai himself finally understands the true folly of nabbing power and follows up on the same mindset as Tai Lung and Shen.
    • Even before, Tai Lung remarks to the Chameleon that while he considers Po to be a bumbling idiot, he would never hand someone like her the Staff of Wisdom, to which the Chameleon replied that she actually stole it from him.
• With the adventure over, Ping gives Zhen some food for her jail time.
• Despite being absent for the whole film, the Furious Five return at the very end to help Po train Zhen.
• When Po tries to meditate at Oogway's peach tree, one can spot a smaller tree that's grown beneath it. This is the very same tree that was shown sprouting up at the end of the first film, from the seed that Shifu planted during his last talk with Oogway.
  • When you remember that Oogway directly compared the seed to Po during that conversation, seeing it having grown and thrived only further reminds us how much Po himself has learned and matured across the series leading to this point.
  • While Po begins training Zhen in the epilogue, Shifu is last shown meditating by Oogway's tree. The film ends on a final shot of the second tree, which now has another, smaller shoot growing beneath it. A final reminder that Po has already grown and progressed so much since that tree was first planted, and only has further to go, while Zhen's story is only just beginning…