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In an anthropomorphic China, the
Valley of Peace is protected by the Furious Five – Tigress, Monkey,
Mantis, Viper, and Crane – a quintet of warriors trained in kung fu by the
wise tortoise Master Oogway and his protégé, the red panda Master Shifu.
One day, Oogway has a premonition that Shifu's former pupil and foster
son, the brutal and ruthless snow leopard Tai Lung, will escape from
prison and return to the Valley. Shifu decides to hold a martial arts
tournament so that Oogway may identify the legendary Dragon Warrior – the
one master worthy to receive the Dragon Scroll, which is said to hold the
secret to limitless power. Tai Lung had been denied the Scroll years
earlier, causing him to decimate the Valley in retaliation and resulting
in his imprisonment.
Po is a young giant panda and kung fu fanatic who works in his goose
father's noodle restaurant. Upon hearing of the tournament, Po tries to
attend as a spectator, but his father directs him to take a push cart and
sell noodles instead. By the time Po arrives, the gates are closed and the
tournament has already started. Desperate to see the tournament, Po straps
himself to a set of fireworks; he rockets into the sky and crashes into
the middle of the arena just as Oogway is about to select the new Dragon
Warrior. To the surprise of all, Oogway indicates that Po is the Dragon
Warrior.
Unwilling to believe that a big fat clumsy panda can be the Dragon
Warrior, Shifu attempts to berate and humiliate Po into quitting. He
subjects Po to a grueling series of challenges and sparring matches
against the Furious Five, culminating in a battle between Po and Shifu
that ends with Po being thrown from the Jade Palace. Though the Furious
Five despise him as an unqualified upstart, Po receives counseling from
Oogway and refuses to quit. In time, he endears himself to the Five
(except Tigress) with his impressive tenacity, culinary skill, and good
humor, though he is still unable to grasp the basics of kung fu.
Meanwhile, as Oogway had foreseen, Tai Lung escapes from his prison and
heads for the Valley. Sensing that his death is imminent, Oogway extracts
a promise from Shifu that he will train Po and then disappears, ascending
to heaven in a swirl of flower petals. Upon hearing that Tai Lung is
coming, Po panics and tries to flee the Temple. Shifu refuses to let him
go, insisting that he can change Po into the Dragon Warrior, but Po has
lost all confidence and Shifu can not explain how he will turn Po into the
Dragon Warrior. Hiding nearby and seeing this argument, Tigress leads the
rest of the Furious Five to stop Tai Lung themselves. The next morning,
Shifu discovers that Po displays impressive agility when he is motivated
by food; using the promise of food as a reward, Shifu trains Po into a
skilled warrior.
The Five confront Tai Lung over a long rope bridge, but he easily defeats
them and sends them back to the Valley immobilized, carried by Crane, to
inspire fear. Feeling that Po is ready to fight, Shifu gives him the
Dragon Scroll, which he opens to reveal nothing but a blank, reflective
surface. Shifu, despairing, orders Po and the Five to evacuate the valley
while he prepares to delay Tai Lung for as long as he can. During the
evacuation, Po finds his father who, in an attempt to console him, reveals
that the long-withheld secret ingredient of his famous "secret ingredient
soup" is nothing - except the belief that the soup is special. Po realizes
this idea is the point of the Dragon Scroll and returns to face Tai Lung.
At the Temple, Tai Lung confronts Shifu and demands the Scroll; when Shifu
refuses, Tai Lung attacks him. In a furious battle, Tai Lung overpowers
and nearly kills Shifu before an exhausted Po arrives. Tai Lung can hardly
believe that the Dragon Warrior is a "big, fat panda", but as Tai Lung
battles Po to take the Scroll, Po uses a combination of his natural
clumsiness, his body mass, and Shifu's training to prove himself an
unexpected equal. At one stage of the fight, Tai Lung gains the upper hand
and opens the Scroll, but cannot comprehend its symbolic value. Po
explains that "there is no secret ingredient" other than the warrior's
belief in himself, but Tai Lung fails to understand and attacks again.
With the combination of his new revelation and his own natural resilience,
Po counter-attacks with devastating effectiveness and finally defeats Tai
Lung, destroying him with the secret "Wuxi Finger Hold". |
