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In their final confrontation, Po tells Shen, “You’ve got to let go of that stuff from the past because it just doesn’t matter. This is manifested in the climactic sequence, in which Po uses Shen’s firearms against him, using the exact same technique he used to unlock and harness his repressed memories. Of course, he defeats Lord Shen, not before realizing that the pains of his past are not vices holding him back from his abilities, but a source in which he derives his ability.
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His inability to defeat Shen does not come from his lack of confidence, as it did with Tai Lung, but his reluctance to tap into a painful memory. Po’s character arch is different, his abilities are fully realized and his technique well utilized, yet his setbacks have become more nuanced. In the second movie, Po faces a second adversary, Lord Shen, who plays a tragic role in Po’s past, a memory which he suppresses. The path made for Po, in a way, mirrors a path that the first Kung Fu Panda has established for the trilogy.
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Po’s relationship with Tai Lung is defined by their similarities, unlike Po however, Tai Lung refuses to accept his path-making him the applicable villain, not only to Po, but to the film’s philosophical groundwork.
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The villain, Tai Lung, plays as an aggressive foil to Po, an individual whose path was carved since childhood, only to have it denied of him. In the first movie, Po is declared the “Dragon Warrior,” something that he, nor anyone else (aside from Oogway) believe he is capable of living up to-the film is about Po accepting his path, despite such reservations. The best way to distinguish the three Kung Fu Panda movies is to look at their villains, each particularly unique in their motives, artistic design and, most importantly, their relationship to the protagonist. How each one stands out enough to sustain its own unique, meaningful narrative. These criticisms may be accurate to an extent, but they don’t account for how these themes vary. Each Kung Fu Panda film shares a recurring theme of Po being in conflict with himself as much as he is with the film’s antagonist he is unsure of his own abilities and is either unwilling or unable to accomplish his primary objective without first reflecting upon his own psychology. Kung Fu Panda has been frivolously criticized by some for this very reason-and for the most part, these accusations are true. Recurring motifs and thematic material are surprisingly common among trilogies, holding a place even among the best of them. Kung Fu Panda is a big budget action-comedy whose narrative qualities are not muted by its technical achievements, nor does its childish flamboyancy overpower the underlying maturity of its themes.
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While the Kung Fu Panda trilogy isn’t without its flaws, it can still very well be one of the strongest cinematic examples on how to effectively evolve an original trilogy. Like Po, this franchise has found new ways to reinvent itself, it continuously surprises us with latent depth and endless variations of comedic and dramatic appeal. In Kung Fu Panda 3, Master Shifu tells our protagonist Po, “If you only do what you can do, you’ll never be better than what you are.” Honest words, ones that could very well apply to the Kung Fu Panda trilogy itself.