Long ago, a peacock named Lord Shen sought to harness the power of fireworks for a more practical use in weaponry, a cannon. His worried parents, the rulers of Gongmen City, consulted a soothsayer, who foretold that Shen would be defeated by "a warrior of black and white". To prevent this, Shen destroyed an entire nearby panda village, and returned home expecting appreciation, but his parents were struck with horror and exiled him. Shen, however, swore revenge and vowed to return to the city to complete his invention and see that the prophecy would not be fulfilled.

In the present day, Po, now a very skilled Dragon Warrior and the sixth member of the Furious Five, is trying to learn "inner peace" from Master Shifu. They're interrupted when a gang of wolves attack a village in search of metal to help in making Lord Shen's cannon, which, if successful, will make kung fu obsolete. Po and the Furious Five set out for Gongmen City to stop his plans. Along the way, Po learns about how he was adopted, and why.

The 2011 Sequel to Dreamworks Animation's Kung Fu Panda, this film opened only second in line, under The Hangover Part II, at the box office on its opening weekend. The earnings in the U.S. declined in the following weeks, but the international earnings went through the roof, especially in Asian territories, and set a new record in China. As a result, this film is the #1 animated feature film of 2011 worldwide, outgrossing Pixar's critically lambasted Cars 2. Furthermore, it's also the biggest box office earner for a film directed by a woman, in this case, Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who directed the traditionally animated opening of KFP 1.

For character tropes, see the Character Page.

  • Acrofatic: Po exemplifies this trope.
  • Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: Two major examples: the nighttime boat scene that shows how close as friends Po and Tigress have become, and Po and the Soothsayer in
  • Action Girl: Tigress and Viper.
  • Actionized Sequel: While the orginal is an action movie, there is a LOT more here thanks to Po getting out of training.
  • Actor Allusion: "Skadoosh", again.
    • Master Croc also pulls off Jean-Claude Van Damme's signature splits move at one point.
  • Advertised Extra
    • Master Thundering Rhino is shown in the website and press release. In the actual movie, he barely gets two minutes of screentime . Masters Storming Ox and Croc have somewhat larger roles, but not by much.
    • The members of the Furious Five (save Tigress, and perhaps Mantis) still barely get any lines, as in the previous movie. Well worth hiring Lucy Liu and David Cross for fifteen lines each, guys.
  • All There in the Manual: The movie's official website offers far more detailed information about all the new characters, especially Lord Shen. .
  • Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Ping when he packs Po a backpack with embarrassing old paintings and Po's action figures of his teammates... in front of his teammates. Though to be fair, he's just doing it because he's worried about Po's safety since he was about to go on a long and dangerous mission far from home, as well possibly losing Po to his real parents.
  • Animate Inanimate Object: The radish that Po's parents replaced him with in his dream sequence. It can do kung fu, too.
  • Arc Words: Arc symbol, more accurately. The red-eye-with-rays symbol for Po, and the Yin-Yang symbol for Shen.
    • The phrase "Who are you?" also qualifies.
  • Arrow Catch: Tigress dodges a bunch of arrows and catches the last one an inch from her cheek. Bonus points for the arrows being on fire. More bonus points for the fact that she wasn't even looking at it and didn't seem all that concerned by it, as she does it completely offhandedly.
  • Art Shift: The movie is primarily filmed in CG, but the opening prologue was shot in a style resembling metal shadow puppets, and Po's dreams and memories are animated traditionally.
  • Ascended Fanboy: Even though Po is now The Dragon Warrior, he still gushes like a kid about everything related to kung fu, even while being captured.
    • Po still keeps his Furious Five action figures, too, even though he doesn't acknowledge that in front of his team mates.
    • Also an amusing accidental Call Back to Shen's declaration of the start of the Year of the Peacock.
  • Audible Sharpness: Pretty much all of Shen's blade weapons.
  • Awesome but Impractical: Turns out Shen's cannons can be a bitch to aim at moving targets.
  • Awesome Yet Practical: The Catch and Return technique to catch rainwater that Shifu tries to teach Po so that he might learn inner peace
  • Awful Truth: Subverted in that Po is determined to find out what happened to his biological parents, and only Big Bad Lord Shen knows (besides the Soothsayer). As such, Po screws up a chance for the Five to destroy the cannon foundry to face the peacock, only to have him claim
  • Badass Boast: "I am Po. And I'm gonna need a hat." It Makes Sense in Context.
  • Badass Crew: With Po as the new addition to the team, the Furious Five are, if possible, even more badass than in the first film with all the crazy combo moves they show off in this film.
  • Badass in Distress: The Furious Five near the end of the movie.
  • Bag of Spilling: Averted. Po still has the kung-fu abilities he learned in the previous movie and is able to fight alongside the Furious Five.
    • Except maybe the Wuxi Finger Hold, which and isn't seen or mentioned again. Though he may have just not gotten the chance to use it on something who deserved it.
      • Probably because Shen doesn't have any fingers...
    • Realistically as well, Po is shown to be less refined and technically proficient in his skills compared with the others, consistent with his status as the least experienced (though potentially most talented) member of the group. However, he's obviously getting better and his martial art innovations are leaving his comrades awestruck.
  • Bamboo Technology: Literally! Shen's cannon foundry features, among other things, a bamboo Conveyor Belt O' Doom.
  • Battle Discretion Shot: Po and the Five, hidden in a huge dragon costume, pull several wolf Mooks inside and rough them up before kicking them out the back, turning a string of rapid beatdowns into Toilet Humor.
  • BFG: Lord Shen's big freakin' cannons.
  • Big Bad: Lord Shen.
  • Big Badass Wolves: The movie is full of 'em as Lord Shen's Mooks.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Master Shifu and Masters Croc and Ox near the tail-end of the film. Po pulled it a short bit before to save the Five from Shen.
    • And Po's father in Po's flashback when two wolves were about to attack baby Po.
  • Big Eater: Subverted. Every time Po's father offers him a hearty meal, he refuses, and is generally shown to be much less of a glutton than in the first movie.
    • Baby!Po, on the other hand, is a pretty straight example, which Mr. Ping points out repeatedly as he fed the cub multiple times in a single day. And then there was the time he ate all the bamboo furniture...
    • Po eats when he's upset. As the Dragon Warrior, he's happier than he's ever been.
  • Big No: By Tigress
  • Black Dude Dies First: tend to die early in the Kung Fu Panda films.
  • Blade on a Stick: When not using cannons or flurries of throwing knives, Lord Shen fights using a cross-breed between a Flamberge and a Naginata.
  • Blatant Lies: Shen's claim to Po that .
  • Blind Musician: The rabbit who keeps playing music during the fight scene in the Musician's Village seems to be blind, since he's wearing dark glasses and doesn't react to any of the violence happening around him.
    • Which may be a Shout-Out to the wuxia film Hero, which has a similar scene where two martial artists square off with a blind musician providing accompaniment.
  • Blue and Orange Morality: Mantis' mother ate his dad's head before he was born, but he sees nothing strange in this since this is normal for his species. He even imagined himself dying like this.
    • Bonus points for him remarking how sad it is that he didn't get his head eaten.
  • Break Them by Talking: When Po confronts Shen in the foundry, the peacock manages to gain the upper hand by claiming that Po's parents didn't love him and abandoned him.
  • Brick Joke: In the first film, Ping told Po that when he was young, he thought going into the tofu business was crazy. The second film begins with Ping having expanded his noodle business by adding tofu to the menu!
    • Another example: When entering the prison, Monkey promises to warn the Furious Five with a "Caw-CAW!" to which it is pointed out how much it sounds like Crane, who protests by saying he never says that. At the finale of the film, Crane uses his "Wings of Justice! Caw-CAW!"
    • Po notes in the first film that Mantis is about the same size as his action figure. This film, .
  • Bus Full of Innocents: Done by the wolf boss with a box of brand-new bouncing baby bunnies.
  • Call Back: A kid playing with a Po figurine in the opening scenes says "Enough talk. Let's fight!", which is Po's first line in his fantasy of the first film.
    • There's also several in the opening fight in with the wolves. Many shots and elements of the whole scene match up with the 2D opening dream sequence of the first movie, including Po's "Feet of Fury" technique.
    • The Soothsayer uses acupuncture needles to cure Po and mess with his facial expressions in the same way Mantis (unintentionally) does in the first film.
    • Also Mantis being as big as his action figure, which becomes a Chekhov's Gun.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Po does this several times, as well as some of the Furious Five like Crane. "Wings of Justice!" and "Feet of Fury!" come to mind. Though quite a few times it's relaying instructions to the rest of the Furious Five for a double team attack with him (such as a "Double Death Strike" with Tigress), so it's justified.
  • The Cameo: Tai Lung, the villain of the first film, actually appears for a split-second during the flashback of Po's life up to the events of this film.
  • Captain Obvious: Pretty much everyone knew Po was adopted. Some like Tigress even showed signs of Sarcasm Mode when Po shares that fact.
  • Cardboard Prison: Po and the Five have no problem busting into the jail where Masters Storming Ox and Croc are being kept. In fact, they actually have more trouble
    • Arguably justified. If Shen knows his prisoners have no intention of escaping, why not use a Cardboard Prison?
  • Catch and Return: Shifu practices catching rain drops and placing them on blades of grass without breaking them.
  • Catch Phrase: Double duty as Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: You know when Po says "Skadoosh!" the bad guy is going down for the count... or is just about to.
  • Cats Are Mean: Pretty much gone now for Tigress, who has become Po's best friend of the Five. Although the one scene where she's ordering Po to stay in the dungeon was pretty scary (even more so that Viper told Po to "stay down" after he was knocked around for a bit), she wasn't doing it to be mean; she clearly stated at the end that she was fearing for his safety.
    • The included bonus DVD, Secrets of the Masters, has the Wu sisters, a trio of cats who play this trope very straight. As in, "Live in a volcano fortress, openly proclaim their evilness, and try to take over all of China's crime gangs."
  • Clip Show: Unlike most examples, this is used brilliantly to show Po's Progression from a gibbering fanboy from the last movie to the kung-fu master he is now.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Po's wooden action figures of the Furious Five, particularly Mantis's. This actually goes all the way back to the first movie, where Po comments that Mantis is about the same size as his action figure.
    • One that goes back to the first movie - Po's recurring use of a wok as a hat, leading to the Disc of Destruction scene.
  • Chekhov's Skill: Master Shifu's water-catching technique in the beginning of the movie;
    • And a "throwaway" gag about Crane turns out to be one as well.
    • (later)
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience: As in the first film, gold is used to symbolize heroism, while red is used to symbolize power and/or violence (a rather ironic twist, as red is associated with love and positive emotions in China while gold is traditionally more associated with power). This is especially apparent in Po's last confrontation with Shen, with Po standing in golden sunlight and Shen standing in the red glow of a cannon. .
    • Here's an example towards the end that might've gone by too fast for a few people: The cannonballs that Shen fires are red.
    • Fire Is Red: As a consequence of this colour motiff, most fires on the film glow with an unusual crimson tone. Possibly justified as Shen is explicitly stated to be working with fireworks, hence the fires are in that colour due to the usage of specific metals (although Fridge Logic kicks in when you realise that Shen would perhaps find more use in magnesium, which glows white).
  • Combat Pragmatist: In a world where strength is determined by kung fu prowess, Shen has no problem with using cannons and hidden weapons.
  • Combination Attack: While Po is not a slouch in the kung-fu asskick department in this movie, all his best moves are performed in tandem with the rest of the Furious Five. Most of them are some variety of tossing him in the right direction and watching the fireworks.
  • Continuity Nod: Among other things, when Po and his friends are manacled by Shen's minions, the panda mentions that similar devices were used to imprison Tai Lung.
    • A subtle one: Oogway, in the first movie, notes how Po eats when he's sad.
    • Which also explains why Po is slightly thinner and less hungry than before. Ping even worries that he's lost weight.
    • Master Flying Rhino is mentioned, for donating his armor to the Jade Palace in the first movie, and as the father of Thundering Rhino here.
    • Oogway once said "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why they called the Present."
  • Cooldown Hug: Tigress gives one to Po so that he won't go against Shen again, much to the shock of the rest of the Five.
  • Creative Closing Credits: That of 2D images of Po's childhood after he's sent away on the radish crate.
  • Crucified Hero Shot: When Tigress (along with the rest of the Furious Five) is chained to a mast.
  • Darker and Edgier: Although there are still plenty of laughs and sweet moments, this film is much more violent, mostly thanks to Lord Shen and his use of cannons to get rid of every problem he has, and deals with difficult situations such as adoption. Not to mention how most of the movie is literally darker -- it takes place in locations with dramatic or no light.
  • Deadly Dodging: Done by Po
  • Deadly Fireworks Display: Lord Shen goes out with a bang in 2 when
  • Death by Looking Up:
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Tigress started to thaw a little in the first movie, but here
  • Deleted Scene: Not vital to the plot, but one scene that was cut was an alternate introduction of the protagonists to Masters Croc and Ox. Originally, they were going to all meet at a street fighting ring, but was cut for various reasons. The design of the jail strongly resembles the arena that they were supposed to fight in, and the whole scene was later recycled into the bonus DVD Secrets of the Masters, which talked about Croc, Ox, and Rhino.
  • Demoted to Extra: Shifu, who barely gets any screentime at all. Thankfully averted with the Furious Five, who appear much more this time around, and all of them actively help Po out this time around throughout the film.
  • Did You Think I Can't Feel?: Hinted at for . Maybe the sequel(s) will expand on this?
    • Also literally. Where Tigress can't actually feel pain. As in, nerve endings.
  • Disguised in Drag: Po, during the Stealth Mode sequence, pretends to be a woman very briefly. Doubles as Paper-Thin Disguise, since it consists of only a kite, two watermelons, and a fan.
  • Disney Villain Death: Averted.
  • Doomsday Device: Lord Shen's cannons are viewed as the ultimate weapon that is going to end kung fu, and, possibly, the world as we know it.
  • Door Step Baby: Po was found by Mr. Ping in a crate of radishes.
  • The Dragon: The Wolf Boss.
  • Dragons Up the Yin-Yang: In the first film, the dragon was a more prevalent image; here, the Yin Yang is a much more prominent symbol.
  • Drama-Preserving Handicap/Worf Had the Flu: Po's traumatic flashbacks and inner turmoil cost him several battles he might have otherwise won.
  • Dream Sequence: Po's nightmare, in which he meets his true parents only to find they've replaced him with a radish that has better kung fu.
  • Drop the Hammer: The Wolf Boss, Thundering Rhino and Po's biological father.
  • Dropped a Bridget On Him: The Soothsayer to Po, who claims he was "misled" by the Soothsayer's beard.
  • Dynamic Entry: Parodied. Po has a Not Quite Dead moment on the Conveyor Belt O' Doom... only he's got to wait several seconds until a giant cogwheel returns him into a position to actually follow up his Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner. Also, the I Can't Hear You moment on the roof during Po's Big Damn Heroes.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Master Ox, Croc, the wolf bandits, and even Shen's symbol were in Po's opening dream in the first film.
  • Empathic Environment: The color red accompanies Shen's presence very often. Sometimes justified, due to all the forge fires and torches; but sometimes the sky itself turns blood-red, even if it wasn't minutes ago, like when Shen marches in to challenge the Kung Fu Council.
  • Empathy Doll Shot: The little panda plushie that Po finds . At the end of the movie, the plushie is seen in a crate of vegetables that Po is carrying into the restaurant.
  • End of an Age: Averted in that
  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Out of all Shen's hostages, the Soothsayer is treated the least cruelly (though that's still not saying much), as she raised Shen when he was shunned by his family.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: The Wolf Boss, Lord Shen's second in command, has no problem with theft or genocide, but firing on his own men? That's where he draws the line. . Justified in that wolves are pack animals and he is pack alpha.
  • Everything's Worse with Wolves: Lord Shen's minions are ruthless wolf brigands.
  • Evil Albino: Lord Shen. Remember, in Chinese culture, white is the color of death.
  • Evil Brit: Lord Shen (voiced by Gary Oldman), in a parallel to Tai Lung (Ian McShane).
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Shen fits this trope rather nicely, and is willing to kill or hurt anyone who gets in his way, even if it's his own men. He also continuously ignores any advice that the path he's taking will only lead to his eventual defeat by Po.
  • Evil Tower of Ominousness: Shen's ancestral home and base of operations for the first part of the movie
  • Faux Affably Evil: Even after crossing the Moral Event Horizon in the prologue, Lord Shen seems like a pleasant enough fellow.
  • Face Palm: Tigress does one of these upon seeing Po first using the goofy dragon costume during the Stealth Mode sequence.
  • Family-Unfriendly Death: Compared to Oogway's poetic ascension and the ambiguous fates of Tai Lung and Commander Vachir, the deaths in this film are a lot more disturbing, sadistic, and visceral. However, the one that really takes the cake is the Wolf Boss. Shen throws a knife in his stomach. On screen. Given that up to that point all deaths happened off camera and the generally cartoonish and larger than life violence, it was very shocking to see such a graphic, cold blooded killing.
  • Fastball Special: Tigress performs this twice with Po in a move he calls "Double Death Strike".
    • And, the second time, Mantis performs this with Tigress so that she can get up enough momentum to pull the same trick with Po in a broken rickshaw. The force is so strong it leaves a trail of flames in the road. BAD. ASS.
  • A Father to His Men: The Wolf Boss counts
  • Feather Fingers: Mr. Ping and Lord Shen.
  • Flash Step: Shifu is shown doing this several times, once even to avoid a hug from Po.
  • Foreshadowing: The first film actually has hints of several things in the film.
    • Crane's Wings of Justice move was used early on in the first film.
    • Also, somewhere in the middle of the first film, Master Shifu is chanting about Inner Peace.
    • Po's dream about fighting alongside mighty warriors actually occurs in the end of the film.
      • Even early bird cameos like Shen's symbol and the wolves that appeared previously in Po's dream appeared in the film. Po's memories may have been repressed but even little things like that still affected him.
  • Foe-Tossing Charge: In the climax battle against Lord Shen and his forces, the kung fu masters pulled this off, but it's Master Shifu who pulls off the most classic version, sprinting through several ships' worth of wolves and gorillas before we even see him.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: Look closely in Mantis' cage when Po is holding it.
    • When Po is running on the conveyor belt, the wok pan with Tai Lung's Face indented in it from the first movie goes over the side
  • Freudian Excuse: Big Bad Lord Shen's family never loved him.
  • Futile Paw Reach: By Tigress.
  • Genocide Backfire: Sort of. Lord Shen heard a prophecy that a black and white warrior would defeat him, so he destroyed the village of pandas close to his city. He later finds out that there was a survivor; Po. . Unlike most examples of this trope, this wasn't what directly caused the confrontation between Po and Shen, and traumatic memories of his early childhood actually weaken Po, instead of motivating him.
    • As noted further down, though, Po would never have been in a position to become the Dragon Warrior if Shen hadn't destroyed his village.
    • Shen fully expected this to be Po's reason to come stop him. It's played for laughs when Po has no idea who Shen is or what he has done. Even in the end, Po seemed to mean no ill will against Shen.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: Remember when Po asked Mr. Ping on where he came from, Mr. Ping said this:
    • Shen's talk about old and new has shades of Mao Zedong's own beliefs, and was especially prominent during the Cultural Revolution. Yet, it appears to have been unnoticed by the Chinese censors.
  • Grievous Harm with a Body: Part of Po and the Five's battling the wolf Mooks in the dragon costume involves hurling the last few victims (out the back end) into oncoming Mooks.
  • Growling Gut: "My fist hungers for justice. *growl* That was my... fist."
  • Ham-to-Ham Combat: Po and Shen's first scene together.
  • Happily Adopted: Po and his father both admit that Po is adopted at the beginning.
  • Hard Work Hardly Works / Instant Expert: Played With. Po's kung fu has improved a lot since the last movie, but he's still somewhat clumsy and has a lot to learn.
    • Though to be fair, he was only able to
      • Lampshaded by Shifu. To be fair, Shifu had Tai Lung to worry about during that time which was certainly enough to disrupt his peace.
  • Heroic BSOD: A certain symbol used by Lord Shen and his forces causes Po's most traumatic subconscious memories to suddenly flare up in his mind and overwhelm him. It's even worse when he sees all the eye spots on Shen's tail feathers, since they match the symbol almost exactly.
  • He's Back: Po, when he comes back to fight Lord Shen and save the Furious Five, after he discovered his background.
    • Let's Get Dangerous: Subverted. For a second Po looks Badass, but he blows it by overestimating how far his voice travels.
    • Badass: Subverted. Immediately after the above scene, . But he picks up the ball and ultimately makes it count afterwards.
  • Hidden Weapons: Shen. He keeps a multitude of blades in his sleeves.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard/Self-Disposing Villain:
  • I Am Not Your Father: Mr. Ping finally admits the incredibly non-evident fact that he's not Po's real father.
  • I Can't Hear You: Po shouts a challenge from a rooftop to Shen. Unfortunately, the distance is too far for anyone to make out what Po is saying.
  • If I Wanted You Dead...: The soothsayer says this to Po after fixing him up.
  • I Have You Now, My Pretty: Shen does this briefly toward Tigress near the end of the movie
  • Light Is Not Good: Shen, both in regards to chinese and western iconography, being white and red (the latter being the colour of love in chinese culture) as he is, not to mention him being a peacock (which is basically the animal that most resembles the chinese phoenix) and given what the possible readings of his name mean (神, "divinity", and 焴, "flame"). Although him being white feathered goes to Obviously Evil territory if you consider that white is the colour of death in most asian cultures.
  • Look What I Can Do Now!: Po. In regards to the first movie.
  • Made of Iron: Subverted and played straight. Also played literally with Tigress, as due to her punching ironwood trees near the Jade Palace for 20 years has allowed her to take Po's hardest punch and not feel a thing, even hurting Po himself in the process.
  • Meaningful Echo: When Po finds the truth, the Soothsayer repeats a line said by Mister Ping in the beginning of the film. "Your story may not have such a happy beginning..."
  • Mega Manning: Po learns the moves necessary to do the Catch and Return technique to manipulate rainwater after watching his master do it once, and then circumstances teaches him how to achieve the inner peace necessary to execute the technique. At this point Shifu is a tad jealous since the aged Kung Fu master only recently mastered that himself.
    • Consistent, of course, with how he figured out the all on his own in the first movie. (Po is pretty talented).
    • Then again, we don't know how much time passed since Shifu first showed Po the technique and the day he sends him off to fight Shen, so he could have been trying to learn it in between.
      • Doubles as a Call Back, since both are techniques Shifu told Po about in the beginning.
    • A Chekhov's Skill if you take into account the TV show. He's shown several times in that seeing a move once and being able to duplicate it.
  • Meteor Move: Performed by Po on the Wolf Boss at the end of the Rickshaw Chase.
  • Mickey Mousing: The first fight with the wolf pack certainly has a lot of action in sync to the music.
  • Misplaced Wildlife: Shen's gorillas, which are native to Africa.
  • Missing Mom: Well, at least we know what happened now.
  • Missing Trailer Scene: In some of the TV Spots, there's a scene where Po is 'holding his breath in anticipation', then Tigress tells him finally to breathe. Never happens in the movie.
    • Another trailer moment that doesn't happen in the movie is Shifu telling Po he's received a message. Po thinks it came from the universe, then Shifu says it came from a messenger.
  • Mook Chivalry: If they'd all just fired at once . Of course, the instances we see multiple shots fired at Po, he simply dodges most of them before catching one and throwing it back.
  • Moses in the Bulrushes: Or more precisely, Baby Po in the radish produce crate.
  • My God, You Are Serious: When Po realized that Tigress wasn't kidding about no snack stops on the way to stop the wolf bandits.
  • My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Master Shifu collapses after sensing
    • .
  • Eucatastrophe:
  • Never Found the Body:
  • Never Trust a Trailer: Much like with its predecessor, the trailers mostly showed the comedic aspects of the film. Perhaps it was Dreamworks's way of not giving away any of the surprises.
    • A TV Spot has Po declare "I'm not the last panda!" while showing making it look like this will be a big part of the plot. It...wasn't. Po didn't say that and while the village appeared, it was just a teaser at the very end of the movie.
    • Similar to the above TV Spot, the DVD Release Trailer basically tells you something completely different from what ACTUALLY happens in the movie. Someone must be playing a joke on the marketing department or editor.
  • Never Say "Die": Averted. That and "kill" may be Shen's favorite words.
    • Played straight in one case. He tells Po that he 'took away' his parents.
  • Nice Hat: Though not fancy or complicated in any way. Po's line preceding his gain of the hat should qualify. Also, it does look pretty cool up on that roof.
  • Oblivious Adoption: Confronted and answered. The ironic part is that Po already knew but his dad thought he didn't.
    • Some people, including Roger Ebert when seeing the first film, just assumed this is a universe where whatever animal you happen to be is not dependent on your birth parents. After the second film, he admitted he was wrong.
    • This is mercilessly lampshaded whenever given the chance. Especially given the Un Reveal in the last movie.
  • Of Doom: For the sake of rhyme, the sequel was at one point named Kung Fu Panda 2: The Kaboom of Doom.
  • Oh Crap: When Po and the Five
  • Offhand Backhand: Po does this rather effectively to the last wolf guard protecting Master Ox and Master Croc. It was the only move he did the entire fight and even Tigress complimented him on it.
  • Older Than They Look: Shen spent thirty years in exile, so he (and the Wolf Boss) must be around fifty, with Po being close to or slightly over thirty.
  • Only Six Faces: This movie adds goats and sheep to the mix of rabbits, pigs, and geese to the cast of civilians from the first movie.
  • Papa Wolf:
    • Shifu as well. His first instinct when is to . Granted that he's only the victim's father figure, but it's still badass.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: For a brief moment, Po disguise himself as a woman, using a kite as a wig. Irony to the trope's name, the kite is made out of paper!
  • Parental Abandonment: Lord Shen claims this about Po's parents; however,
    • Shen himself sees his parents banishing him as this,
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Mantis, once again, such as when he throws Tigress to give her an extra boost.
    • This movie goes out of its way to establish that Mantis is the strongest of the cast, regularly doing feats of strength that would be impressive at full size. Truth in Television, as insects really do tend to have the most impressive liftable-weight-to-body-mass ratio.
    • And Shifu, who is even tougher since he gained 'Inner Peace' in the previous film.
  • : Po's plan to get close enough to Lord Shen's cannon to destroy it.
  • Post Hug Catatonia:
  • Prophecy Twist: Another possible interpretation of the prophecy is that
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Played straight by Lord Shen's red eyes and his sigil, a red eye with sun rays at each side. Justified because he's an albino, which naturally have red eyes.
  • Red Sky, Take Warning: Shen's introduction. Ironic, since red is the color of luck in China.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Subverted with Master Croc.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: Baby Po. So cute and fluffy.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Lord Shen
  • Running Gag: Po and his mortal enemy: stairs. Kept going in that it takes a Gorilla Mook to carry Po up the rest of the stairs part of the way. Also, the Soothsayer eating Shen's robes.
    • Po repeatedly leaps into battle from a fatal height - only to be caught and gently lowered by Crane at the last second.
  • Scenery Porn: And this time with the addition of cities!
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The Soothsayer said in the intro that a warrior of black and white will defeat Shen.
  • Sequel Escalation: While the first movie centered on a small mountain valley, and the villain had mostly personal motivation and acted alone, the sequel involves a big city and a villain who wants to Take Over the World and has an army of wolves, gunpowder cannons, and a freakin' river fleet at his disposal.
  • Sequel Hook: When Po
    • According to The Other Wiki, there's supposed to be a total of six films in this series.
  • Shining City: Gongmen.
  • Ship Tease: Po and Tigress have a lot of... friendly interaction in this film, definitely more than in the first movie. A few highlights:
    • Tigress hugs him tightly to demonstrate that "the hardcore do understand".
    • The moment they share floating on wreckage in the water .
    • Enough of it went on that Roger Ebert mentioned the interactions in his review.
    • Also, the fact that Po is annoyed that his Tigress action figure is scratched.
      • Even the DVD commentary from the first movie stated that Tigress was Po's favorite out of the Five.
    • On the other hand, Viper also seems rather friendly with Po, and she kissed a doll of him on the cheek in the (non-canon) credits sequence of the first film. However, she wrapped the doll in a ribbon and cradled it as she kissed it. Given that she's the most compassionate of the five, it could be a "Motherly Love" kind of thing.
  • Shout-Out:
    • The sequence where the Furious Five hide in a dragon costume and "devour" wolf minions (It Makes Sense in Context), filmed from a top-down perspective, is an obvious Pac-Man allusion.
    • In the Smoke and Fire Factory showdown, when Po suddenly appears behind Shen mounted on a huge turning cogwheel. Hi there, Terminator!
    • The final river fleet showdown is possibly inspired by Red Cliff, where clever strategy triumphs over a bulky fleet of clumsy yet heavily armed ships.
    • The blind rabbit musician who continues to play through the initial battle with wolves is most likely a reference to the battle in the rain from Hero, which was accompanied by a blind musician.
    • The scene where Po is riding the rickshaw to catch a wolf (also in a rickshaw) and ends up going up and falling off some scaffolding of a building is reminiscent of the chariot racing scene in The Prince of Egypt, another Dreamworks film. They even used some of the same camera angles!
      • Also, other than the obvious factor of Moses in the Bulrushes, Po's mother sending Po away is very reminiscent of the scene in Prince of Egypt when Jochebed sends Moses away in the basket, right down to when they kiss their children on the forehead.
    • Possible The Lord of the Rings references: not only does the whole plot of weaponry vs. kung fu seem to partake of Saruman's "the old world will burn in the fires of industry" technology vs. nature mindset, but a number of the shots within Shen's foundry are reminiscent of the forges under Isengard. (Not to mention him slaughtering peaceful villagers/farmers.) Also, the Sinister Silhouettes moment with Po being carried up the stairs by the gorilla seems like a homage to Samwise's assault on Cirith Ungol.
    • Pretty minor, but Po getting discovered as a baby in the radish crate is pretty close to how baby Alex was first found after being sent adrift at sea.
    • The musical score takes some cues from How to Train Your Dragon at the end, as the camera sweeps from the Valley of Peace to
    • This is not the first time Jack Black has fought using combination attacks. Though it is decidedly less metal.
    • One scene showed the Furious Five using a string of lanterns as a zipline, similar to the one at the end of Mulan.
  • Shown Their Work:
    • In addition to the architecture, the movie opens with a brief history of Shen's childhood, which is presented as a stylized shadow puppet play. The musician troupe that Po and company try to save from bandits carried large prayer bells.
    • Tigress talking about punching ironwood trees to deaden her hands is a direct reference to the same type of conditioning done by Muay Thai fighters on their hands and legs.
      • Not just Muay Thai. Karate practitioners condition their hands a lot. Kyu Kushin Karate being the most famous example. Also Chinese Martial Artists.
  • Sliding Scale of Silliness Versus Seriousness: More on the serious side than the first film, but there's still plenty of silliness going on here.
  • Smoke and Fire Factory: Shen's cannon foundry. Needless to say, there is no OSHA in ancient China.
  • Sorry I Left the BGM On: A self-explanatory case in the fight at the Musicians' Village. Po actually Invoked this.
  • The Stinger: Surprisingly and sadly averted.
  • Squee: Po, when meeting Masters Croc and Ox.
  • Suicide by Cop: Subverted toward the end. . ...Dark.
  • Super Sentai Stance: Parodied with the help of Po's clumsiness.
  • Super Strength: Master Rhino was described to basically be this. Tigress and Mantis are way up there, too.
  • Take Over the World: Shen's ultimate ambition.
  • Taking the Bullet: In the climax of the film, Tigress pushes Po out of the way of a cannonball and takes the hit herself. She survives, but is too weak to stop Po from taking on the rest of Shen's fleet by himself.
  • Tennis Boss: A rare non-video game example.
  • Toilet Humour: While Po and the Five are wearing the dragon costume disguise, it appears to 'eat' a wolf (Po pulling the wolf inside through the dragon's mouth), digest him (the Furious Five beating him up), then excrete the remains (tossing him out the back), much to the disgust of a watching child.
  • Took Another Level In Badass: Although Po still cannot hold his own in a fight with Tigress (admittedly, very few warriors can), and his fighting style is somewhat clumsy, he kicks much more evildoer butt than in the original movie.
  • Totem Pole Trench: The aforementioned dragon costume.
  • Trailers Always Spoil: More like T.V. spots always spoil, but one commercial showed
  • Tranquil Fury:
  • Travel Montage: Po and the Five travelling across China from the Valley of Peace to Gongmen City.
  • Trojan Horse: Po and the Furious Five use a Dragon costume to sneak around Gongmen City. Also Shen's "gift" for Master Rhino and co.
  • True Companions: Since the last movie, Po and the Furious Five have become much closer, with Tigress becoming his best friend out of the bunch.
  • Twist Ending:
  • Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object:
  • Villain Opening Scene: The movie begins with a prologue describing Shen's Start of Darkness before cutting to the Valley of Peace and showing the title.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Po appearing as Shen is about to sail to triumph seems to result in the peacock finally losing it;
  • Visual Pun: While flinging wolf Mooks out the back end of the dragon costume, the Five somehow fling out Monkey by accident...
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Po and Tigress is a mild case of Type 1.
  • Was It Really Worth It?: The Soothsayer asks Shen if everything he's done so far, and everything he's planning to do, will be worth it in the end after he
  • Weaponized Headgear: Played for Laughs and Subverted when Po proclaims that his straw hat is actually the "Disc of Destruction" and throws it at Shen's ship. It works as well as you'd expect.
  • We Have Reserves: Lord Shen is not averse to firing at his own ships and killing his own minions if it helps to destroy Po.
  • What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: Like in the first movie, this trope is invoked during the final battle.
    • The floor of Gongmen Jail has a curved line running through its circular center. When Tigress confronts Po there, she is standing at one point and repeatedly tossing him to another, causing them to form a yin-yang symbol when viewed from above.
  • Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him: Averted. While a skilled martial artist, Shen's preferred method of combat is death by giant cannon.
    • Played straight, too. Ironically, when the Furious Five and Po was all chained up before him, instead of just tearing them to pieces with those blades of his, Shen decided to go for a dramatic, meaningful, but much slower death by said giant cannon.
  • Why Won't You Die?: "How many times do I have to kill the same stinking panda??!"
  • Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Used several times, usually displaying dismay or sudden surprise.
  • Working Title: First, Kung Fu Panda 2: Panda-monium. Then Kung Fu Panda 2: The Kaboom of Doom, which makes more sense after one knows what the movie is about. They eventually went with a simple 2 at the end of the original title.
  • World of Funny Animals
  • Worst Whatever Ever: Apparently to Shifu, not even Tai Lung's fall from grace compared to the day Po was chosen as Dragon Warrior. It did, however, help him achieve inner peace.
    • Well, there's letting your pride destroy your son and best pupil, and then there's a panda you consider extremely unworthy becoming what you always thought the aforementioned son/pupil would be, shoving your mistakes and failures in your face once again after years, twisting the knife in the wound. Given Shifu's past, it kinda makes sense that Po being chosen as Dragon Warrior was his worst moment ever.
  • You Are Too Late: Po and the Five come to destroy Lord Shen's thinking he only built one, only to realize that they are far, far too late considering he's
  • You Can't Fight Fate: Lord Shen appears to be well aware of this trope even through he strives to avert it.
  • You Can't Thwart Stage One: Po and the Furious Five
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