In my opinion, one of the most incredible things about this movie is that they made a freaking peacock seem more intimidating and frightening than a snow leopard. Kudos Dreamworks.
mini2239 There was a scrapped background story for Shen that I thought would have made a lot more sense of his descent into madness and given us a real answer to why he really believed his parents never loved him, not just the fact he was banished.
According to the profile Dreamworks made for Shen while making the movie, part of Shen doesn't really want to conquer China, or continue the massacre, but at the same time knows that if he quits, then all those deaths and atrocities committed will have been for nothing.
Zimaxy that’s true, but at the same time, I’m getting tired of reformed villains. I like how they set up the opportunity with his “my parents hated me” scene but didn’t take it. He may have some good in him, but he chose this path and should ultimately pay for it.
Christopher Spaulding A 100 years passed and Mr. Ping discovered the new Dragon Warrior, a panda named Po. And although his Kung Fu skills are great he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone.
Shen took his exile as a sign his parents never loved him, when honestly that was a huge act of mercy on their part that I doubt they'd grant to anyone *other* then their son. Anyone else would have been imprisoned and executed for what he did. If anything them giving him the chance to turn his life around somewhere else despite his horrible crime is the ultimate proof they still loved him.
Bob the Builder I'm pretty sure the wolves were only a single unit/section of Gongmen City's military. Otherwise, why would Shen have total control over them, especially given how concerned his parents were over what he could potentially do with gunpowder? I always saw it as the wolves were just a section of Gongmen's army, and the rest of the city's military fell apart after Shen's parents died and the Kung Fu masters Ox, Croc and Rhino took over.
The wolves were a very distinctly unloved and neglected part of the Gomgmen military - before Shen came along and earned their loyalty by befriending them. He identified with them because Shen was frail and albino as a child and so sequestered by his parents - it was his mistaking their worry for not wanting him around that truly led Shen into thinking his parents hated him. By the time he was a young adult they were basically his private military, and were banished with him for the Panda massacre. The gazelles are still around at the start of KFP2 as the Gongmen military, we see Shen dispose of several outside the gates to his palace. When he unveiled his cannon, and due to the sheer size and power to which his military had grown in his exile, the Gongmen military surrendered with the Kung Fu masters.
I think Shen is the most formidable enemy for Po since their conflict is personal. He killed Po's mother and the other pandas. You can see the tension between them unlike Tai Lung and Kai.
Agreed. But Kai was still cool though because he had the best voice actor J.K. Simons. And tai lung was alright because he was a snow leopard and their known for feasting on pandas.
Tai Lung I think had even more tension than Shen and Po did but from a different perspective and it being mostly one sided. Tai Lung was told throughout his whole life he was meant for greatness, only to have what he was told and worked so hard for to have never belonged to him in the first place. He translated this onto Po because he became what Tai Lung had worked for so long to achieve and Po was the one keeping him from his life's ambition. You are right in saying that it the connection between Shen and Po is much stronger, but I liked how in the first movie it wasn't about a villain angry at first at the protagonist. He was angry at Shifu and their battle is just a brilliant combination of writing, voice acting, and cinematography. Master and student having to destroy each other while the master still sees Tai Lung as a son. This works especially well in the movie as we see at first that Shifu is a cold and lonely person, scorned by the betrayal of his son. The only thing he ever cared so much destroyed. That is until Po comes into his life and changes him allowing him to let go a little bit and embrace another student to a level he hasn't since Tai Lung. To Tai Lung Po is a replacement for him by Shifu which is why he hesitates when he hears Shifu talk about how much he loved him before turning to anger again.
Rekasha Tai Lung was an absolutely brilliantly done, three-dimensional, extremely sympathetic...actually 'empathetic', completely badass, intimidating as f--k, unique, well-developed character & just a plain...awesome villain. Shen was even more so,
And to think they did a good choice to pick a peafowl cause their majestic and the detail of Po to see delusions everytime he sees the mark on his feathers if a reference that peacocks do that in real life to confuse predators
@@amyzhang6807 Hey don't let dreamworks catch you saying that or they will make a madagascar/kung fu panda crossover. Operation Panda is a go. We join with Po and attack the regime that is exterminating kung fu masters.
Rathorage Yeah, Kung Fu Panda 2 steps it all up, & is simply the better film. I still don't understand why some people prefer the 1st one. Kung Fu Panda 2 has better emotion, drama, tension between the antagonist/protagonist, better visuals, more well written, the chemistry between Po & Tigress is great, a better story, larger stakes, better character development, a much better villain, & a better message/moral to the story. Seriously both are masterpieces but KFP2 is better in every single way, maybe except for the humour. The 1st one is still the funniest.
1:05 - 1:12 I love how they manage to bring out both Shen's anguish and his parents' dismay using only their facial expressions, clever lighting and music.
I don't know if you know it's but apparently Shen is supposed to be An albino peacock, Who was kept away Because the parents feared for his safety. But all it did Was filled his head with dark desires
Seriously, what was Shen thinking his parents' reaction was going to be? Most parents aren't too thrilled when their kid comes home and says, "Mom, Dad, I committed genocide today! Aren't you proud?"
Haha that's what I was thinking. I think I read somewhere that he was hoping they would be proud of his logic in trying to avert the prophecy. But i'm not sure how they could be proud when he did it by committing genocide lol
8696sam Yeah, he believed his parents would be proud of him averting his fate rather than proud of the genocide itself. His constant drive to battle fate is a recurring theme for his character and, of course, the ancient Chinese were mighty superstitious. So I think you can see why the notion of changing fate itself was a big deal even if there was genocide involved - the end justifies the means. In his own mind anyway. And he's a bit of a looney... so yeah :)
fongster17 Every ancient culture was "mighty superstitious". There's a similar myth in every ancient civilization, indian, greek, roman, norse, egyptian, around a story of a king who was told a prophesy that he would be killed by a certain child. And the king sends all his men to the nearby villages and trying to avert his own fate.
You are right. Perhaps I should have worded my original comment better, because I wasn't trying to imply that the ancient Chinese were the "only" ancient civilisation to be superstitious.
If the parents never invented fireworks Po never would have become the dragon warrior because he used them to meet oogway. And Shen might not have gone evil since there wouldn't be fireworks to take advantage of as a weapon
This is how the story progresses from the original movie to its sequels of course bringing other Panda's into this story of what power they had and experience they had even affecting Po's life when the Panda massacre happened (because of his parents were ambushed). Oogway never knew Shen, but I wonder if that's particularly the reason why he chose Po as the dragon warrior
Well obviously, that’s how a story works, that’s like saying the plot of avatar would have never happened if sozin’s comet didn’t exist. Isn’t that just how stories work, if you remove the event that started the plot, the plot wouldn’t happen.
I thought it was because the goat predicted his future wich made him very mad and he killed all pandas so he wouldn't been defeated just in case the time came.
The opening of this movie is brilliant. The characters don't need to say a word - you can feel horror and heartbreak in the peacocks' faces and expressions, and pinpoint the moment when Shen realized he may have gone too far.
ztslovebird of all the intro of Kung fu panda this is the far the saddest. The sad part is when the pandas are massacred by shen and his army of wolves. you can see the terror in their faces.
Lord Shen has one of the most honorable of deaths, in a Dreamworks movie. He knows that he was screwed, so he just closed his eyes when the pole fell on him. No screaming, no revenge, just... Inner peace.
Actually, this might come as a surprise but Shen actually didn't die. The producers said if a Kung Fu Panda 4 ever happens, Shen will be the main villain again. He actually survived the cannon falling on him.
I have to agree with the nay sayers, he could have easily dodged it sines its basically a big cylinder yet chose to die like that. I mean he is absurdly fast and ...you know..is a bird who moved several dozen feet in seconds from one bound.
This story always made me sad. It’s a parents job to protect their children from the evils of this world, but what do you do when your child is the evil? It’s a no win situation.
That IS the actual interpretation of the soothsayers vision. Shen destroys himself in the end. Watch the final battle. Po is giving advice about how Shen can move on...and Shen CHOOSES to fight Po. In the fight, Shens attacks at Po are distractions to push Po away...while his other movements are to cut away the supports to the cannon. He is trying to attempt suicide AND bring Po with him.
Its sad cause lord shen experimenting with different capabilities wasn't the problem, if he had used his creation and his weapons to defend China and Gongmen city rather then persecute and conquer he may have sat the thrown and his parents would never have had to banish him. He could have used his weapon as a deterent and a defence for the people; it was what he did with it that made him evil :(
Obviously you didn't catch the Hollywood Liberal anti-firearm agenda here. They turned on him the moment he started experimenting with it as a form of weaponry.
John Kramer Yeah but the difference that Shen's parents actually loved him and sent him away out of love and mercy. On the contrary, Palpatine's parents especially his father tried to get rid of him even by killing and Palpatine actually murdered his father for that plan, I know it's understandable but is it justified?.
He's certainly on my top 5 Dreamworks (for the moment) villains list. Here's the others: Zarkon (Voltron Legendary Defenders) D-Structs (DinoTrux) Rameses (The Prince of Egypt) Pitch Black (Rise of the Guardians)
Matt Piavis Yeah, Pitch Black was an interesting villain. Rise Of The Guardians is an extremely underrated 'DreamWorks' film, and it's one of their Masterpiece animation. It does everything so well, the characters, the development, the animation, the uniqueness, the music, the worldbuilding, etc. It's breath-taking.
Steph Schacht Lord-Shen is one of my favorite movie villains, edged-out by only the likes of Darth-Vader, Hannibal Lector, Norman Bates, Heath-Ledger's Joker and my childhood villain; Scar from my childhood film, The Lion King.
@@katelynbodiford5680 In which way? Intelligence yes but if they ever got into a fight unless they where both using swords Shen might aswell be dinner as its very unlikely of him winning
*@ AZ* I actually think that it was a good move that Shen's backstory was changed. When you think about it deeply, it would make much more sense that Shen's backstory was altered. Yes, Shen's original backstory had his parents shunning him, but remember that they still died of their grief by having to banish him. If they shunned him, then it doesn't really add up to the fact that they later on die of grief. In the changed version, their deaths are much more believable because they tried their best to love and protect their son. And they died because they failed him greatly. It also makes Shen an even closer parallel to Po. Rather than going the shallow way of Shen "being unloved and taking out his misery on everyone", the final version shows glimpses of a possibility of Shen using his talents for good, just like Po does. It's just that making the wrong choices with his gifts cost Shen everything. Po, on the other hand, made the right choices and benefited himself and everyone, even if it may have initially cost him dearly at times.
***** Then that would make Shen lose one of his sympathetic motivations of continuing his actions because he has nothing left to lose. Legit, the most likely reasons for Shen doing what he did in the final version were to prove his parents and the soothsayer wrong, and because he knows he can't take any of his wrongdoings back. If you go with the original and your theory of having Shen kill his parents, then having Shen die is just a way of putting him out of his misery rather than a villain causing his own demise.
Megpoid Gumi I like all sorts of crap, as long as it's not annoying. Also what I find hilarious is that this isn't the first *or* the second time something like this happened on a Dreamworks movie. This shit happened in Antz and Prince of Egypt too XD PoE: Opening scene is baby Hebrew boys being killed Antz: Act 1 ends with a crap ton of warrior ants being intentionally killed off so no one will rise against the general Dreamworks has an odd fascination with genocide.... :/
@@musikafossora the architecture is from the ming dynasty, but the pagoda ( shen's home has like 30% element of the song dynasty architecture) from which the gun powder originated
Am I the only one who thinks that Lord Shen's fate was eerily similar to Shakespeare's Macbeth? Both of them ended up sealing their fate while trying to change it...
It's a plot device known as the "self-fulfilling prophecy" and it has been used since the time of Ancient Greece, most notably in the legend of Oedipus. The Harry Potter series also uses this device. Though, yeah, I would say that Lord Shen might be inspired by Macbeth, given the similarities between their tragic quest to fulfil their ambition.
Kuroro2345 Macbeth was reluctant to do bad things and knew it was too late to turn back on what he has done. In fact that is all Lady Macbeth's fault. Shen has already an murderous ambition only after hearing a prophecy.
It's a very large theme throughout this entire trilogy. The same thing happened to Po. He didn't believe he was the Dragon Warrior because he got constantly shit on by everybody except for Master Oogway. So he tried to leave. He tried to NOT fight Tai-Lung. But that ended up leading to Shifu training Po, leading to the confrontation with Tai-Lung and realizing that Po was, in fact, the Dragon Warrior.
Well he's a peacock because they're believed to be bad omens and usually signify death when they're white feathered but for other colors they have different meanings
Something like this actually happened in Chinese history. Obviously, the song dynasty was replaced in this movie by peacocks and the pandas represent the Sichuan people [I hope I wrote that correctly] but that's an interesting way to see that the filmmakers studied china surprisingly fervently.
I guess another comparison you can make (even though it's not Chinese history) is Lord Shen = Oda Nobunaga from Japan. Both are bloodthirsty warlords who embraces cannons and firearms, shun traditions and claimed themselves to be modernists, and wiped out whole villages and people who stand in their ways.
Jinhunter Slay Oda Nobunaga uh?Interesting. Wanna know why? Search Oda Nobunaga intro fight on Nioh (videogame) and you'll see why i say that your reference to Shen as Oda Nobunaga is interesting.
A modern comparison is how the Chinese government is imprisoning and oppressing Uighur muslims and sending them into reeducation camps. Ok, they currently don't kill them (so maybe not as bad as Lord Shen), but they obviously want to keep their power over them through aggressive oppression and fear.
This shit reminds me of Avatar The Last Airbender for some reason, probably because Azulon knew the next avatar would be an airbender, so he sought to exterminate them all, just like Shen and the pandas
It's quite a common theme to use your knowledge of the future to try and kill your enemy before they can become your enemy. Usually it's because you learn a prophesy, but in Sozin's case he was able to exploit a well known cycle.
Best part of this movie was the horror on Shens parent’s faces after he committed genocide. You could feel the pain his parents felt in just their facial expressions seeing their child become an evil monster. Its a nightmare every parent has thinking their kid will grow up to be pure evil and wondering what went wrong in raising them. Great job Dreamworks.
0:54 This scene reminds me of the past Its like when Christopher Columbus Invaded the Americas alongside the Spainards and what they done to my Ancestors is brutal to think about 🇨🇴🇵🇷🇵🇷
@@chrisnarvaez3434 You most probably have white ancestry and mayas, incas and aztecs were horrible invaders too I find it quite interesting how native americans have the right to criticise european colonialism but when I criticise the Islamic invasions of India, I get call an islamophobe BTW, why not decolonise yourself to make your ancestors proud? Why do you still practise the religion of the invaders and what does "Chris" mean in any native american language ?
"The young lord set out to change his fate, but what he did next only sealed it." - Soothsayer in this film. "One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it." - Oogway in the first film.
Can we just appreciate Michelle Yeoh’s voice-acting in this movie? Like, fr, her vocal range and build-up along with her character being a part of Shen’s actions were truly a gift given from God! I was entranced the whole time.
Shifu sends duck messager to make sure Tai Lung won't escape. Tai Lung escapes using one of the duck's feathers. Shen goes to wipe out the pandas so that one of them doesn't become a threat to his goals of conquering China. Baby panda ends up in the Valley of a Peace and grows up to become the Dragon Warrior.
"The young lord set out to change his fate..." What did Master Oogway say in the first film? "One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it."
Am I the only one who thinks that all of this could have been averted if Shen's parents hadn't made too much out of his desire to experiment with fireworks? He was just a boy, and it's not like we all didn't have destructive potential as children. This might be a generalization, but you can't say it's unheard of for boys when playing pretend, particularly inventive ones, to enjoy making weapons or in general to want to make things go boom..
Augustus Floyd They created the fireworks for peace and joy. Besides Shen, they were their greatest creations. The fact that he took something they had made for others and perverted it into a tool of war hurt them. The idea that their only son didn't think to use them for joy like they did was almost too much. It wasn't about Shen being inventive. It was about the idea that he wasn't thinking peace. He was thinking conquest.
@@jhymelbyrd154: I don't think Shen was dark for exploring other uses for gun powder. Like expressed before a weapon can be a deterrent vs offensively used. However as also pointed out, when confronted with the choice he had to make, he could have sworn never to use the gunpowder to attack. Only defend, instead his first answer was to wipe out a bunch of innocent creatures. Shen clearly had darkness in him from the start.
Augustus Floyd Shen wasn't really a good person deep down, and honestly him being a boy doesn't really have much to do with that. There are just some things we know are fundamentally wrong as people and if you're capable of putting an entire civilization to the sword because you refuse to change then that says alot more about what type of person you'll become than what you could've been. Shen could've done some introspection, but he didn't. He could've spent time to himself to reflect, but he didn't do that either. Instead he chose one of the most vile and heinous misdeeds ever because of a prophecy that could've been remained unfulfilled if he worked to be a better person. It seems in the end his refusal to better himself meant his demise.
@@MaceAhWindu i feel silly at answering a comment made a year ago .. but not really.. its a very human thing to weaponize knowledge and technology .. however if they were afraid their son would become a warmonger they should had talk things out with him ..instead of asking a soothsayer
This movie deals with *mental* -Lord Shen : he wants to change his fate because of his *paranoia* that lead him to into commit genocide. - Po : Po deals with *PTSD* , he always gets distracted by a symbol of his past. - Tigress: depression she had hard time dealing with the past.
0:29 I love that when he first sees the explosion, there's a split second where it looks like Shen is shocked, even horrified, by what he's created - and then it passes as he smirks upon realizing how powerful it makes him. A great little indicator of his character right there - that he was always someone who didn't _have_ to be evil. He just _chose_ to be. 1:32 Jeeeeeeesus, that landscape shot. With the black and white forge fortress floating above the ominous mountains, with a giant cloud of smoke above and lit only by the hellish glow of the furnace...that's some Warhammer 40k shit right there. I look at this landscape shot and I struggle to remember this is from a movie starring Jack Black as the funny fat panda.
I like how they underscore that constantly with Shen's character. He COULD be different, but he chooses not to. His fate is only unavoidable because he is unwilling to stray from the path leading him to it.
Darth Maul with a milk mustache. Santa Claus stepping out of a soot-covered chimney. A mime who fell off the Eiffel Tower. Harley Quinn getting cum on her face.
Mr_Earwig Yes, yes, and double yes! Kung Fu Panda & Kung Fu Panda 2 are Masterpieces! KFP 2 being the best of the series, while the first film coming damn close. The third film doesn't even come close to the cinematic brilliance that is KFP 1 & KFP 2.
Lord Shen is my favorite villain in the franchise. He was way intimidating, calculating, patient, and pure genius plus all the psycho-ness for a villain. Who thought peacocks can be intimidating? Pure Dreamworks brilliance ❤️ And the narrator: Michelle Yeoh 👏👏👏
@Sanitos Delos That was how I felt of the HTTYD Trilogy The first one was good despite its Story, villain and romance. The second being my favourite of the 3 and my 3rd favourite DreamWorks Film And the third one just being completely shit with only the Villain to make it better
@@dragonflamefilms5401 agree, I think the third Kung fu panda movie was better than httyd3 because it didn’t have any plot holes, but hell, httyd3 basically contradicted and erased all of the build up and everything that hiccup was trying to build in httyd 1 and 2
It’s actually funny that you bring this up in extended versions of Shens backstory it is explained among other things curial to his character that I’ll bring up in a minute. The wolves were mainly guards of the tower and Shen himself at a younger age, but they were also weren’t really treated well, it is possible this is how Boss Wolf lost his eye. Shen befriend wolf boss and a few others which led them to be loyal to him. Ok it doesn’t explain the gorillas as far as I know but that solves the Wolf issue. The other thing explained in Shens extended backstory is he was born sickly and commonly sick with some disease as one of the meanings of white in China is death. Shens parents were ashamed of that. And considering they were the rulers of a city they couldn’t really pay much attention to him. This is where the soothsayer comes in, she was a nanny of sorts to him, therefore leaving her as the only real parental figure in his life which is likely why she was sparred in there final scene together. He is A tragic villain of sorts. Unfortunately this scene never made it into the movie due to what I’m gonna assume is length reasons. Kind of makes you feel bad for him in a way. Sorry if this seems like useless information but anyways hope you enjoyed the info ill leave a link of a dreamworks site you like that says this
Fun fact: Lord Shen is the only kung fu panda villain that doesn't know Po for being the dragon warrior. And also the only kung fu panda villain that didn't met Shifu or Oogway. But I think Oogway heard about Shen because he saw the future of the Kung fu and the past when he met Po and that's why Oogway chosen Po. Not only that, Lord Shen is also the reason why Po became the dragon warrior. I don't know if Oogway also heard about the chameleon that will appear in Kung fu panda 4.
Kung Fu Panda was great, but I genuinely think Kung Fu Panda 2 is a masterpiece. Everything about it is better. The animation, the music (Powell got to have a bigger role, and he's the better composer), the story, the villain, the settings, the pacing, the cinematography, the choreography. It is criminally underrated in the canon of animation.
Nah dude Kung Fu Panda is still the better movie. Shen himself is the only thing the first sequel did right. First movie has much better music and fight scenes
I love how the most subtle part at the end where he accepts his fate when his own weapon kills him- and the fireworks that come out form a peacock shape, and the soothsayer smiles. I think shen finally found his peace with his death.
I love Shen! The concept of a peacock that fights with it’s feathers as blades. And with his huge tail-fan of feathers exuding this beautiful and majestic, yet terrifying and intimidating aura. Beautiful villain.
He reminds me of the guy from my hero academia (I forgot his name and was a bird not a peacock) mix with a demon Slayer character. Wait, did the creators were a fan of anime? Also my eyes would bleed with blood because of his tail fan thing.
Not that I'm condoning Shen's decision to kill all pandas, but I don't think he started off as a murderous psychopath-he clearly cared about what his parents thought of him judging by 1:07. Plus his experimentation with the fireworks didn't seem to be all that destructive, and I think the fact that no one even knew of his cannons until his fight with Rhino is rather significant as that implies it's the first time.
No...that's what a psychopath is. They don't understand empathy, they only understand what they feel. Shen can only feel proud or anger or the need of his parents to acknowledge him He doesn't understand committing genocide is immoral.
kirbywinter His backstory from the main KungFuPanda site says that he was born sickly because of his leucism (similar to albinism, but he was meant to be depicted as the "Evil Albino") and that his parents deemed him too weak and pitiful to deserve any attention. The Soothsayer acted as his nanny, but the coldness his own family showed him drove him to act the way he is depicted. What makes it worse is that leucism is inherited (meaning he inherited the trait from one of his parents, or both since it was complete), and the fact that he was mentally unstable from his treatment makes it all the more tragic. He honestly thought that subverting a prophecy by attempting genocide would show his parents that he would be worthy of greatness.
RyunosukeHachi That wasn't his chosen backstory though. That was just an early concept which was changed later on. His parents were hinted to love him very much since at one point in the movie Shen approaches the throne and remarks on how his father used to let him play on it. Also his parents were so distraught of his banishment they passed away, which really says something. The soothsayer was not his nanny either, she was just the court's soothsayer. She was just there to provide his parents, and later him, knowledge on his future
+RyunosukeHachi I don't understand why they had to changed Shen's original background story in which it would have made a lot more sense if they kept that background instead of making him out to be nothing more than a monster who was born evil to begin with and had learned nothing of love and compassion. No matter what the intro showed us, there had to be more of why Shen became what he is and why he really believed his parents never loved him, other than the banishment. I love the original idea better because it makes more sense of his character and his feelings about the parents.
*@ Disneyfan82* Yeah, but if his parents were ashamed of him simply because of his health and appearance, then it's not really believable that they die of grief after condemning him to banishment.
On the one hand, Shen was a villain. On the other hand, his ingenuity in transforming the black powder used in fireworks into a powerful weapon is more impressive than words can describe. Think of how skilled he must've been in the fields of chemistry, physics, ballistics and more, to have built those cannons.
what i love about shen is that he was actually pure evil, unlike tai lung and kai whom simply just happened to be full of anger and let their grudges get the better of them
The one reason I especially like this movie the best was the amount of dramatic darkness this movie adapted. It’s a real shame that many parents complained about the darkness of this movie and the 3rd movie was lightened up.
yes totally. Would have loved to see more of Kai & Oogways backstory. Kai could have been a much darker Villian too. I mean: stealing spirits from Living persons is creepy. We still dont know why he wanted that power so much.
What’s so terrifying yet, so interesting is that while the entire Trilogy takes place an ancient China and Po and the furious five stopped the creation of the new age of weapons that overpowered traditional martial arts, in today’s timeline, cannons still became a large scale camaraderie that revolutionized combat and wars in unspeakable ways. So while Shen was stopped and his creation was “destroyed”, his conception was still used by another. By the time Po and his allies passed on until the afterlife, their was nothing stopping the creation and mass distribution of cannons and that would eventually inspire or lead to another dangerous weapon, gunpowder.
Yeah, thinking about it is sad, Kung Fu is destined to die, and probably Chi mastery will be forgotten again, thanks to the evolution of the weapons industry. Though KFP is not bound to real life history, so maybe it won't happen, or they will find a way to mix both.
This is insane storytelling; we already know what happened to Po's village and his mother. But the way they execute Po finding out wasn't boring, it wasn't just exposition so that the character can know. They somehow used the lesson of the film to help Po learn and overcome his trauma. While imparting that same lesson of how to overcome your own trauma to the audience. Insane.
Shen haves a great villain appearance because his color (white) symbolizes the death in the Chinese culture. I think he looks more villain in the flashbacks where he was seen with red eyes because sometimes red symbolizes the evil.
I remember watching this film when it was released in the UK when I was a kid. I remember not liking it as much but I completely forgot what happened in it. I just watched it yesterday for the first time in years and damn this is far better than the first one, Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Lord Shen is excellent.
kung fu panda 2 is severely underrated. Shen is a unbelievably good villain. Even after his horrendous acts and unforgivable nature, you can somehow still sympathize with him. and honestly in the cannon factory scene, thats when shen became the best villain of dreamworks. And when he died, he didn't try to run from the boat when the cannon was falling down on him, he just accepted his death. And the fact he caused mass genocide without thinking twice was absolutely terrifying. he stopped at absolutely nothing to prevent his destiny, and the most terrifying part, shen in a way actually won. he proved the soothsayer wrong when she said shen would be defeated by a warrior of black and white when the cannon fell down on him. it wasn't po who killed shen, it was shen's own creation. man shen gives me chills
01:04 dude... you just committed mass murder, wtf were you expecting? "oh look, honey, our son has returned bathed in the blood of innocent pandas, he's so smart, let's give him a hug and the throne"
I don't think there's a single role Gary Oldman hasn't absolutely nailed it on. His voice and mannerism behind his every word brings real darkness and vileness to the villains he plays.
I like how differently “a warrior of black and white” can be interpreted and they are all technically correct The panda is the obvious one with Po being Shen’s downfall A warrior who found inner peace, with Po only being able to defeat Shen by finding inner peace and destroying Shen’s weapon And Shen himself, since everything that led to his death was by his own choice, including the fall of his own weapon that killed him
[Cuts to the Jade Palace where two kids are seen playing with Po and Tigress action figures in the Training Hall's courtyard.] BUNNY CHILD:- And then, the Dragon Warrior joined the Furious Five!
Oogway: one often meets his destiny on the path he takes to avoid it Shen: kills all the pandas to avoid his destiny Soothsayer in the story: he did something that sealed his destiny
it means that if you avoid something on purpose and tried to take a different option what you tried to avoid will encounter you on the that path and you anyway would have to confront it.
what's saddest is that Shen doesn't want to be bad anymore, he just wants to be free of the pain, but if he didn't conquer China all the lives lost would be in vain
Fun fact: Shen is the main antagonist of the Kung Fu Panda franchise as a whole. I guess it makes sense because he's the reason why Po ended up in the Valley of Peace and he's the one who is the most personal to Po
In my opinion, one of the most incredible things about this movie is that they made a freaking peacock seem more intimidating and frightening than a snow leopard. Kudos Dreamworks.
True that. Tai Lung at least had a betrayed childhood and some audience sympathy. Lord Shen is a pure evil psycho.
+Piggy Oink Oink Actually I feel that Shen was more sympathetic than Tai Lung, just look at his final scene with the Soothsayer
blueyoshikid Lord Shen was more psychotic, but Tai Lung was far more intimidating.
blueyoshikid
Agreed!
Truely a spine chilling scary start to a such a wonderful movie,
mini2239 There was a scrapped background story for Shen that I thought would have made a lot more sense of his descent into madness and given us a real answer to why he really believed his parents never loved him, not just the fact he was banished.
0:51 "One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it" -Oogway
Oh crap you're right
+thekingghidorah93 i was just about to say that
+thekingghidorah93 "The destiny trap, can't change history if you're a part of it" -The Doctor
Eyyyyyy
*乌龟
According to the profile Dreamworks made for Shen while making the movie, part of Shen doesn't really want to conquer China, or continue the massacre, but at the same time knows that if he quits, then all those deaths and atrocities committed will have been for nothing.
Wow, now that is quite a deal of depth for a villain. Good job for DreamWorks for such complexity.
NightGaunt is damn I can't believe within a short amount of time they made in villain extremely complex and get honorable at the same time
Yeah, but I really love how they didn’t play off the whole “all bad guys are secretly good” trope
@@Corviidei Well, A complex character must have a dark and good side.
Zimaxy that’s true, but at the same time, I’m getting tired of reformed villains. I like how they set up the opportunity with his “my parents hated me” scene but didn’t take it. He may have some good in him, but he chose this path and should ultimately pay for it.
"He will be defeated by a black and white warrior"
(Shen goes to Antarctica)
Shen: So you were destined to defeat me?
Penguin: what
Thus starts the weird Penguins of Madagascar/Kung-Fu Panda Crossover.
@@MysteriousTomJenkins lol
Okay this had me laughing
Lmao that cracked me up
I want to see this.
When I heard the villain for this movie would be a peacock, I scoffed thinking they couldnt make him intimidating. I was wrong. Oh so very wrong
2:00 he’s very intimidating and evil I agree with you a peaccock being evil and menacing is so unique he’s my favourite main villain
The first time i watched the movie was the first time i heard of a peacock. I saw Shen and thought he looked rlly cool with those feathers
@@ignisardenti2486 Well hey, you got to learn about peacocks with one of the coolest ones around. That's awesome!
Long ago the Pandas and the Peacocks lived together in Harmony...Then everything changed when Lord Shen attacked
Only the dragon warrior, the warrior of black and white, could stop Shen. But when the pandas needed the dragon warrior most, he vanished...
Christopher Spaulding A 100 years passed and Mr. Ping discovered the new Dragon Warrior, a panda named Po. And although his Kung Fu skills are great he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone.
But I believe... Po can save the world.
+PyromaniacMichael (insert Avatar: The Last Airbender theme)
+gjesus051 Po: the Last panda
Shen took his exile as a sign his parents never loved him, when honestly that was a huge act of mercy on their part that I doubt they'd grant to anyone *other* then their son. Anyone else would have been imprisoned and executed for what he did. If anything them giving him the chance to turn his life around somewhere else despite his horrible crime is the ultimate proof they still loved him.
+Shadejak _ But ultimately it was them, not him, that paid the ultimate price. Their act of compassion killed them: they died of grief.
Shadejak VA Them and what army? Seems like shen commanded the army.
Bob the Builder I'm pretty sure the wolves were only a single unit/section of Gongmen City's military. Otherwise, why would Shen have total control over them, especially given how concerned his parents were over what he could potentially do with gunpowder? I always saw it as the wolves were just a section of Gongmen's army, and the rest of the city's military fell apart after Shen's parents died and the Kung Fu masters Ox, Croc and Rhino took over.
BloodStalker 500 Some Gazelles were part of the army. The Wolves are probably some elite or personal of Shen's
The wolves were a very distinctly unloved and neglected part of the Gomgmen military - before Shen came along and earned their loyalty by befriending them. He identified with them because Shen was frail and albino as a child and so sequestered by his parents - it was his mistaking their worry for not wanting him around that truly led Shen into thinking his parents hated him. By the time he was a young adult they were basically his private military, and were banished with him for the Panda massacre. The gazelles are still around at the start of KFP2 as the Gongmen military, we see Shen dispose of several outside the gates to his palace. When he unveiled his cannon, and due to the sheer size and power to which his military had grown in his exile, the Gongmen military surrendered with the Kung Fu masters.
I think Shen is the most formidable enemy for Po since their conflict is personal. He killed Po's mother and the other pandas. You can see the tension between them unlike Tai Lung and Kai.
Agreed. But Kai was still cool though because he had the best voice actor J.K. Simons. And tai lung was alright because he was a snow leopard and their known for feasting on pandas.
Tai Lung I think had even more tension than Shen and Po did but from a different perspective and it being mostly one sided. Tai Lung was told throughout his whole life he was meant for greatness, only to have what he was told and worked so hard for to have never belonged to him in the first place. He translated this onto Po because he became what Tai Lung had worked for so long to achieve and Po was the one keeping him from his life's ambition.
You are right in saying that it the connection between Shen and Po is much stronger, but I liked how in the first movie it wasn't about a villain angry at first at the protagonist. He was angry at Shifu and their battle is just a brilliant combination of writing, voice acting, and cinematography. Master and student having to destroy each other while the master still sees Tai Lung as a son. This works especially well in the movie as we see at first that Shifu is a cold and lonely person, scorned by the betrayal of his son. The only thing he ever cared so much destroyed. That is until Po comes into his life and changes him allowing him to let go a little bit and embrace another student to a level he hasn't since Tai Lung. To Tai Lung Po is a replacement for him by Shifu which is why he hesitates when he hears Shifu talk about how much he loved him before turning to anger again.
John Michael Gonzales
Yeah he affected Po psychlogically.
Well, that went from master to master.
Tai Lung - Master Shifu
Lord Shen - Po
Kai - Master Oogway
Rekasha
Tai Lung was an absolutely brilliantly done, three-dimensional, extremely sympathetic...actually 'empathetic', completely badass, intimidating as f--k, unique, well-developed character & just a plain...awesome villain. Shen was even more so,
Tai lung: power in strength
Shen: power in mind
Kai: power in spirit
Power can corrupt anyone...
The (un)holy trinity
"I need more power!"
right. But i guess that Kai is even physically stronger than Tai Lung
And to think they did a good choice to pick a peafowl cause their majestic and the detail of Po to see delusions everytime he sees the mark on his feathers if a reference that peacocks do that in real life to confuse predators
Had to be pandas because lord knows he's not gonna fight killer whales
Or zebras
+Israel Vargas I don't think penguins and zebras lived in China
MrTHEMONEEMAKER how about white tigers and snow leopards too? Tai Lung was also an orphan
Tai Lung is older than Po,so maybe the time he was imprisond set several years before Shen's banishment
@@amyzhang6807 Hey don't let dreamworks catch you saying that or they will make a madagascar/kung fu panda crossover. Operation Panda is a go. We join with Po and attack the regime that is exterminating kung fu masters.
It's rare to see a good movie get an even better sequel. especially to this degree.
i wouldn't say 2 is better, if 1 was a 10/10, i'd say 2 is 9/10, but like you said for a sequel movie this one is very well made
+monotonous I prefer 2 to the first one, tbh, by just a LITTLE bit.
***** Literally started getting up to ask my sister if she knew what HTTYD stood for, and remembered last second. Also, you are correct.
Rathorage
Yeah, Kung Fu Panda 2 steps it all up, & is simply the better film. I still don't understand why some people prefer the 1st one. Kung Fu Panda 2 has better emotion, drama, tension between the antagonist/protagonist, better visuals, more well written, the chemistry between Po & Tigress is great, a better story, larger stakes, better character development, a much better villain, & a better message/moral to the story. Seriously both are masterpieces but KFP2 is better in every single way, maybe except for the humour. The 1st one is still the funniest.
And then they totally screwed up with the third one
1:05 - 1:12
I love how they manage to bring out both Shen's anguish and his parents' dismay using only their facial expressions, clever lighting and music.
And his parents holding eachother too, nice touch
It breaks my heart just seeing their faces!😢
Of course they’d be horrified; he massacred a village of innocent pandas out of pride and wrath for his own future
@@Epic11705 you didn’t understand what op was saying
I don't know if you know it's but apparently Shen is supposed to be An albino peacock, Who was kept away Because the parents feared for his safety. But all it did Was filled his head with dark desires
Seriously, what was Shen thinking his parents' reaction was going to be? Most parents aren't too thrilled when their kid comes home and says, "Mom, Dad, I committed genocide today! Aren't you proud?"
Haha that's what I was thinking.
I think I read somewhere that he was hoping they would be proud of his logic in trying to avert the prophecy. But i'm not sure how they could be proud when he did it by committing genocide lol
8696sam Yeah, he believed his parents would be proud of him averting his fate rather than proud of the genocide itself. His constant drive to battle fate is a recurring theme for his character and, of course, the ancient Chinese were mighty superstitious. So I think you can see why the notion of changing fate itself was a big deal even if there was genocide involved - the end justifies the means. In his own mind anyway.
And he's a bit of a looney... so yeah :)
fongster17 Every ancient culture was "mighty superstitious". There's a similar myth in every ancient civilization, indian, greek, roman, norse, egyptian, around a story of a king who was told a prophesy that he would be killed by a certain child. And the king sends all his men to the nearby villages and trying to avert his own fate.
You are right. Perhaps I should have worded my original comment better, because I wasn't trying to imply that the ancient Chinese were the "only" ancient civilisation to be superstitious.
@@potemkinforest The tale of Oedipus comes to mind.
If the parents never invented fireworks Po never would have become the dragon warrior because he used them to meet oogway. And Shen might not have gone evil since there wouldn't be fireworks to take advantage of as a weapon
It was destiny at it's core
This is how the story progresses from the original movie to its sequels of course bringing other Panda's into this story of what power they had and experience they had even affecting Po's life when the Panda massacre happened (because of his parents were ambushed). Oogway never knew Shen, but I wonder if that's particularly the reason why he chose Po as the dragon warrior
Well obviously, that’s how a story works, that’s like saying the plot of avatar would have never happened if sozin’s comet didn’t exist.
Isn’t that just how stories work, if you remove the event that started the plot, the plot wouldn’t happen.
@@destroyerofturtles5024 well yes, but there is some storys which doesn't have that or very poorly made.
I thought it was because the goat predicted his future wich made him very mad and he killed all pandas so he wouldn't been defeated just in case the time came.
*Warrior of black and white*
Pandas: Farming
Shen: allow me to introduce myself
Did you notice that Po's father has a warhammer?
They could of been making weapons.
@@jammygamer8961 it was actually a farming tool, looks like a rake
Underrated comment XD
That definitely didn’t look like a farming tool. I’m pretty sure you don’t use that type of hammer for farming purposes
@@StolasFan547 Hammers can be used to build fences and support beams needed for farming though.
The opening of this movie is brilliant. The characters don't need to say a word - you can feel horror and heartbreak in the peacocks' faces and expressions, and pinpoint the moment when Shen realized he may have gone too far.
ztslovebird yy
ztslovebird of all the intro of Kung fu panda this is the far the saddest. The sad part is when the pandas are massacred by shen and his army of wolves. you can see the terror in their faces.
ztslovebir*kd is a
And the shock and confusion on his face when they are horrified by what he's done.
It’s the face your parents make when you come out of the closet to them...
Lord Shen has one of the most honorable of deaths, in a Dreamworks movie. He knows that he was screwed, so he just closed his eyes when the pole fell on him. No screaming, no revenge, just...
Inner peace.
+Mercy the Shiny Zoroark I don't think so. He died because he knew of his fate as he had been warned but refused to listen.
Thereby defeating himself and fulfilling the soothsayers prediction. A warrior of black and white (Shen) would defeat Shen.
+dclark142002 mindblown !
thank you for that man
Actually, this might come as a surprise but Shen actually didn't die. The producers said if a Kung Fu Panda 4 ever happens, Shen will be the main villain again. He actually survived the cannon falling on him.
I have to agree with the nay sayers, he could have easily dodged it sines its basically a big cylinder yet chose to die like that. I mean he is absurdly fast and ...you know..is a bird who moved several dozen feet in seconds from one bound.
If only all villain backstories were this fantastically brilliant!
AZ
What was it?
Big Dookie "cough" Lord Voldemort "cough" Loki "cough"
Finn M62004 Loki is not a villain he's more like an anti hero
@@n.a.firdaus4951 Loki's backstory isn't brilliant, its an overused trope of the jealous brother/adviser who wants what his sibling has.
Joker
This story always made me sad. It’s a parents job to protect their children from the evils of this world, but what do you do when your child is the evil?
It’s a no win situation.
Give him mental help and therapy maybe,not banishmet
@@aduts1177 I hope you are not saying that for shen, mass genocide does not happen due to some mental health issues
@@hemutitu1870 yes,all happened due to mental health issues.
@@hemutitu1870 who said anything about mental health?
@@alysonk5853 it looks clear to me a comment was deleted
Isn't shen black and white himself? Maybe he was his own downfall
That IS the actual interpretation of the soothsayers vision. Shen destroys himself in the end. Watch the final battle. Po is giving advice about how Shen can move on...and Shen CHOOSES to fight Po. In the fight, Shens attacks at Po are distractions to push Po away...while his other movements are to cut away the supports to the cannon. He is trying to attempt suicide AND bring Po with him.
....He’s white and red though
I guess there’s SOME black on his character design but that’s kind of a stretch
Isn't he white and red? But he has some black like his eye lids his beak
@@Jmcwow275 He also has some black feathers on his neck and his tail is full of black dots. I guess he is black white and red
@@cartoonishidealism582 well, in the final battle, he's covered in ashes so he's technically black and white.
Its sad cause lord shen experimenting with different capabilities wasn't the problem, if he had used his creation and his weapons to defend China and Gongmen city rather then persecute and conquer he may have sat the thrown and his parents would never have had to banish him. He could have used his weapon as a deterent and a defence for the people; it was what he did with it that made him evil :(
+Alexis Hood Back in the old days, China was ruled by different emperors. Thus, seeking to rule the country entirely was common
There is are no evil things. Only people who do evil with them.
Obviously you didn't catch the Hollywood Liberal anti-firearm agenda here. They turned on him the moment he started experimenting with it as a form of weaponry.
@@erikliu7455 Precisely, some things are stereotypical and I don't give a toss about
If he didn't have any dark powers, none of this shit would of happened and who's to blame for his actions!?
Imagining the pain of Shen's parents is unbearable, unbearable further knowing they died in vain.
So you means shen's parents couldn't live on without him?
+Edgard Cortez-Marcos They loved him so much that having sent him away killed them -Soothsayer
John Kramer Yeah but the difference that Shen's parents actually loved him and sent him away out of love and mercy. On the contrary, Palpatine's parents especially his father tried to get rid of him even by killing and Palpatine actually murdered his father for that plan, I know it's understandable but is it justified?.
Fun fact: Shen’s parents DIED after they banished their son. Because them sending away their only son forever was to much for them
@@adudewithabetsyrossflag8125
they... committed suicide? that's pretty dark
"One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it."
The only obvious choice? Never try to see the future.
Worst is you can’t avoid destiny no matter which path you chose no matter your actions destiny always finds you
Axel Nilsson Destiny doesn’t control us. It’s fear that makes us think this. Our fear causes us to believe this. We can control our own lives.
GoldenWind Requiem I know I mean it’s your actions that causes fate to arrive
Fans of Kung Fu Panda: They would never be able to make a villain better than Tai Lung. DreamWorks: Hold my beer.
i struggle to see really any villains better and more complex than Lord Shen
@@jammygamer8961
Magneto
@@raspberrycrowns9494 thats one.
And the joker
Nick C Tai Lung: Shen: hold my gunpowder
Dreamworks :Hold my noodle soup
Not a drop of blood, not a single corpse, and yet, the weight in just the words, the visuals, and the music hits *hard.*
Sometimes imagination hits harder than being shown
Yeah@@Fatsaver
shen is one of my favorite movie villains
He's certainly on my top 5 Dreamworks (for the moment) villains list. Here's the others:
Zarkon (Voltron Legendary Defenders)
D-Structs (DinoTrux)
Rameses (The Prince of Egypt)
Pitch Black (Rise of the Guardians)
Matt Piavis
Yeah, Pitch Black was an interesting villain. Rise Of The Guardians is an extremely underrated 'DreamWorks' film, and it's one of their Masterpiece animation. It does everything so well, the characters, the development, the animation, the uniqueness, the music, the worldbuilding, etc. It's breath-taking.
Steph Schacht
Lord-Shen is one of my favorite movie villains, edged-out by only the likes of Darth-Vader, Hannibal Lector, Norman Bates, Heath-Ledger's Joker and my childhood villain; Scar from my childhood film, The Lion King.
@@nicksketch7122
He's also better than Tai Lung.
@@katelynbodiford5680 In which way? Intelligence yes but if they ever got into a fight unless they where both using swords Shen might aswell be dinner as its very unlikely of him winning
Now THAT is an awesome back story...
***** Just tell me? o_O
I'm too lazy to seek it out
***** oh
***** it's good but...it felt a bit too long to fit into the story. I like the banishment one in the movie because it tied into Po's story too
*@ AZ*
I actually think that it was a good move that Shen's backstory was changed.
When you think about it deeply, it would make much more sense that Shen's backstory was altered.
Yes, Shen's original backstory had his parents shunning him, but remember that they still died of their grief by having to banish him.
If they shunned him, then it doesn't really add up to the fact that they later on die of grief.
In the changed version, their deaths are much more believable because they tried their best to love and protect their son. And they died because they failed him greatly.
It also makes Shen an even closer parallel to Po.
Rather than going the shallow way of Shen "being unloved and taking out his misery on everyone", the final version shows glimpses of a possibility of Shen using his talents for good, just like Po does.
It's just that making the wrong choices with his gifts cost Shen everything.
Po, on the other hand, made the right choices and benefited himself and everyone, even if it may have initially cost him dearly at times.
*****
Then that would make Shen lose one of his sympathetic motivations of continuing his actions because he has nothing left to lose.
Legit, the most likely reasons for Shen doing what he did in the final version were to prove his parents and the soothsayer wrong, and because he knows he can't take any of his wrongdoings back.
If you go with the original and your theory of having Shen kill his parents, then having Shen die is just a way of putting him out of his misery rather than a villain causing his own demise.
Genocide! Best way to start a kid's movie! :D
It's dark but there's a number of people who are not into the cutesy crap like the Disney Princess films(No offence) and I'm one of them.
Megpoid Gumi I like all sorts of crap, as long as it's not annoying.
Also what I find hilarious is that this isn't the first *or* the second time something like this happened on a Dreamworks movie. This shit happened in Antz and Prince of Egypt too XD
PoE: Opening scene is baby Hebrew boys being killed
Antz: Act 1 ends with a crap ton of warrior ants being intentionally killed off so no one will rise against the general
Dreamworks has an odd fascination with genocide.... :/
***** Oh yeah I forgot about them! Good call...in a dark way >.
Megpoid Gumi And the best part about this is that most people assume Dreamworks mainly makes comedies...
***** Yeah well not everything is rainbows and butterflies, there's gonna be drama sooner or later.
In my opinion, Shen is the greatest villain of 3D animation history!
True!
Better than Syndrome?
Zer0 Pyr0 syndrome the villain from the incredibles movie?
@@jalenwilliams7067 Yes.
@@MeowHype Sindrome's motivations as a villain are horrible, he only does what he does for a childhood tantrum ...
Very few sequels are perfect from beginning to end, but KFP2 was the sequel that was ultimately brilliant from beginning to end.
Sam Flemming
Agreed -- It's the definition of a 'Masterpiece'
It’s one of my all time favorite movies. I could watch this over and over and still find something new each time.
@@musikafossora the architecture is from the ming dynasty, but the pagoda ( shen's home has like 30% element of the song dynasty architecture) from which the gun powder originated
Toy story 2 also did that
Am I the only one who thinks that Lord Shen's fate was eerily similar to Shakespeare's Macbeth? Both of them ended up sealing their fate while trying to change it...
It's a plot device known as the "self-fulfilling prophecy" and it has been used since the time of Ancient Greece, most notably in the legend of Oedipus. The Harry Potter series also uses this device. Though, yeah, I would say that Lord Shen might be inspired by Macbeth, given the similarities between their tragic quest to fulfil their ambition.
fongster17 The Appointment in Samara.
John Kramer only difference is that Palpatine's parents actually hated their son to the point of killing him, only to get killed by Palpatine first
Kuroro2345 Macbeth was reluctant to do bad things and knew it was too late to turn back on what he has done. In fact that is all Lady Macbeth's fault. Shen has already an murderous ambition only after hearing a prophecy.
It's a very large theme throughout this entire trilogy. The same thing happened to Po. He didn't believe he was the Dragon Warrior because he got constantly shit on by everybody except for Master Oogway. So he tried to leave. He tried to NOT fight Tai-Lung. But that ended up leading to Shifu training Po, leading to the confrontation with Tai-Lung and realizing that Po was, in fact, the Dragon Warrior.
This movie is a masterpiece. Really amazing.
Ryan Yang
True...very true
Nick Sketch Hi Nick :)
@ryanyang Yes yes it was
Same
@Aiden
And now PUSS IN BOOTS 2 The Last Wish -- another MASTERPIECE sequel by DreamWorks 🥳
Director - Alright! We need to decide which animal villain is gonna be! Something menacing....dangerous...evil and...
Guy - A PEACOCK!!
Director: o_O
Well he's a peacock because they're believed to be bad omens and usually signify death when they're white feathered but for other colors they have different meanings
btw....
Shen = best KFP villain ever
*@ Jinhunter Slay*
Shen = Best Villain Ever
Jinhunter Slay a white and red peacock!
Director: *Y E S*
Notably, fireworks was one of the reasons Po had become a dragon warrior.
Mm, you know I never stopped to think about that. Their whole lives were written out 🤣🤣
Lol that is so true
Technically it’s because Master Oogway wanted him to learn Chi from the other pandas to fulfill his quest, but yes. That too is true.
Holy!
That's just mind-blowing to think
"Search the farthest villages! Find more metal! China will be mine..."
Such a beautiful, iconic line! Perfect for my favorite KFP villain!
Wouldn’t it be easier to search the nearest villages?
@@BruhTNT4258 i'm guessing he wanted to keep the factory hidden or something
@@BruhTNT4258 pretty sure it means to search everywhere
@@jotunnfarewell4750
It was supposed to be…… a joke.
Why the hell did I misread KFP as Kentucky Fried Panda?
this movie was so good
Still is DreamWorks' Best Movie to date.
Low Gunfire
Agreed! An absolute Masterpiece, unlike the 3rd Film, which I would rather forget about.
The first and second movies were better than number 3
The real reason pandas are endangered: because a peacock hired a pack of wolves to massacre them.
Something like this actually happened in Chinese history. Obviously, the song dynasty was replaced in this movie by peacocks and the pandas represent the Sichuan people [I hope I wrote that correctly] but that's an interesting way to see that the filmmakers studied china surprisingly fervently.
I didn't know any of this! Is Gongmen (spelling?) city real/ based on somewhere? And where can I read up on good info about it all? Thanks man
+oabuseer look up the Sichuan province of China and something similar to this should come up on Wikipedia.
I guess another comparison you can make (even though it's not Chinese history) is Lord Shen = Oda Nobunaga from Japan.
Both are bloodthirsty warlords who embraces cannons and firearms, shun traditions and claimed themselves to be modernists, and wiped out whole villages and people who stand in their ways.
Jinhunter Slay Oda Nobunaga uh?Interesting. Wanna know why? Search Oda Nobunaga intro fight on Nioh (videogame) and you'll see why i say that your reference to Shen as Oda Nobunaga is interesting.
A modern comparison is how the Chinese government is imprisoning and oppressing Uighur muslims and sending them into reeducation camps. Ok, they currently don't kill them (so maybe not as bad as Lord Shen), but they obviously want to keep their power over them through aggressive oppression and fear.
This shit reminds me of Avatar The Last Airbender for some reason, probably because Azulon knew the next avatar would be an airbender, so he sought to exterminate them all, just like Shen and the pandas
It was actually Sozin who wiped out the Air Nomads..Azulon was his son.
It's quite a common theme to use your knowledge of the future to try and kill your enemy before they can become your enemy. Usually it's because you learn a prophesy, but in Sozin's case he was able to exploit a well known cycle.
Shit is your existence
@@darkotazy No u
Shen’s relationship with his parents kinda reminds me of Azula’s relationship with Ursa
Best part of this movie was the horror on Shens parent’s faces after he committed genocide. You could feel the pain his parents felt in just their facial expressions seeing their child become an evil monster. Its a nightmare every parent has thinking their kid will grow up to be pure evil and wondering what went wrong in raising them. Great job Dreamworks.
0:54 This scene reminds me of the past Its like when Christopher Columbus Invaded the Americas alongside the Spainards and what they done to my Ancestors is brutal to think about
🇨🇴🇵🇷🇵🇷
@@chrisnarvaez3434
You most probably have white ancestry and mayas, incas and aztecs were horrible invaders too
I find it quite interesting how native americans have the right to criticise european colonialism but when I criticise the Islamic invasions of India, I get call an islamophobe
BTW, why not decolonise yourself to make your ancestors proud? Why do you still practise the religion of the invaders and what does "Chris" mean in any native american language ?
"The young lord set out to change his fate, but what he did next only sealed it." - Soothsayer in this film.
"One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it." - Oogway in the first film.
Can we just appreciate Michelle Yeoh’s voice-acting in this movie? Like, fr, her vocal range and build-up along with her character being a part of Shen’s actions were truly a gift given from God! I was entranced the whole time.
1:31 this shot is absolutely gorgeous
You know a movie is impressing if it can make a peacock threatening.
"One often meets their destiny on the path they take to avoid it." Truer words have never been spoken
Shifu sends duck messager to make sure Tai Lung won't escape. Tai Lung escapes using one of the duck's feathers.
Shen goes to wipe out the pandas so that one of them doesn't become a threat to his goals of conquering China. Baby panda ends up in the Valley of a Peace and grows up to become the Dragon Warrior.
"The young lord set out to change his fate..."
What did Master Oogway say in the first film?
"One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it."
Am I the only one who thinks that all of this could have been averted if Shen's parents hadn't made too much out of his desire to experiment with fireworks? He was just a boy, and it's not like we all didn't have destructive potential as children. This might be a generalization, but you can't say it's unheard of for boys when playing pretend, particularly inventive ones, to enjoy making weapons or in general to want to make things go boom..
Augustus Floyd His first instinct upon learning of this prophecy was to commit genocide. So I think his parents concerns were justified.
Augustus Floyd They created the fireworks for peace and joy. Besides Shen, they were their greatest creations. The fact that he took something they had made for others and perverted it into a tool of war hurt them. The idea that their only son didn't think to use them for joy like they did was almost too much. It wasn't about Shen being inventive. It was about the idea that he wasn't thinking peace. He was thinking conquest.
@@jhymelbyrd154: I don't think Shen was dark for exploring other uses for gun powder. Like expressed before a weapon can be a deterrent vs offensively used. However as also pointed out, when confronted with the choice he had to make, he could have sworn never to use the gunpowder to attack. Only defend, instead his first answer was to wipe out a bunch of innocent creatures. Shen clearly had darkness in him from the start.
Augustus Floyd
Shen wasn't really a good person deep down, and honestly him being a boy doesn't really have much to do with that. There are just some things we know are fundamentally wrong as people and if you're capable of putting an entire civilization to the sword because you refuse to change then that says alot more about what type of person you'll become than what you could've been. Shen could've done some introspection, but he didn't. He could've spent time to himself to reflect, but he didn't do that either. Instead he chose one of the most vile and heinous misdeeds ever because of a prophecy that could've been remained unfulfilled if he worked to be a better person. It seems in the end his refusal to better himself meant his demise.
@@MaceAhWindu i feel silly at answering a comment made a year ago .. but not really.. its a very human thing to weaponize knowledge and technology .. however if they were afraid their son would become a warmonger they should had talk things out with him ..instead of asking a soothsayer
this movie was a masterpiece.
tenkochammi
True
Ikr
Was?
It’s “is”
Sweet
This movie deals with *mental*
-Lord Shen : he wants to change his fate because of his *paranoia* that lead him to into commit genocide.
- Po : Po deals with *PTSD* , he always gets distracted by a symbol of his past.
- Tigress: depression she had hard time dealing with the past.
0:29 I love that when he first sees the explosion, there's a split second where it looks like Shen is shocked, even horrified, by what he's created - and then it passes as he smirks upon realizing how powerful it makes him. A great little indicator of his character right there - that he was always someone who didn't _have_ to be evil. He just _chose_ to be.
1:32 Jeeeeeeesus, that landscape shot. With the black and white forge fortress floating above the ominous mountains, with a giant cloud of smoke above and lit only by the hellish glow of the furnace...that's some Warhammer 40k shit right there. I look at this landscape shot and I struggle to remember this is from a movie starring Jack Black as the funny fat panda.
Being happy that you made something doesn't make you evil
@@jammygamer8961 0:29 that's not an evil smile?
@@cbfranco3307 how can a smile be evil?
I like how they underscore that constantly with Shen's character. He COULD be different, but he chooses not to. His fate is only unavoidable because he is unwilling to stray from the path leading him to it.
Speaking of Warhammer 40k, I hope the frame portrays the tone Henry Cavill adopts for his show.
Question: What's black, white and red all over?
Answer: A butchered giant panda.
You just gave me nightmares.
Anab Samatar Sorry, Kiddo.
Hodgepodge Buhgodge love it! XD
Old comment but, dang. That's kinda messed up But funny at the same time.
Darth Maul with a milk mustache. Santa Claus stepping out of a soot-covered chimney. A mime who fell off the Eiffel Tower. Harley Quinn getting cum on her face.
"One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it." Man, I love the continuity of the first and second film!
Mr_Earwig
Yes, yes, and double yes! Kung Fu Panda & Kung Fu Panda 2 are Masterpieces! KFP 2 being the best of the series, while the first film coming damn close. The third film doesn't even come close to the cinematic brilliance that is KFP 1 & KFP 2.
Lord Shen is my favorite villain in the franchise. He was way intimidating, calculating, patient, and pure genius plus all the psycho-ness for a villain. Who thought peacocks can be intimidating? Pure Dreamworks brilliance ❤️
And the narrator: Michelle Yeoh 👏👏👏
Wish the third movie was as intense as this one
True, the third movie is good, but its not on the same quality as the 2nd movie.
@Sanitos Delos That was how I felt of the HTTYD Trilogy
The first one was good despite its Story, villain and romance.
The second being my favourite of the 3 and my 3rd favourite DreamWorks Film
And the third one just being completely shit with only the Villain to make it better
@@dragonflamefilms5401 agree, I think the third Kung fu panda movie was better than httyd3 because it didn’t have any plot holes, but hell, httyd3 basically contradicted and erased all of the build up and everything that hiccup was trying to build in httyd 1 and 2
The second movie wasn't even that intense. It just doubled down heavily on the goofiness instead
@@masterknife8423 nah
I find it weird that Lord Shen literally has wolves his loyal followers since in real life wolves actually prey on Peacocks and other small animals
It’s actually funny that you bring this up in extended versions of Shens backstory it is explained among other things curial to his character that I’ll bring up in a minute. The wolves were mainly guards of the tower and Shen himself at a younger age, but they were also weren’t really treated well, it is possible this is how Boss Wolf lost his eye. Shen befriend wolf boss and a few others which led them to be loyal to him. Ok it doesn’t explain the gorillas as far as I know but that solves the Wolf issue. The other thing explained in Shens extended backstory is he was born sickly and commonly sick with some disease as one of the meanings of white in China is death. Shens parents were ashamed of that. And considering they were the rulers of a city they couldn’t really pay much attention to him. This is where the soothsayer comes in, she was a nanny of sorts to him, therefore leaving her as the only real parental figure in his life which is likely why she was sparred in there final scene together. He is A tragic villain of sorts. Unfortunately this scene never made it into the movie due to what I’m gonna assume is length reasons. Kind of makes you feel bad for him in a way. Sorry if this seems like useless information but anyways hope you enjoyed the info ill leave a link of a dreamworks site you like that says this
@@StolasFan547 wow what a backstory and here's a little fun fact I thought id mention originally Boss Wolf was meant to be a crow
Yah I think I heard that somewhere
@@StolasFan547 I guess they changed him to a wolf so he didn't look so similar to Shen
also animal cant talk...
you do know logic have no place in movie right?
Fun fact: Lord Shen is the only kung fu panda villain that doesn't know Po for being the dragon warrior. And also the only kung fu panda villain that didn't met Shifu or Oogway. But I think Oogway heard about Shen because he saw the future of the Kung fu and the past when he met Po and that's why Oogway chosen Po. Not only that, Lord Shen is also the reason why Po became the dragon warrior. I don't know if Oogway also heard about the chameleon that will appear in Kung fu panda 4.
A good kid can hate their bad parents but good parents can never hate their bad kids.
Kung Fu Panda was great, but I genuinely think Kung Fu Panda 2 is a masterpiece. Everything about it is better. The animation, the music (Powell got to have a bigger role, and he's the better composer), the story, the villain, the settings, the pacing, the cinematography, the choreography. It is criminally underrated in the canon of animation.
Nah dude Kung Fu Panda is still the better movie. Shen himself is the only thing the first sequel did right. First movie has much better music and fight scenes
@@masterknife8423 lol
@@masterknife8423 No way you just said KFP1 has better music
I love how the most subtle part at the end where he accepts his fate when his own weapon kills him- and the fireworks that come out form a peacock shape, and the soothsayer smiles. I think shen finally found his peace with his death.
0:58 I remember being absolutely shocked at this part in theaters. I really never predicted they would go there.
I love Shen! The concept of a peacock that fights with it’s feathers as blades. And with his huge tail-fan of feathers exuding this beautiful and majestic, yet terrifying and intimidating aura. Beautiful villain.
He reminds me of the guy from my hero academia (I forgot his name and was a bird not a peacock) mix with a demon Slayer character.
Wait, did the creators were a fan of anime? Also my eyes would bleed with blood because of his tail fan thing.
@@Nekogi2008 is the Demon Slayer character in question you're referring to (spoiler) Douma?
@@FayeLawnKrack3d I think yes
Not that I'm condoning Shen's decision to kill all pandas, but I don't think he started off as a murderous psychopath-he clearly cared about what his parents thought of him judging by 1:07. Plus his experimentation with the fireworks didn't seem to be all that destructive, and I think the fact that no one even knew of his cannons until his fight with Rhino is rather significant as that implies it's the first time.
No...that's what a psychopath is. They don't understand empathy, they only understand what they feel. Shen can only feel proud or anger or the need of his parents to acknowledge him He doesn't understand committing genocide is immoral.
kirbywinter His backstory from the main KungFuPanda site says that he was born sickly because of his leucism (similar to albinism, but he was meant to be depicted as the "Evil Albino") and that his parents deemed him too weak and pitiful to deserve any attention. The Soothsayer acted as his nanny, but the coldness his own family showed him drove him to act the way he is depicted. What makes it worse is that leucism is inherited (meaning he inherited the trait from one of his parents, or both since it was complete), and the fact that he was mentally unstable from his treatment makes it all the more tragic. He honestly thought that subverting a prophecy by attempting genocide would show his parents that he would be worthy of greatness.
RyunosukeHachi That wasn't his chosen backstory though. That was just an early concept which was changed later on. His parents were hinted to love him very much since at one point in the movie Shen approaches the throne and remarks on how his father used to let him play on it. Also his parents were so distraught of his banishment they passed away, which really says something. The soothsayer was not his nanny either, she was just the court's soothsayer. She was just there to provide his parents, and later him, knowledge on his future
+RyunosukeHachi I don't understand why they had to changed Shen's original background story in which it would have made a lot more sense if they kept that background instead of making him out to be nothing more than a monster who was born evil to begin with and had learned nothing of love and compassion. No matter what the intro showed us, there had to be more of why Shen became what he is and why he really believed his parents never loved him, other than the banishment. I love the original idea better because it makes more sense of his character and his feelings about the parents.
*@ Disneyfan82*
Yeah, but if his parents were ashamed of him simply because of his health and appearance, then it's not really believable that they die of grief after condemning him to banishment.
On the one hand, Shen was a villain. On the other hand, his ingenuity in transforming the black powder used in fireworks into a powerful weapon is more impressive than words can describe. Think of how skilled he must've been in the fields of chemistry, physics, ballistics and more, to have built those cannons.
Shen's backstory is such a great example of what oogway said in the first movie.
One meets his destiny when trying to avoid it
One *OFTEN* Meets His Destiny On the Road he *TAKES* to *AVOID* it
I guess Shen's parents must have died in sorrow that instead of a great ruler they raised a demon
They did :(
Sort of. The soothsayer says later on that Shen's exile broke his parents' hearts to the point that it killed them
Shen is best villain in all 3 panda movies.
Of course
Of course
Nah I still think tai lung
@@rockzilla1664 ja
@@screamqueensfan288 thanks
1:41 The whole world stopped to watch him pull the chain with 1 arm 😂
LMAOOO
What?
Shen’s parents showing horror and him not understanding why they did shows how truly psychopathic he was
"One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.--Oogway. (Rest in peace, turtle sensei :( )
Shen is an example of how to write an excelent villian.
Tai Lung - Darkness in his heart
Shen - Darkness and Destruction
Shen - Anger and great sadness
@@jammygamer8961Plus lack of inner peace
@@reviewception4328 A lot of the characters in the trilogy don't have that so i didn't feel it was worth mentioning
What about kai?
Probably one of the best DreamWorks’s villains of all time.
Hands down one of the best villains I ever seen
what i love about shen is that he was actually pure evil, unlike tai lung and kai whom simply just happened to be full of anger and let their grudges get the better of them
No he was not, he had regret for all he did, but he was way too far down to climb up
I prefer this intro out of all the 3 Kung Fu Panda movies. :)
REECEM92 same
Kp3 almost came close with that battle
1:03
Lord Shen: **commits mass genocide**
Also Lord Shen: “Mom Dad, why aren’t you proud of me?”
Shen was defeated by a warrior of black and white. Himself.
The one reason I especially like this movie the best was the amount of dramatic darkness this movie adapted. It’s a real shame that many parents complained about the darkness of this movie and the 3rd movie was lightened up.
yes totally. Would have loved to see more of Kai & Oogways backstory. Kai could have been a much darker Villian too. I mean: stealing spirits from Living persons is creepy.
We still dont know why he wanted that power so much.
@@Aldiraider Kai is terrifying in the original drafts
"Mommy, Daddy, I wiped out an entire civilisation! Aren't ya proud of me?"
Average Tuesday in China, I'm guessing.
His story is very sad.
What’s so terrifying yet, so interesting is that while the entire Trilogy takes place an ancient China and Po and the furious five stopped the creation of the new age of weapons that overpowered traditional martial arts, in today’s timeline, cannons still became a large scale camaraderie that revolutionized combat and wars in unspeakable ways. So while Shen was stopped and his creation was “destroyed”, his conception was still used by another. By the time Po and his allies passed on until the afterlife, their was nothing stopping the creation and mass distribution of cannons and that would eventually inspire or lead to another dangerous weapon, gunpowder.
Yeah, thinking about it is sad, Kung Fu is destined to die, and probably Chi mastery will be forgotten again, thanks to the evolution of the weapons industry. Though KFP is not bound to real life history, so maybe it won't happen, or they will find a way to mix both.
This is insane storytelling; we already know what happened to Po's village and his mother. But the way they execute Po finding out wasn't boring, it wasn't just exposition so that the character can know. They somehow used the lesson of the film to help Po learn and overcome his trauma. While imparting that same lesson of how to overcome your own trauma to the audience. Insane.
Shen haves a great villain appearance because his color (white) symbolizes the death in the Chinese culture. I think he looks more villain in the flashbacks where he was seen with red eyes because sometimes red symbolizes the evil.
I remember watching this film when it was released in the UK when I was a kid. I remember not liking it as much but I completely forgot what happened in it. I just watched it yesterday for the first time in years and damn this is far better than the first one, Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Lord Shen is excellent.
This brings us back to Oogways teaching. "One often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it"
Bro this was so dark it’s not even labeled for TH-cam kids.
kung fu panda 2 is severely underrated. Shen is a unbelievably good villain. Even after his horrendous acts and unforgivable nature, you can somehow still sympathize with him. and honestly in the cannon factory scene, thats when shen became the best villain of dreamworks. And when he died, he didn't try to run from the boat when the cannon was falling down on him, he just accepted his death. And the fact he caused mass genocide without thinking twice was absolutely terrifying. he stopped at absolutely nothing to prevent his destiny, and the most terrifying part, shen in a way actually won. he proved the soothsayer wrong when she said shen would be defeated by a warrior of black and white when the cannon fell down on him. it wasn't po who killed shen, it was shen's own creation. man shen gives me chills
01:04 dude... you just committed mass murder, wtf were you expecting? "oh look, honey, our son has returned bathed in the blood of innocent pandas, he's so smart, let's give him a hug and the throne"
Rouge Starlight lol
"Tell me how proud you are"
I don't think there's a single role Gary Oldman hasn't absolutely nailed it on. His voice and mannerism behind his every word brings real darkness and vileness to the villains he plays.
now THAT’S how you start a kung fu panda film. definitely one of the best intros for a movie in my book.
The most eviliest Kung Fu Panda Villain so far
I like how differently “a warrior of black and white” can be interpreted and they are all technically correct
The panda is the obvious one with Po being Shen’s downfall
A warrior who found inner peace, with Po only being able to defeat Shen by finding inner peace and destroying Shen’s weapon
And Shen himself, since everything that led to his death was by his own choice, including the fall of his own weapon that killed him
I think Kung Fu Panda is an unforgettable movie of the decade
What an incredible way to open a movie. Shen is literally the definition of a peak villain.
Shen and his army about to commit genocide always got my spine chilling
Lord Shen is way more scarier and intimidating than Tai lung
Boss Wolf: It’s almost done, Lord Shen, but we’ve run out of metal.
Shen: Search the farthest villages. Find more metal! China will be mine.
[Cuts to the Jade Palace where two kids are seen playing with Po and Tigress action figures in the Training Hall's courtyard.]
BUNNY CHILD:- And then, the Dragon Warrior joined the Furious Five!
Umm
Oogway: one often meets his destiny on the path he takes to avoid it
Shen: kills all the pandas to avoid his destiny
Soothsayer in the story: he did something that sealed his destiny
One Often Meets his Destiny On the road he Takes to Avoid it - Master Oogway's Quote
it means that if you avoid something on purpose and tried to take a different option what you tried to avoid will encounter you on the that path and you anyway would have to confront it.
what's saddest is that Shen doesn't want to be bad anymore, he just wants to be free of the pain, but if he didn't conquer China all the lives lost would be in vain
Fun fact: Shen is the main antagonist of the Kung Fu Panda franchise as a whole. I guess it makes sense because he's the reason why Po ended up in the Valley of Peace and he's the one who is the most personal to Po