Kung Fu Panda Kung Fu Panda -
“Hey,” Po said. “Fat panda here. You want the secret? The real secret?”
But now, he also loved kung fu. And the two, he realized, were the same thing.
What followed was the most joyful montage the Jade Palace had ever seen. Shifu threw buns; Po had to catch them with kung fu moves to eat them. Shifu hung mooncakes from the ceiling; Po had to leap and twist to bite them. To reach a basket of dumplings, Po had to climb a thousand steps—so he ran up them, laughing.
“Look,” Oogway said, pointing. Po was in the kitchen, not sleeping. He was training . Clumsily, yes, but with a furious, beautiful passion. He did one-finger push-ups (falling over), kicked at hanging pots (missing most), and practiced stances while humming to himself. Sweat dripped into his fur. He never stopped smiling. kung fu panda kung fu panda
Tai Lung arrived. He shattered the palace gates. He broke Shifu’s ribs with a single blow. “The scroll,” he snarled. “Give it to me!”
Tai Lung dropped Shifu. “You?”
Po knew every move of their legendary battles. He had action figures hidden under his noodle cart. He could recite the Thousand Scrolls of Kung Fu from memory. But he was a panda. Pandas, everyone said, do not do kung fu. Pandas make noodles. “Hey,” Po said
“That’s just a trick. Shifu showed me.”
But darkness approached. Years ago, Shifu had trained a prodigy named Tai Lung—a snow leopard of immense skill and terrible pride. Denied the Dragon Scroll, Tai Lung had laid waste to the valley. Shifu had imprisoned him in a towering prison, Chorh-Gom, guarded by a thousand rhinos. Now, Tai Lung had escaped.
“Noodles are my life,” Mr. Ping would say, stirring the secret ingredient broth. Po smiled, nodded, and served customers with a bow. But his true life—the one he dreamed of while scrubbing pots—belonged to the warriors atop the hill: the Furious Five. Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Viper, and Crane. And above them all, their master, the wise and ancient turtle, Oogway. The real secret
Shifu watched. Something cracked in his heart.
Oogway’s ancient eyes twinkled. He raised a gnarled finger and pointed. “The universe has brought us… the Dragon Warrior.”
He returned to the palace. Tai Lung was strangling Shifu.
Part One: The Noodle Dreamer