| Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll | |
| Director: | Rodolphe Guenoden |
| Producer: | Karen Foster |
| Starring: | Jack Black Dustin Hoffman Seth Rogen David Cross Lucy Liu Tara Macri James Hong Randall Duk Kim |
| Narrator: | Randall Duk Kim |
| Music: | Lorne Balfe Hans Zimmer |
| Editing: | Mark Deimel |
| Studio: | DreamWorks Animation |
| Distributor: | 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment |
| Runtime: | 23 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll is a 2015 American animated short film produced by DreamWorks Animation. It was included on the 2015 digital HD, and the 2016 Blu-ray and DVD re-release of the animated films Kung Fu Panda (2008) and Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011). The short tells both the stories of how the Furious Five came together, and how Po gained his love for kung fu.[1]
Jack Black, James Hong, Dustin Hoffman, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Randall Duk Kim and Lucy Liu reprise their roles from the movies, while Kari Wahlgren and James Sie replace Angelina Jolie and Jackie Chan as Tigress and Monkey, respectively.
Set sometime before the events of the third film, Po realizes that his father, Mr. Ping, is giving away his things as bonus gifts to customers, and has accidentally given away his action figures of the Furious Five. As he searches for them, Master Oogway's narration asks whether there is any real difference between an accident and destiny, thus setting the scene for the story.
Ten years before the events of the first film, a younger Tigress is training under Master Shifu, but always seems to disappoint him by not conforming to his strict style. When Oogway and Shifu order noodles from Mr. Ping's restaurant, a young Po, who was left in charge of the restaurant while his father was absent, accidentally sneezes into Shifu's, making him sick. To make matters worse, a seemingly-unstoppable warrior named Boar is en route to the Valley of Peace, defeating every kung fu master who opposes him. An incapacitated Shifu has no choice but to delegate responsibility to Tigress, giving her a scroll with the names of four warriors who can defeat Boar. At the same time, Po writes his own scroll with possible ideas for his future career, but he throws it out at his father's insistence.
Tigress accidentally loses her scroll and mistakes Po's for hers. Po's scroll contains the names of "Cleaner", "Comedian", "Dancer", and "Doctor". This causes Tigress to gather Cleaner Crane, Comedian Monkey, Dancer Viper, and Doctor Mantis, instead of the assigned warriors (each of whom are identical to Shifu). Tigress is impressed by the skills that they demonstrate, and assumes that Shifu will be proud of her. However, once she returns and the mistake is discovered, Shifu becomes angry, disappointing Tigress. As she sulks, Oogway encourages her to be herself rather than Shifu, so she decides to confront Boar. At first, she sticks to Shifu's style and is defeated, but she gets help from the others, who manage to stall Boar with their unique styles. In an epiphany moment, she finally embraces her own style and easily overpowers Boar with the help of her new teammates to defeat him. By chance, Po witnesses the entire fight, thus gaining his passion for kung fu. Tigress returns to the Jade Palace, where Shifu finally admits that he is proud of her, and gives her access to the training room to perfect her "Tigress" style. He also invites Crane, Monkey, Viper and Mantis to stay, deciding that their own styles can also be refined.
Back in the present, Po finds his toys with a bunny boy. While watching the boy play with the same passion that he had all those years ago, Po decides to let the bunny keep them. Po then admits to the Five that his toys are "where they're meant to be", and that, in fact, he already has the "real thing right here".