Scene Analysis #19: Kai vs Oogway—Kung Fu Panda 3 · 12:09am Jun 25th, 2023
Scene Rating Scale:
9/9: Flawless! Outstanding scene!
8/9: Great scene! Totally Rewatchable!
7/9: Pretty good. Not as perfect as I expected though.
6/9: Decent. Doesn’t ruin the movie/episode.
5/9: Mid.
4/9: Pretty bad. One of the weakest scenes of the movie/episode.
3/9: You hear that? It’s the wind of lameness.
2/9: One of the worst scenes of the film/episode.
1/9: Horrible, unwatchable, and unacceptable.
Greetings, folks. This is Mr. J back with another scene analysis for you all tonight. This evening, I will be briefly reviewing the fight scene between Oogway and Kai from Kung Fu Panda 3. Now, this was very interesting way to start off this movie: we are re-introduced to Oogway after two movies of handling villains without his physical presence and are introduced to a new antagonist for the third installment. So here is what makes this fight scene an intriguing way to begin the film:
Oogway is relaxing in the spirit realm—having his sweet, inner peace…and an itching nose to go with that. Then suddenly, a power-hungry buffalo slashes his blades around his former ally as he seeks for his chi in order to return to the mortal realm. Once he successfully absorbs his chi, he gets back to China to commence his conquest for power.
The animation really holds up, and we see for the first time what the spirit realm is like. The prologue starts off pretty peacefully and comforting as we see our old friend on the big screen once again. But once the blades start swinging, Kai’s theme begins to play—signifying a sudden shift in tone.
The peace is now disrupted, and a new enemy arises from above. So this establishes the fact that Oogway isn’t technically dead (although in a way, he kinda is); plus, we finally have a villain who had a close connection with him. Throughout the trilogy, the villains have a connection with one of our heroes: Tai Lung with Shifu, Shen with Po, and now Kai with Oogway. This is done so that we can understand where the villains are coming from and make the dynamic between the hero and the villain more personal and authentic…although it worked more with Po and Shen, but that’s another subject.
In this scene, we right away understand who Kai is, what his goal is, and how he plans to accomplish his ends. And it makes you want to see more of this guy and learn more of his vendetta against Oogway.
Additionally, we see that throughout this time, Oogway realized that sooner or later, his old archenemy would return and seek vengeance. Hence, he remained calm throughout this fight while maintaining his sense of humor. When he allowed himself to be taken by Kai, he still has faith in Po that he will eventually defeat Kai. That speaks volumes of their relationship in this series.
Great voice acting from J.K. Simmons and Randall Duk Kim respectively. They played these characters with passion, vigor, and personality to make them so believable and real.
Overall, this was a great way to open the film although I feel like it could have been a little longer to see more of Oogway’s power. That’s my only complaint with this scene. Otherwise, it is awesome to watch, and it is a great way to hook you into this movie. I give it an 8/9.
Peace.
I agree.
Everything about this scene was a brilliant and surprising way to start off a movie, and it gives the sense that there’s something incredibly epic coming up afterwards. It got me entranced in the film hook, line, & sinker ever since I started watching it.
I wonder if the second KFP trilogy will have a main villain that BREAKS the trend of connection with the protagonist?