Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll (2016)

Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll (2016) is an animated short in the popular film series. Taking place before the third movie, it depicts Po’s father, Mr Ping, mistakenly giving away his toys of the Furious Five as bonus gifts to customers. As Po frantically searches for them, Oogway’s narration prompts a question about fate and coincidence. Set a decade prior to the original film, a young Tigress is training under Shifu but struggles to meet his strict expectations. When Master Oogway and Shifu order noodles from Mister Ping’s restaurant, Po (who is temporarily in charge) accidentally sneezes into Shifu’s bowl, resulting in him falling ill. To make matters worse, an invincible warrior named Boar is on his way to the Valley of Peace, defeating every Kung Fu master in his path. With Shifu out of commission, Tigress must take on the task of finding four warriors who can defeat Boar with a scroll given to her by Shifu himself.

As Po works on his own scroll of potential career options, he is pushed by his father to discard it. Meanwhile, Tigress inadvertently misplaces her own scroll and unknowingly grabs Po’s instead. This scroll contains the names ‘Cleaner’, ‘Comedian’, ‘Dancer’, and ‘Doctor’. Believing these individuals to be the designated warriors, Tigress recruits Crane, Monkey, Viper, and Mantis accordingly. She is impressed by their abilities and anticipates Shifu’s approval. However, upon realizing the mix-up, an enraged Shifu disappoints Tigress. As she pouts about the situation, Oogway encourages her to trust in her true self rather than imitate Shifu’s ways. As a result, she confronts Boar but initially struggles with her attempts to mimic Shifu’s techniques. Eventually, with assistance from her new teammates using their unique styles, she is able to defeat Boar by embracing her own style of combat.