#and po's face of absolute DESPAIR is so jarring considering just 2 minutes ago he was interrupting kai's monologue with

[oflgtfol]

ok wait i was thinking abt this when i was watching kfp 3 the other night but i didnt have any energy to write it then so im gonna say it now cause ive been thinking abt it a lot actually

 like the villains in kfp 1 and 2 are so good. they have clear motivations to their actions with something compelling about them.

for tai lung, i’d say he’s almost sympathetic. i don’t know what i’d do if i was literally raised with the idea that i was destined to be x, and all my life, literal decades, were spent working towards that “destiny,” only to be told that that wasn’t actually my destiny. to know that literally your entire life’s work has been in vain. now i know for sure i would not go rampage and destroy the entire village and potentially kill people over it (it’s never explicitly stated he killed anyone since it’s a kid’s movie, but like, the amount of security put into his prison? the sheer dread everyone felt upon hearing he escaped? the fact the entire town had to be evacuated when he was on his way there? i’m pretty sure it’s implied he killed people in his previous rampage). that part of tai lung is not sympathetic. but the motivations behind his actions are. i know i’d definitely be feeling very lost and uncertain and angry and, betrayed. tai lung is absolutely at fault for taking his anger out so violently on innocent people, but his anger was.... justified? i mean. shifu should NOT have literally raised him with the idea that he was destined to be the dragon warrior . that’s just setting your child up for failure and, at best, the feelings i described above.......... at worst, what tai lung actually did....... either way that’s gonna fuck your kid up mentally and it wasn’t right to do that. so tai lung is definitely an interesting villain with, sympathetic circumstances but not sympathetic/justified actions 

i think shen is probably less interesting than tai lung in that regard but he makes up for it in different ways. i don’t think he’s sympathetic in any way tbh. at most there’s a bit of... inadequacy? that his parents didn’t love him? but his actions were absolutely abhorrent so honestly......... you deserve it LOL. but his actions WERE so completely abhorrent that he makes up for the lack of sympathy and moral ambiguity that’s fun to think about with just sheer Threat. he committed literal genocide for no other reason than to ensure he wouldn’t be taken down according to a prophecy. he is far deadlier than tai lung, plus his presence brings a lot of repressed memories out of po which is a really interesting way to paint shen as a threat. because po could absolutely just beat him up, but each time he’s near him he gets flashbacks and can never actually defeat shen until he works through his memories. shen isn’t interesting so much in motivations but he’s very interesting in terms of the themes the franchise explores, the danger he poses to the protagonist, and even his personality

but kai..... falls flat compared to the first two villains. after seeing kfp 3 several times i’m still unsure of why he’s doing anything he does? he learns how to use chi and then immediately starts killing people? to....... gain power? does he do everything just for power? and his backstory with oogway is kinda confusing like.... when was oogway in charge of an army???!?!! and he’s said to be oogway’s brother in arms which sounds like a very close relationship but we don’t ever really... get to see it besides like “oh haha see what im doing, oogway?” and then destroying oogway’s statue.

and nobody ever takes him seriously as a villain either. everybody’s like “kai who?” even the random farmers completely dropped their guard after being like “never heard of you” despite literally being scared shitless of him 2 seconds ago....... kai takes out every master in china within like a few days and it sounds like it could’ve been very threatening and ominous like knowing that the jade palace is Next.. knowing that he’s slowly but surely making his way to the pandas. but literally no one takes it seriously they just fuck around for a few days until tigress comes around and is like “we’re the last ones left.” and so all the pandas team up to fight kai in their own ways but even then... nobody’s taking it seriously? if he wins he’s gonna kill you all!! but they’re all laughing and having a good time during that fight like huh? IDK like yes po is very much one who always makes fun of his villains, his whole final battle with tai lung was like that and most of his time with shen was him making fun of him too. but the final battle with shen was SO serious and honestly i guess kfp3′s lighter tone is particularly jarring especially because kfp 2 was so serious, what with literal genocide, cannons (which literally killed master rhino early in the movie), repressed trauma, coming to terms with said trauma, etc. shen was SUCH a serious villain, and people took tai lung very seriously even if po didn’t at the end. literally NO ONE takes kai seriously and it’s kinda irksome especially when it’s added onto the fact he doesn’t have very strong motivations... idk. kai’s definitely the weakest villain

i mean this all in the best way... i love the kfp movies and part of it is cause they just get me thinking about a lot of things, whether it’s the themes or even just writing stuff like this. kfp 3 is still a very enjoyable movie this is just a criticism i had with it

i think even if they fleshed out his backstory with oogway better, maybe had kai tell it himself instead of from the characters reading oogway’s scroll, then he’d feel like a stronger villain. and maybe had the characters treat the situation with the proper stakes too. nothing wrong with jokes and light heartedness, i mean this is kung fu panda, even kfp 2 still had a lot of jokes and light hearted scenes, but if they were used at more appropriate times rather than directed at the villain almost entirely then it’d be better. and im only saying that because, when the villain doesnt have clearer motivations and the threat he poses is kind of abstract and shown mostly off screen, then it’s hard for the AUDIENCE to take him seriously between all that and the characters themselves mocking him/not taking him seriously every time he shows up. and compared to the serious villains in past movies it’s just like.................... oh . ok