Plot

Ordered to teach a martial arts class of rambunctious bunny kittens, Po tells stories of each of the Furious Five's pasts.

With Po's status as the Dragon Warrior proven to all, Master Shifu has a new challenge for him; teaching Introduction to Kung Fu class to a bunch of a rambunctious bunny children. After getting the class to come to order, Po teaches them that fighting is only part of kung fu, while its true meaning is "Excellence of Self." To explain this philosophy, Po tells stories of each of his comrades, The Furious Five, and how they faced formative challenges in their youth that helped define them as true masters of kung fu.—Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)

In the wake of the sweet victory against the mighty adversary, Tai Lung, the ultimate Dragon Warrior, Po, has a new assignment by the wise Master, Shifu. This time, the plump sensei must teach the next generation of fighters the art of Kung Fu; tame his class of overzealous students, and explain the true essence of this ancient martial art. To succeed in his difficult mission, Po must use the personal stories of his loyal brother-in-arms: Mantis, Viper, Tigress, Monkey, and Crane. What are the secrets of the Furious Five?—Nick Riganas

Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) instructs Po (Jack Black) on how to teach an introductory Kung Fu lesson to a group of rambunctious bunny children. Shifu warns that this is Po's toughest challenge yet, much more challenging than any other furious monster he has faced in battle. Shifu asks Po not to use the Wuxi finger hold on the kids. He says that each generation has to teach the next, so the art of Kung Fu lives on.

Shifu leaves, and Po is in charge, but none of the bunny kids are listening to Po. Po rings the gong to gain their attention. The bunny kids are only excited to learn the cool Kung Fu moves, so they can fight like the Dragon Warrior.

Po tries to teach the kids that combat is only part of what Kung Fu is about and that its true meaning is "excellence of self". To illustrate his point, he explains the Furious Five's individual backstories, and the basic philosophical concepts that enabled them to be great Kung Fu masters. Po says that it wasn't their fighting abilities that made them amazing, and that each of them had to learn the secrets of Kung Fu before they became the great warriors that they are.

Mantis (Max Koch), as a youth, was a petulantly impatient warrior, prone to jumping to conclusions and making impulsive decisions. The world was too slow for Mantis, and he was too fast. One day a sheep approached Mantis and asked for help to retrieve their wool coats that were stolen by Crocodile Bandits. The sheep tried to give Mantis a map of their lair, but Mantis dismissed it, even though the sheep said that the bandits were notorious for setting traps. Mantis' habits got him captured by crocodile bandits. Mantis was imprisoned in a steel cage, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not free himself. The lengthy wait that Mantis was forced to endure in his prison taught him patience, and he was able to use this to play dead long enough to ambush his captors. With patience, Mantis evolved into an even more fearsome warrior.

The viper clan descended from the mighty dragons. The flames of the dragons were distilled into the viper's powerful venom. Great Master Viper was the greatest viper warrior of his clan. One drop of his venom would kill 15 gorillas and 1 mid-sized crocodile. Viper (Jessica DiCicco), the daughter of Great Master Viper (James Sie), was born without venomous fangs. Her father, who relied on his venomous bite to protect the village, believed that she could never be a warrior like him, causing Viper to grow up shy and timid. The little Viper took up ribbon dancing to make her father smile. Viper blossomed into the best ribbon dancer in the village. One night during the Moon Festival, Great Master Viper encountered a gorilla bandit (John DiMaggio) and broke his fangs on the gorilla's special snake-proof armor. Seeing her father in peril, Viper found the courage to fight the bandit and defeat him with her ribbon dancing skills. Viper realizes that she does not have to bite to be able to fight. Viper tangles the Gorilla Bandit in her ribbons and renders him captive. That night Viper found courage, which is a weapon far more potent than venom.

Crane (David Cross) was the self-deprecating janitor of a Kung Fu academy until star pupil Mei Ling (Stephanie Lemelin) encouraged him to seek enrollment by participating at the upcoming tryouts. Mei had seen glimpses of Crane's skills with the broom when he went about cleaning the academy. Based on Mei's encouragement, Crane started to train for the tryouts every night. Crane's lifelong belief that he was too skinny to be an effective Kung Fu warrior caused him to lose his nerve at the tryouts. To pass the tryouts, the candidates had to pass an obstacle course and grab a red flag at the end of it. However, when he accidentally stumbled into the intense obstacle course to determine eligibility, he discovered the confidence to use his skinniness as an asset and pass the test. Crane gained his confidence back.

Tigress (Tara Strong) was an orphan, and unfairly isolated as a "monster" because of her lack of control of her ferocity and strength. Due to this Tigress was never adopted by a family. She was not like the other fuzzy bunnies and the cute little ducks, and her simple movements caused tremendous damage. Tigress had no idea how strong she was. At the behest of the orphanage staff, Shifu arrived to teach her the discipline that she desperately needed to control her movements, and the other children eventually trusted and befriended her. Despite this breakthrough, no adult would consent to adopt her as they were still very afraid of her, so Shifu took her in as his student and foster daughter.

Monkey (Jaycee Chan) was humiliated in his youth and grew up tormenting his village with pranks as revenge. The villagers asked Monkey to leave, but he refused, so they decided to force him to leave. Many challengers attempted to drive him away, but Monkey would always remove their pants to humiliate them. Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim), who had a shell instead of pants, was able to subdue Monkey, and saved him from being crushed by a column knocked loose in their brawl. Oogway realized that Monkey's rage came from the events in his past, when he was ridiculed by the villagers. Noticing his reaction to being cared about, Oogway told Monkey that he could stay in the village as long as he would show others the compassion that he so greatly desired. Oogway asks Monkey to use his skills for the good of the village.

Shifu returns, anticipating finding a lack of progress, and is surprised to see he has underestimated Po's talents again. When the Bunnies ask Po how his first day of Kung Fu was, Po has a flashback to all the unpleasant events of his first day of Kung Fu training. He smiles confidently and assures them that "it was awesome!".