Why the Kung Fu Panda soundtracks sound so ICONIC

3:29 The Big Boss section got copyright claimed and muted. sorry!

Dang it! It's so hard to focus on the cool elements of Kung fu Scores you're breaking down when Sifu Po is on screen kicking but. 😭

the chinese style giant steps 😭😭 caught me so off guard

Fun fact: Traditional Chinese music uses pentatonic music as CENTER. So actually we still have, sometimes, sixth and seventh note in a scale (not just talking about fast runs, but like (sometimes) legit semiquaver of 6th/7th note, with semitone distance mostly). We also change modality, especially in folk songs of central regions of China, like from set of C-D-E-G-A to C-Eb-F-G-Bb (ofc, this is from Westerner's view, in fact it's more of a habit to give variety, thus not really an accurate pitch).

That giant steps bit was incredibly funny to me and idk why

Kung fu panda 2 is absolutely amazing we need more bird villains frfr

"in recent years", I had to look it up– Megamind was nearly FOURTEEN years ago! HOW?!?

I want to mention a particular motif that I'd argue is the most underrated motif in the franchise. I call it "The Dragon Warrior Motif". It appears once in the first movie, specifically when Master Shifu retrieves the Dragon Scroll. It appears twice in the second movie, the first being when Shifu introduces Po to the concept of Inner Peace, and the second being when Po begins to find Inner Peace by confronting his past. It appears three times in the third movie. The first is when Shifu introduces Po to Chi, similar to what transpired in the second movie when the motif first appeared. The second and third times both appear in the final battle with Kai in the Spirit Realm. It is used when Po forms the Chi Dragon and when Po gives Kai his Chi, resulting in Kai being overloaded and exploding (the latter is my favourite use of this motif in the franchise). By examining when this motif is used, you'll notice that it appears during important steps in Po's journey of mastering himself and fully becoming the Dragon Warrior. Getting the Dragon Scroll is imperative to Po learning to accept himself as he is, thus mastering his physical aspect. Shifu introducing Po to Inner Peace and Po later using what Shifu showed him to find Inner Peace are how Po masters his mental aspect. Shifu introducing Po to Chi and Po achieving mastery of self, thus mastering Chi, are how Po masters his spiritual aspect. The final instance of this motif signifies the completion of the Dragon Warrior prophecy through the defeat of Kai (since Oogway banished Kai 500 years ago and Shifu states that the Dragon Warrior prophecy is 500 years old in the third movie, it can be inferred that the creation of the Dragon Warrior prophecy is connected to defeating Kai when he inevitably returned).

Wait a second, this isn’t Over the Hedge… Great vid as always

You have no idea how hard i laughed at the GIANT STEPS REFERENCE.

Far too often, people just give sole credit to Hans Zimmer for all of these scores. John Powell, Lorne Balfe, Steve Mazzaro and all of the other writers are just as much architect

19:45 HAHAHAHAAHAHA oh my goddd XD That caught me so off guard.

Kung Fu Panda has such an amount of leitmotif that even I discovered it throughout the series’s installments.

Fun fact: Lorne Balfe also did the extremely underrated soundtracks for the Skylanders games, and Hans Zimmer composed the main theme of the first game, spyro's adventure. Theres even a lietmotif for each element, so I'd highly reccommend that you check it out!

That Crazy Train Cover that Hans Zimmer made that isnt connected to any movie at all its cool af though

was that guzheng playing walking bass on giant steps

7:07 love the minor “3nd” : )

4:45, 8:27 14:48 I love hearing the sprinkles of joy in your voice. Hearing and seeing people even just tickled by something they like is such a heartwarming thing.

24:01 I SEE YOU, SANS

EVERYBODY WANTS KUNG-FU FIGHTING 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🗣️🗣️🗣️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥