Trivia / Kung Fu Panda 2

• Billing Displacement: Gary Oldman, who voices the villain, is billed right below Dustin Hoffman, whose role is not as big as in the first movie, only having brief appearances in the opening and ending.
• Deleted Scene:
  • Not vital to the plot, but one scene that was cut was an alternate introduction of the protagonists to Masters Croc and Ox. Originally, they were going to all meet at a street fighting ring, but was cut for various reasons. The design of the jail strongly resembles the arena that they were supposed to fight in, and the whole scene was later recycled into the bonus DVD Secrets of the Masters, which talked about Croc, Ox, and Rhino.
  • In one deleted concept referred to in post-production as the Dinner of Deception, Lord Shen would have had Po and the Furious Five over at his palace as honored guests, sitting them down to a feast in their honor, with the ulterior motive of poisoning them as they dined, but through one way or another, Shen's attempts at killing them would have gone wrong. In another concept, Po would have stayed at Shen's palace for the night, along with the Five, and Shen would have been standing over Po's bed, ready to attack.
• Development Gag: There was originally going to be a Master Boar on the Kung Fu Council, but he was ultimately scrapped. His character model appears as a prisoner in Gongmen Jail who cheers after Po's Rousing Speech. His character model is also reused for several boar bandits in Kung Fu Panda Holiday.
• Dueling Movies: The film managed to beat Cars 2 in the box office race when it was critically acclaimed and viewed by some as an Even Better Sequel while Cars managed to break Pixar's critical winning streak and earning a Rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes (it's still the only Pixar movie to be critically panned).
• Irony as She Is Cast: Michelle Yeoh, a talented martial artist, appears in a franchise that revolves around Kung Fu as a Soothsaying goat that never directly takes part in any action scenes.
• Kids' Meal Toy: McDonald's sold a set of eight action figures in their Happy Meals. These consisted of Po and Mantis together, Baby Po, Tigress, Monkey, Viper, Crane, Master Shifu, and Lord Shen. Some regions also received Mr. Ping and Boss Wolf.
• Missing Trailer Scene:
  • In some of the TV Spots, there's a scene where Po is "holding his breath in anticipation", then Tigress tells him finally to breathe. It never happens in the movie.
  • Another trailer moment that doesn't happen in the movie is Shifu telling Po he's received a message. Po thinks it came from the universe, then Shifu says it came from a messenger.
  • A very minor one early in the film where Po attempts an Ass-Kicking Pose when he and the Five land in front of Shen's wolves, only to end up facing the wrong way. In the trailer, Tigress whispers "Po, turn around!" In the film proper, he notices his blunder himself.
  • A third has Po claiming he knows he's not the last panda. Never comes up in the film, but might have been intended as an Easter egg to tease Kung Fu Panda 3, which was in development and released in 2016.
• The Other Darrin: Master Thundering Rhino was voiced by Jonathan Groff in the Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special but is voiced by Victor Garber here.
• Uncredited Role: Charlie Kaufman (of all people) was an uncredited script doctor.
• What Could Have Been:
  • There was time in the plot where a female mantis was going to eat Mantis.
  • Before the movie's release, there was information that pointed out a different backstory for Lord Shen than what was shown: Shen's parents were said to be ashamed of his albino coloring and poor health, so they left him in the care of their advisor, the Soothsayer, who raised him like her own. Traces of this can be seen as Shen is never outright cruel to the Soothsayer, such as how he releases her before the launch of his armada, meaning that he still respects her for showing him love.
  • The Wolf Boss was originally going to be a crow, but the creators thought that would make him too similar to Shen.
  • Lord Shen originally had a secretary-like servant, in the form of a surly-looking female gibbon, who diligently took notes for him and brought him tea. She was cut out of the final movie, and left as a concept art character.
  • The cast was reported to include a character named Master Skunkman, voiced by James Woods, but this character was scrapped for unknown reasons.
• Working Title: First, Kung Fu Panda 2: Panda-monium. Then Kung Fu Panda 2: The Kaboom of Doom. They eventually went with a simple 2 at the end of the original title.

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