Kung Fu Panda/Awesome

• "There is no charge for awesomeness. Or attractiveness." Oddly, this could be considered a CMOA about CMOAs...

Monkey: We should hang out.
Po: Agreed.

• Tai Lung, the villain of the first film, manages to pull one of these off in his very first scene: after a very long lead-in describing and displaying the many precautions, restraints, and defenses erected to keep him prisoner (in a facility built entirely for him, no less!) and the captain of the guards Tempting Fate by claiming no one could possibly escape, the snow leopard proceeds to do precisely that-- with the aid of a single feather (from a character there to make sure Tai Lung was contained, no less!). Highlights include sweeping said feather into reach with his tail, breaking his manacles free with the aid of the crossbow bolts being fired at him, hurtling said bolts back at their source to kill the guards and give him a means to climb the walls (note also that he didn't throw them back, he kicked them back!), hiding on the underside of the wooden elevator to avoid flaming arrows, literally leaping from one piece of collapsing stonework to another as it's falling into the abyss, and climbing a falling stalactite he'd clung to by his claws alone. Oh, and using the captain's own ammo to blow the doors off. Epic. WIN.
• The fight between the Furious Five and Tai Lung on the bridge.
  • Tai Lung hands the Furious Five their asses in a sling.
  • The Furious Five themselves prove their awesomeness at the rope bridge (even more so when you realize the 5 of them hold their own pretty well against the guy who just beat 200 trained warriors). Especially Tigress.
  • I felt that Mantis was pretty awesome, given that he had to hold the bridge up while everybody else was fighting on it. He may have not managed to play a big part in the whole fight, but come on! He's a mantis! And he held up a bridge with a monkey, a tiger, a snow leopard, a crane (though I guess he can fly...), and a snake! How awesome is that?!
  • Viper pulling the "stop hitting yourself" trick on Tai Lung.
  • And then Crane, beaten up as he is, flies the other four back to Shifu. All at once. By himself.
• Tai Lung's climactic fight with Master Shifu, complete with flaming fists.
• Po's fight with Tai Lung is also full of Awesome. Nowhere is that more evident in that the Panda shows his worthy not simply by defeating the villain physically, but first spiritually by showing he had the Dragon Scroll and its wisdom, which only he understood. With that understanding came the knowledge that the very flaws his peers once sneered at were in fact the special qualities that made him invincible as the Dragon Warrior.
  • Seconded. Everything leading up to that fight was impressive, but still mainly slapstick and tricks using the environment. After he explains what the Dragon Scroll's really about, though, Po takes on Tai Lung on his own terms--this is the same Tai Lung that beat the Furious Five into submission, by the way--and beats him handily.
  • I think Tai Lung hit Po's "release awesome kung fu" pressure point as he was attempting to disarm him...
    • I agree. It's a handy little Shout-Out to Kung Fu Hustle... which also gains a Shout-Out in the form of Po stomping Tai Lung's foot in the ensuing battle.
  • The high point of that fight for me is when Po finishes Tai Lung with The Wuxi finger-hold:

Tai Lung: You're bluffing. You're bluffing! Shifu didn't teach you that!
Po: Nope. I figured it out. Skadoosh!

• Master Oogway gets his CMOA in flashback, where he Takes down a rampaging Tai Lung with a Bullet Time nerve strike pattern. That turtle was apparently blindingly fast to pull that kind of precision multiple nerve strike.
• Po's reaction upon learning the significance of the Pool of Sacred Tears. THAT'S the face of an artist seeing the Sistine Chapel in person, or a musician hearing Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 played to its full potential. This is where all doubts about Po becoming a true Kung Fu master is erased. He loves Kung Fu for the sake of it.
• I'd call this a Crowning Moment of Awesome for Dreamworks animated movies in general; after not liking their output for years, this movie just begins to climb the ladder of awesome when Po says "The warrior did not answer, for his mouth was full."
• The sequel brings more awesome. Want an example? The ending battle is easily equal to the fight with Tai Lung, and involves catching cannon balls.
• Crowning Music of Awesome: Perhaps one of the most cunning score of Hans Zimmer. There's "Hero", "Sacred Pool Of Tears", "Panda Po", " Oogway Ascends", "The Bridge", "Tai Lung Escapes"... One can almost say that the entire score is awesome.
  • Special recognition must go to Tai Lung's Theme (or more accurately the theme for Shifu and Tai Lung). First heard played by Shifu on his flute, it gets continual and awesome renderings throughout "Tai Lung Escapes" and "Shifu vs. Tai Lung", and has a presence in a variety of modes in the final confrontation. Even so, it's highly underused, and deserves a suite of its own.
  • Admit it, you were dancing out of the theater when you heard The Panda Dance!!