Shen's my personal favorite Kung Fu Panda villain, intriguing backstory and motivation paired with Gary Oldman's amazing performance. And of course, his theme is simply extraordinary, personally my favorite villain theme in the Kung Fu Panda movies and one of the best villain themes in either composer's catalogue. There's something so powerful and mighty about Shen's theme, with the Chinese instrumentation not only adding authenticity but showing his regality. He's as powerful as he is elegant and royal, and the music does a great job at being able to showcase his theme in brighter and softer tones. But it's the structure of his main motif/melody that's so captivating; it perfectly portrays all of the regality I've mentioned before, and the power, but also the underlying tragedy and sorrow that plagues his character. At the root of his theme, no matter how loud or happy it sounds, is this lament that looms over his character. And yet somehow, his theme can be elevated to horrifically malevolent levels, with industrialistic percussion and a sweeping orchestra showing his ruthlessnessband cruelty as a harsh juxtaposition to how his theme is otherwise. Not to even mention the other motifs associated with Shen that add to his character; that salacious five note motif underpinning his darker and more mischievous actions, and the various action riffs and motifs that are reused over and over again throughout his action scenes, some culminating in his final, desperate moments of the film in climactic fashion. What more can you say about Shen's theme that isn't evoked through the music? Truly one of my personal favorite villain themes of all time.
* = edited/rearranged

TRACKLIST:
0:00 Face to Face (Part 1)*
0:51 Po Dreams More Peace + Face to Face (Part 1)
0:53 Story of Peacock
2:17 Surrender Palace
2:53 Face to Face (Part 1)
3:24 Face to Face (Part 2)
3:50 Face to Face (Part 1)
4:01 Shen Frees Soothsayer*
5:45 Daddy Issues
7:08 Master Rhino Spars
8:37 Surrender Palace (Rejected Version) + Master Rhino Spars
8:40 Surrender Palace (Rejected Version)
9:03 Daddy Issues*
9:57 Stealth Mode
10:03 Surrender Palace
10:53 The Future is Here
11:02 Face to Face (Part 2)
11:21 Shen Frees Soothsayer
11:51 Story of Peacock
12:36 Shen Frees Soothsayer*
14:43 Stealth Mode
15:07 More Cannons + Stealth Mode
15:10 More Cannons
15:17 Save Kung Fu*
15:31 Daddy Issues + Save Kung Fu
15:33 Daddy Issues*
15:57 Master Rhino Spars
16:33 Stealth Mode
16:50 Shen Frees Soothsayer
17:21 Po Learns the Truth (Part 2)
17:56 Invasion Begins + Po Learns the Truth (Part 2)
18:00 Invasion Begins*
19:28 More Cannons
20:16 Face to Face (Part 2)
20:36 Shen Frees Soothsayer + Face to Face (Part 2)
20:39 Zen Ball Master*
21:14 Daddy Issues
21:20 Po Defeats Shen / Reunion*

℗ 2011 Dreamworks Animation LLC, under exclusive license to Sony Classical, a division of Sony Music Entertainment

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