The annual winter holiday feast is coming fast so Po, as the dragon warrior, must host it perfectly. Although he struggles a lot and does some typical mistakes (for him), everything goes according to plan, but something doesn't feel right. He omitted his dad, his family, and winter holidays are nothing without family. Right? Will he be able to please both parts and deliver a happy ending? What is there to say about this short movie, Kung Fu Panda at Christmas is all you want to see this time of the year, no doubt about that!

Mr. Ping has nightmare of his son Po leaving him. Shifu asks Po to host the Winter Festival when the Kung Fu masters gather. Po decides to reject the best chefs of the land in favor of his father to spend more time with him. However, his father refuses to leave his customers behind. Wo Hop is rabbit looking to regain his honor by dying while fighting the Dragon Warrior. Po struggles to make the preparations and finds help from the Furious Five.This is a functional family holiday fare. It's got the original cast and the familiar characters. Po learns another lesson and it all ends well. It's not particularly unusual.

Holiday specials are very much hit or miss. Merry Madagascar is remarkably good, the Ice Age special is OK. But this is horrible, but no redeeming features. The story is precisely the sort of crap you expect in the worst such specials --- Po learns a valuable lesson about the importance of family, blah blah --- with absolutely none of the surprise, subversion, or humor that one finds in the better such specials.The animation is likewise derivative, generic, with none of the originality of the movie.Saddest of all was the attempt to pretend that what we are watching is Christmas (as understood by East Coast America --- no snow in LA!) without ever actually saying the word; instead we get vague references to the "Winter Feast".

I love, love, love this. The Kung Fu Panda holiday special is the only really good holiday special I've ever seen. I thought that it was extremely funny and extremely heart-warming. As always, great plot, great moral, great characters. Another perk was the rabbit chef who kept trying to fight Po to the death in order to reclaim his honor. I can't help but feel that without that rabbit the story would have sagged a bit. It's a truly beautiful short about how Po needs to choose between spending the Winter holiday with his Dad, and whether or not to fulfill his duties as the Dragon Warrior. Really touching. It may not be perfect, but it is nonetheless spectacular.