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Becoming a fan of the Kung fu panda franchise took me some time. But I watched the first movie a few years after it came out and was very pleased with it, so with its sequel. When then watching the tv series I was a little suspicious at first, mostly because of the animation. Watched a few episodes first, then a "pause", then catching up with it again. And at that point I felt OMG, this show is better than I remembered!! :D
Yes, the animation isnt as good as the movies, but it doesn't look terrible either. The sunshine in the areas is the thing that makes it feel most nice to look at. And we just have to take for what it is when it's a TV show based on a big cinematic movie.
The characters are coming back in a very nice way too.Their personalities may be played around a little, but its not that it ruins the story or anything. In fact, some of them needs a little funny boost in their life; for example Shifu with his mostly complicated sides in the movie. ; )
And the way Po grows into his role as the dragon warrior feels like a very nice build up for the third movie. The new characters are really nice too (some of them appearing more than once). Some of them are these very predictable villains while others can be very threatening as the shows progress. The new non villainous characters are also very well made. They have some really nice mysterious sides and have some great interesting connections to our main characters.
The stories are really great too! The first episodes may seem very predictable, but I think it changes very quickly. To me it feels like they really want to flesh out the characters, giving them some really deep backstories, one of my favourites being the one with Shifu's father. It gives you a picture of Shifu's past and how he came to the Jade palace and his bond with Oogway. They also aren't afraid to put in some drama between the characters, when it comes to something that means a lot to them. For example there's an episode where Oogway seems to be back and Shifu wonders why he wants to talk more to Po than to him, since they stood each other so close. It's actually a really interesting occasion that creates extra deep and shows the kids some great morals about having confidence yet respect each other. I'm not saying every episode are like this, but they are certainly putting in some effort to give it some fun and action and to teach the kids some valuable life lessons. I also like how they manage to give it an epic an mystical feeling thanks to the backstories, this world's own legends and with the use of some 2d animation to these clips. I'm also thankful to how they at some point give us some sense of the timeline , so we can feel what takes place after the first or second movie.
The kung fu action scenes might not have that much of deeper meaning or dramatic like it had in the movie, but it's still passable enough for a family friendly kids show.
I am a HUGE fan of the Kung fu panda franchise today and I'm so happy I gave it a chance! And overall I think this show is one of the better shows based on a movie. Its not perfect I know, but Ive seen a lot worse than this! It has a great balance between humour, seriousness and excitement. You shouldn't let the animation fool you, or else you don't know what you're missing! I think this a great show for any Kung fu Panda fan, young or old! While it has a lot of humour it doesnt close its eyes for its potential to make it exciting and fleshing out the characters! You can really tell that with what they had they really tried and wanted to create something that continues the story in a fair way. And to me it's a perfect, exciting, fun and lovely family show!
score 10/10
annaberg-26467 10 March 2019
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4714325/ |
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22-11-2019 08:13:04
