Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness Season 2 Episode 15 The Midnight Stranger preview fter having seen the first two Kung Fu Panda films, I became hyped and
was anticipated to watch this TV show. Then, after hearing the catchy
theme song, I was totally blown away.
The stories in each episode are very creative with moral lessons to educate the young. I'm OK with not using the same villains from the first two films and I think I find the Croc bandit (whose name happens to be Fong) and Taotie to be the right choices for the villains of the show.
The CGI animation is cute and lovely with the same detailed backgrounds of the Valley of Peace and the Jade Palace along with new places while using the traditional animation in the flashbacks that shows how every single villain Po and the Furious Five face became evil in each episode.
Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness is packed with surprisingly good action and clever comedy thanks to its writing and script. The voice actors, including two of the actors from the first two films Lucy Liu and James Hong (the voices of Viper and Mr. Ping) did extremely well by making the characters likable enough for kids and their families to love.
This show would be recommended to fans of the movies as one of the greatest TV shows from Nickelodeon since Spongebob Squarepants (which went downhill in 2006), The Fairly Oddparents (which also went downhill in 2008) and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
One had to figure there would be a television show based on "Kung Fu Panda", where anthropomorphic animals use martial arts movies in a fantastical version of China. It took longer than expected (even longer than the studio intended) but it eventually happened. And it's rather uneven.
Yes, the animation isn't as good as in the movies. But that's to be expected. Anyone who thought a show with a TV budget would match the quality of a movie with a lot more money and time to burn was being quite foolish and little snobbish.
The real problem is with writing and characterization. It's kinda hard to watch Po here after KFP2. The smarter, more mature, more confident, team player seen at the end of that movie is largely absent. What we often have is the hyper-active, fan-boyish, impetuous manchild from the early scenes of the first movie. It's made even worse by the fact he constantly screws up in order to learn (and teach the kids watching) a lesson. Though things seem to be improving as the show progresses.
The Furious Five aren't handled well either. One has to wonder if KFP's creators ever intended to flesh them out in the first place. I can understand them not getting much development in the movies, but the show also doesn't give them much depth. Sometimes one of them will get the spotlight and even some depth, but a lot of the time the writers either have them out of the way or have them get their tails kicked.
However, it's still fairly entertaining. The characters have a lot of personality and there is some really fun & funny dialog. Most of the voice cast does a good job of sounding like their big screen counterparts. And like the movies, it features fun, inventive action scenes featuring impressive martial arts moves. The show makes things interesting by peppering events with martial arts super moves, powerful weapons, and even magic items and spells.
It also benefits from a colorful rogues gallery of silly and over-the-top villains that threaten the Valley of Peace like Fung, the short-fused leader of a gang of inept crocodile bandits, and Temutai, a huge water buffalo who overdramatically shouts every word. My favorite is Taotie, a warthog who uses machines that could be described as "woodpunk" (even more primitive than steampunk). Not only is he delightfully megalomanical, but the dialog between him and his nonchalant son is a hoot ("Can we please destroy the Furious Five and save the family bickering for later?" "I don't know. CAN we?") So while not as good as the movies, it can pretty entertaining. And things actually seem to be getting better as it goes along
The stories in each episode are very creative with moral lessons to educate the young. I'm OK with not using the same villains from the first two films and I think I find the Croc bandit (whose name happens to be Fong) and Taotie to be the right choices for the villains of the show.
The CGI animation is cute and lovely with the same detailed backgrounds of the Valley of Peace and the Jade Palace along with new places while using the traditional animation in the flashbacks that shows how every single villain Po and the Furious Five face became evil in each episode.
Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness is packed with surprisingly good action and clever comedy thanks to its writing and script. The voice actors, including two of the actors from the first two films Lucy Liu and James Hong (the voices of Viper and Mr. Ping) did extremely well by making the characters likable enough for kids and their families to love.
This show would be recommended to fans of the movies as one of the greatest TV shows from Nickelodeon since Spongebob Squarepants (which went downhill in 2006), The Fairly Oddparents (which also went downhill in 2008) and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
One had to figure there would be a television show based on "Kung Fu Panda", where anthropomorphic animals use martial arts movies in a fantastical version of China. It took longer than expected (even longer than the studio intended) but it eventually happened. And it's rather uneven.
Yes, the animation isn't as good as in the movies. But that's to be expected. Anyone who thought a show with a TV budget would match the quality of a movie with a lot more money and time to burn was being quite foolish and little snobbish.
The real problem is with writing and characterization. It's kinda hard to watch Po here after KFP2. The smarter, more mature, more confident, team player seen at the end of that movie is largely absent. What we often have is the hyper-active, fan-boyish, impetuous manchild from the early scenes of the first movie. It's made even worse by the fact he constantly screws up in order to learn (and teach the kids watching) a lesson. Though things seem to be improving as the show progresses.
The Furious Five aren't handled well either. One has to wonder if KFP's creators ever intended to flesh them out in the first place. I can understand them not getting much development in the movies, but the show also doesn't give them much depth. Sometimes one of them will get the spotlight and even some depth, but a lot of the time the writers either have them out of the way or have them get their tails kicked.
However, it's still fairly entertaining. The characters have a lot of personality and there is some really fun & funny dialog. Most of the voice cast does a good job of sounding like their big screen counterparts. And like the movies, it features fun, inventive action scenes featuring impressive martial arts moves. The show makes things interesting by peppering events with martial arts super moves, powerful weapons, and even magic items and spells.
It also benefits from a colorful rogues gallery of silly and over-the-top villains that threaten the Valley of Peace like Fung, the short-fused leader of a gang of inept crocodile bandits, and Temutai, a huge water buffalo who overdramatically shouts every word. My favorite is Taotie, a warthog who uses machines that could be described as "woodpunk" (even more primitive than steampunk). Not only is he delightfully megalomanical, but the dialog between him and his nonchalant son is a hoot ("Can we please destroy the Furious Five and save the family bickering for later?" "I don't know. CAN we?") So while not as good as the movies, it can pretty entertaining. And things actually seem to be getting better as it goes along
