I've watched nearly all of Po's adventures and watched his growth from student to master. No matter how cringe-worthy some of the dialogue can get, at least it had it's place.
This latest entry negates all of that. First, he's even worse of a man child, and second, it doesn't really contain any references that have meaning.
I just finished Paws of Destiny and decided to watch this. I regret it.
Anyone that likes this definitely doesn't like Po. In fact, they don't even like Kung Fu Panda. It's a series that takes itself seriously enough when it needs to, but is overall just Po. This should've simply been called "The Dragon Knight", that would've been more acceptable.
Legends of Awesomeness (LoA) is Po as a manchild student. Paws of Destiny (Paws) is manchild turned manchild-master. In many ways, Paws is a completely natural follow-up to LoA. But Dragon Knight? No.
In Dragon Knight, Po has no comedy or class, he's just the butt of all jokes here because he can't bounce anything off miss stoic-English-knight. It's a dreary (currently) 11 episode adventure that has nothing to do with Kung Fu Panda. For starters, he basically loses every fight he's fought. This feels like watching a what-if everything didn't happen, other than stumbling across Panda Village through plot-magic. You'd have more fun watching every single Tigress-focused episode of LoA than this. Yeah, Tigress is the same archetype, except she has more depth.
LoA & Paws have far superior animation and dynamics, especially because they have a large cast with so many things going on at once. Paws even had a nice end-all ending that this new series erases. If you loved the dark undertones of Paws, you'll find none of it here. If you loved the action-adventure-comedy in either, you will not find it here. In fact, this series erases everything.
Spirituality and chi? Gone. Deeper than death? Nope. It simply tries to be serious the whole way. Why is there a gauntlet of mass-destruction as the main part when Po has a literal fingers-of-death attack? He even threatened someone with it and even used it in Paws! Well, turns out the plot involves four weapons that would split the world apart. One of which was just hanging out in the literal middle of nowhere for plot reasons. Come on, make use of the settings that were established; you've got so much to use. Did I also mention, no chi? The enemy gets to use magic and are mages, but Po doesn't get to use his chi.
Episode 9 is more or less, Po didn't want to say a bittersweet good-bye, so to drag on the plot, it'll eventually come to a close with a "I can't believe you lied to me." Really, we've been through this how many times? Now he's back to being a selfish jerk? Really?
Let's talk about scenery; it's boring. Forest, desert, mountains. That nonsensical molten river was off as well. Legends of Awesomeness was limited for numerous reasons, but Paws expanded on the world quite a bit. It also makes sense that, without any form of a central hub, you can't tell all sorts of different stories. If you didn't know, LoA's centered around the Jade Palace and it's surrounding village. That's quite the sandbox for writers, a playground to figure out how to tell many stories in the same sand. This also means more time for characters to bond, including one-off characters. For Paws, it was a mixture of Panda Village and a temple, then wrapped up in the journey to reach the city, which included the seas as well as a volcano. It's got all the necessary generic RPG staples.
And the title? Let this be clear and obvious. The Former Dragon Master will now become Dragon Knight. He's leaving China to enter England (and/or the rest of the world). He said he wants to be a knight, and thus he shall! Do note in said same series, the two main villains for a majority of it are former mages, but there's barely any magic used. Po's thing was that he didn't need a weapon, and would only ever temporarily use them. That kind of will be thrown out the window. Four special godly weapons, and four characters to fit them, I suppose. Episode 11 ends with what we'll see as the main group, but with just four characters... which may be remotely interesting, but probably not. They have next to nothing to do with each other.
With Jack Black replacing Mick, it can be treated as Movie-Po's continuation... at least, if you want to kill off every character.
Let's wrap this overview up with some insight behind the creation of it, courtesy Wikipedia because I don't care enough.
"The concept idea for the series began as a road buddy comedy that takes the viewers all over in pursuit for their goal to try and catch the bad guys. Jack Black had a cool vision for what an epic journey would be, one that fits well from the first Kung Fu Panda film while having a darker, more mature tone with the show versus past chapters also marks how the series is expanding the franchise."
Except it's overall un-funny and the bad guys are dreadfully dull. Ah, yes, the crazy one. Fitting the first movie thematically despite there being two more is backwards thinking, literally. Also, Paws was a lot darker than this drivel! The undertones are there, you just need to look for them. Po literally made a death threat, technically a suicide, a leader dies, a village gets massacred. There are even assassins and eventually a revealed assassination. Really, the entirety of KFP is that we are all students in life, with lessons that can be learned from anyone. As it was once said in a remote village, anyone can be the dragon warrior. Learning from one's past is also a message, one that should've been taken to heart here.
11 years of lore, contradictions or not, in an established setting, thrown away for some generic super Americanized plot. 2008 - 2019, it was a great series. 2022 doesn't exists and Po and co. Can finally rest and take a break.
This just feels like an Americanized mess using China as a temporary backdrop. Rather, you know what this feels like? Anything involving England has the most typical English drama involved. A direct-to-DVD sequel.
This may be salvageable if you watch it without any context, but if you're a fan, it won't sit well.
This latest entry negates all of that. First, he's even worse of a man child, and second, it doesn't really contain any references that have meaning.
I just finished Paws of Destiny and decided to watch this. I regret it.
Anyone that likes this definitely doesn't like Po. In fact, they don't even like Kung Fu Panda. It's a series that takes itself seriously enough when it needs to, but is overall just Po. This should've simply been called "The Dragon Knight", that would've been more acceptable.
Legends of Awesomeness (LoA) is Po as a manchild student. Paws of Destiny (Paws) is manchild turned manchild-master. In many ways, Paws is a completely natural follow-up to LoA. But Dragon Knight? No.
In Dragon Knight, Po has no comedy or class, he's just the butt of all jokes here because he can't bounce anything off miss stoic-English-knight. It's a dreary (currently) 11 episode adventure that has nothing to do with Kung Fu Panda. For starters, he basically loses every fight he's fought. This feels like watching a what-if everything didn't happen, other than stumbling across Panda Village through plot-magic. You'd have more fun watching every single Tigress-focused episode of LoA than this. Yeah, Tigress is the same archetype, except she has more depth.
LoA & Paws have far superior animation and dynamics, especially because they have a large cast with so many things going on at once. Paws even had a nice end-all ending that this new series erases. If you loved the dark undertones of Paws, you'll find none of it here. If you loved the action-adventure-comedy in either, you will not find it here. In fact, this series erases everything.
Spirituality and chi? Gone. Deeper than death? Nope. It simply tries to be serious the whole way. Why is there a gauntlet of mass-destruction as the main part when Po has a literal fingers-of-death attack? He even threatened someone with it and even used it in Paws! Well, turns out the plot involves four weapons that would split the world apart. One of which was just hanging out in the literal middle of nowhere for plot reasons. Come on, make use of the settings that were established; you've got so much to use. Did I also mention, no chi? The enemy gets to use magic and are mages, but Po doesn't get to use his chi.
Episode 9 is more or less, Po didn't want to say a bittersweet good-bye, so to drag on the plot, it'll eventually come to a close with a "I can't believe you lied to me." Really, we've been through this how many times? Now he's back to being a selfish jerk? Really?
Let's talk about scenery; it's boring. Forest, desert, mountains. That nonsensical molten river was off as well. Legends of Awesomeness was limited for numerous reasons, but Paws expanded on the world quite a bit. It also makes sense that, without any form of a central hub, you can't tell all sorts of different stories. If you didn't know, LoA's centered around the Jade Palace and it's surrounding village. That's quite the sandbox for writers, a playground to figure out how to tell many stories in the same sand. This also means more time for characters to bond, including one-off characters. For Paws, it was a mixture of Panda Village and a temple, then wrapped up in the journey to reach the city, which included the seas as well as a volcano. It's got all the necessary generic RPG staples.
And the title? Let this be clear and obvious. The Former Dragon Master will now become Dragon Knight. He's leaving China to enter England (and/or the rest of the world). He said he wants to be a knight, and thus he shall! Do note in said same series, the two main villains for a majority of it are former mages, but there's barely any magic used. Po's thing was that he didn't need a weapon, and would only ever temporarily use them. That kind of will be thrown out the window. Four special godly weapons, and four characters to fit them, I suppose. Episode 11 ends with what we'll see as the main group, but with just four characters... which may be remotely interesting, but probably not. They have next to nothing to do with each other.
With Jack Black replacing Mick, it can be treated as Movie-Po's continuation... at least, if you want to kill off every character.
Let's wrap this overview up with some insight behind the creation of it, courtesy Wikipedia because I don't care enough.
"The concept idea for the series began as a road buddy comedy that takes the viewers all over in pursuit for their goal to try and catch the bad guys. Jack Black had a cool vision for what an epic journey would be, one that fits well from the first Kung Fu Panda film while having a darker, more mature tone with the show versus past chapters also marks how the series is expanding the franchise."
Except it's overall un-funny and the bad guys are dreadfully dull. Ah, yes, the crazy one. Fitting the first movie thematically despite there being two more is backwards thinking, literally. Also, Paws was a lot darker than this drivel! The undertones are there, you just need to look for them. Po literally made a death threat, technically a suicide, a leader dies, a village gets massacred. There are even assassins and eventually a revealed assassination. Really, the entirety of KFP is that we are all students in life, with lessons that can be learned from anyone. As it was once said in a remote village, anyone can be the dragon warrior. Learning from one's past is also a message, one that should've been taken to heart here.
11 years of lore, contradictions or not, in an established setting, thrown away for some generic super Americanized plot. 2008 - 2019, it was a great series. 2022 doesn't exists and Po and co. Can finally rest and take a break.
This just feels like an Americanized mess using China as a temporary backdrop. Rather, you know what this feels like? Anything involving England has the most typical English drama involved. A direct-to-DVD sequel.
This may be salvageable if you watch it without any context, but if you're a fan, it won't sit well.