I’ve been catching the Hulu streaming releases of the Nickelodeon’s series Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, and as huge fan of the Kung Fu Panda movies, I have not been disappointed. I was wary at first, thinking the TV series based on the successful movies was going to be a sad, watered down version of the originals. In fact, I rather enjoy these short episodes more than the second installment movie of the franchise, which kind of got a little too serious here and there and killed the fun mood of it all. The TV series maintains that off-beat humor that characterized the first movie, and does a great job of drawing inspiration from Chinese history, language, and culture while at the same time not taking itself too seriously.
One of the aspects I love so much about this franchise and that is so well done in the series is the ability to re-imagine an ancient heritage in a way that honors the old but connects it to a modern sensibility. I guess Disney’s Mulan comes to mind as a piece that just didn’t quite integrate the new and the old in a smooth way and just came off overall as an awkward movie. Or maybe nothing can beat a panda that knows kung fu. I mean seriously, who’s wicked genius idea was that? Brilliant.
