DreamWorks Animation Archives

A Word to the Wise, Kung Fu Panda 4 Marks Po’s Passing of the Torch

The big question I have concerning Kung Fu Panda 4 is whether another streaming series will get developed to fill in the gap while waitiong for the fifth instalment?

Spoiler Alert

Although the story about Po (Jack Black) is not quite at an end in Kung Fu Panda 4, I’m sure the showrunners have something planned as this six-part saga is coming close to ending. While the first film is partially about enlightenment and seeing a Panda as the reluctant hero, this one is ready to put him on the path of becoming like Oogway. It’s unfortunate all the character and world development from the televised series are not canon. I really want to see Nu Hai, Jing, Bao, and Fan Tong from Paws of Destiny again. Although not everyone will know these series are non canonical, it’s easy to spot the discrepancies.

For example, in Dragon Knight, Mr. Ping’s (James Hong) well-developed backstory is all for naught. Had he gone full on pirate, I’m sure he’d ruffle other feathers! Had he been determined, it would’ve surprised Po’s biological father, Pang (Bryan Cranston) and make for hilarious moments. These two stick around to provide the My Two Dads style comic relief.

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Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny Should’ve Been Canon!

Not everyone will be aware of this spinoff series that is exclusive on Amazon Prime. Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny is designed for a youth audience, and it’s just as fun!

Available to Stream on Amazon USA Prime

Out of all the televised spinoffs set in the Kung Fu Panda universe, The Paws of Destiny is a non-canonical spinoff that sees four kids–Nu Hai, Jing, Bao, and Fan Tong–take on the title. It’s deserves to be part of the cinematic universe for other reasons I’ll explain later. This instalment takes place after the events of the third film, where this team has to continue protect their Panda village. After Jindaio, there’ll be other invaders.

Although this review is many years late, it seems what I posted back when it was fresh disappeared; I’ve dug up my draft and updated it with a few new thoughts after a rewatch, and editing this document for flow. As full disclosure: what’s written predates knowing anything regarding part four.

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When DreamWorks Fright Krewe Evokes that Feeling From Rockwell’s Somebody’s Watching Me

Everything you want to know about Vodon’s best heroes but were afraid to ask is answered in Eli Roth’s take on Seint Seiya with Fright Krewe!

Coming Soon to YTV (Canada) and available to stream on Hulu

In addition to that music video, I can’t help but be reminded of Richard A. Hamilton’s graphic novel Fearbook Club after rewatching DreamWorks Fright Krewe for the umteenth time. That’s mostly because the image of kids tackling nasty urban legends around New Orleans is a concept I really dig. And when the lore is done right, I’m returning to it often just to see what else I can pick up on when considering the Vodun religion is quite rich in its imagery and number of loas said to exist!

Creators Eli Roth and James Frey pitched a solid idea which includes explaining the legends and lore which exist around this city. But what’s more important is in how the teens, this series main protagonists, should learn to get along. When there’s loup garous, vampires, ghosts, and other sordid creatures prowling about, these kids better get their act together! While we don’t see much about their supernatural war with humanity, and that’s because peace was established long ago. But as for their pact with certain individuals from this mortal world, it’s tumultuous at best.

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DreamWorks Curses! is more than Familiar with its Friday the 13th TV Series Style Horror Tropes and Vibe!

The educational content that’s offered in this series, puts Curses! above all other past DreamWorks Animated series and in par with Carmen Sandiego.

DreamWorks Animation is still churning out the hits and one series fans may not know of is Curses! That’s because it’s exclusive to Apple TV Plus, and unlike Fright Krewe (review coming soon) which can be found on specialty cartoon networks, I suspect this company wants to keep a firm hold on where it can be seen.

This series is a lot better than the other one because it feels like an animated version of Friday the 13th the TV Series. This piece of 90s television was about cousins searching for cursed objects and if they can’t remove the hex, it gets sealed in a vault. In this cartoon, Pandora (Gabrielle Nevaeh) and Russ (Andre Robinson) have a similar task. However, instead of freeing the objects from their enchantment, if they can find where they were stolen from, the spell can be broken, and hopefully for every item returned, they can free their dad from being a statue!

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When Trolls Band Together, What Can Musically or Chaotically Go Wrong?

Three films in, DreamWorks is out to milk Trolls Band Together for everything they can musically put out, and all I have to ask, when will they sing showtunes?

Spoiler Alert

New musical puns and even more tunes have been Troll-matized in DreamWorks latest. Unlike the last film where fans get to discover various subspecies exist, Trolls Band Together broadens the world so that fans can find just how diverse it is. That is, it’s not entirely populated by these tiny singing Muppets. There’s other species who also love breaking out into song.

Although the Mount Rageons are rather creepy looking, perhaps the character design was intentional. They are either modelled after Gumby or are related to a toy line I never played with. However, I can’t help but think that cackling doll from the movie Poltergeist was an influence! When two of them (conveniently a sibling pair named Velvet and Veneer, played by Amy Schumer and Andrew Rannells) have kidnapped Floyd, one of Branch’s brothers, just so they can steal his mojo, I thought this film is a retread of the original.

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