Jack Black is back as Po in the Netflix series Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight. This time Po has decided to do a food tour of Japan and stumbles into an adventure with a Knight named Wandering Blade. The two embark on a mission to stop Veruca Dumont and Klaus Dumont from collecting the 4 ancient weapons. These 4 weapons can destroy the world once combined.
Now while this story sounds familiar, it is done in a fresh style that brings a new flavor to the trope. The fact that Po is from Asia and the Wandering Blade is from England makes their interaction all the greater. Po teaches Wandering Blade about his customs while the Wandering Blade introduces Po to new concepts and terms. Seeing them talk about the constellations is a great example of this.
Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight is 11 episodes of adventure and fun. Without giving too much away from the show both characters learn a little something about themselves and the importance of family. In these 11 episodes, we see Po and the Wandering Blade find two of the 4 weapons, and the series ends with a cliffhanger alluding to another season. This series is great for families to watch together and enjoy seeing Po do his thing on the screen again. Families will enjoy this series and the messages within each episode.
We were lucky to attend a roundtable with the Executive Producer, Peter Hastings & Chris Geere who is the voice of Klaus Dumont and starred in This is Us. The interview was great as we got to know more about the process of being Klaus and how a friend thought he was actually wearing a weasel suit. Peter told us about his love of working with James Hong and continuing the adventure of Po. You can see a shorter version of the roundtable below.
You can watch the entire video here. Some of their answers to the questions asked are hilarious!
Final Thoughts: Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight is a great continuation of the world we have already been introduced to in the previous Kung Fu Panda films/shows. This time around we are shown more of the relationship between Po and Mr. Ping and it is beautiful to see this relationship between father and son.
Kid-Friendly: It’s an animated show and follows the same sense of humor as the Kung Fu Panda series. The weasels may be a little too mean for some younger viewers and that might scare them here and there. Other than the weasels, the show has great messages for viewers both young and old.
Violence: There is animated violence in the show. I mean, it’s called Kung Fu Panda, so there will be some fighting in it. The fight scenes are animated in a way that is not too violent but there are plenty of fights throughout the show.
Jack Black returns to KUNG FU PANDA in the new series KUNG FU PANDA: THE DRAGON KNIGHT. When a mysterious pair of weasels set their sights on a collection of four powerful weapons, Po must leave his home to embark on a globe-trotting quest for redemption and justice that finds him partnered up with a no-nonsense English knight named Wandering Blade. Together, these two mismatched warriors set out on an epic adventure to find the magical weapons first and save the world from destruction — and they may even learn a thing or two from each other along the way.