Back in the Bad Old Days of Television Animation, whenever Hanna-Barbera and their cronies were feeling even more uninspired than usual, they'd trot out a timeworn strategy. First they'd acquire the rights to use the name and likeness (and possibly voice) of a kid-friendly celebrity. Then, they'd shoehorn said celebrity into a formulaic comedy which had little to do with the celebrity's claim to fame but everything to do with the tedious kid-vid formula of the day. Then, they'd plop the workload into the laps of their limited animators, sit back, and watch as the show would fail to be renewed for the next season. By which time, they'd have a virtually identical show (but with a different celebrity) already in the works. The Brady Bunch, the Jackson Five, the Three Stooges, and many others were "treated" to limited animation in the 1970s and 1980s. These shows were quickly produced - and just as quickly forgotten.
No, The Jackie Chan Adventures cannot be placed in the same category as the above-mentioned drek. In fact, Jackie Chan is one of the bright spots of the Kids WB 2000-2001 schedule. It isn't a perfect animated program by any means, but it's far more competently created - and far less exploitative - than most of today's Saturday morning television. It's a good example of entertainment you can trust your children with. I recommend it, and I hope it encourages more people to seek out Jackie Chan entertainment.
Jackie Chan, as perhaps only a handful of people do not know, is an action film hero from Hong Kong. He starred in a series of witty, funny, breath-taking, fast-paced, and incredible films in Asia. These films are the first martial arts entertainment to truly achieve more than just cult status in the West since Bruce Lee's heyday some 30 years ago. In these movies, Chan matches Bruce Lee's superhuman strength and dexterity with a Chaplinesque affinity for pathos and slapstick. He also served an apprenticeship in the low budget Canadian film-making machine of British Columbia (in which downtown Vancouver is supposed to represent every city from Paris to Cleveland). Yes, it's embarassing to see a star of Jackie's caliber acting in films that could have been released by Cannon Films a few years earlier, but at least Jackie was able to establish his name in the West and get some of his films dubbed into English. Most recently, he's become a major Hollywood player, and is creating films closer in spirit to his Hong Kong successes. While more than a thumbnail sketch of Chan's career would be inappropriate for an animation web page, suffice to say that Chan is a truly original talent. At the risk of stretching my credibility, I'm also willing to state that Jackie Chan is every bit the auteur as Woody Allen or Clint Eastwood, and he's earned a far wider audience than both.
So how does the animated Jackie hold up?
You can't hope to top the amazing athleticism of Jackie Chan, even if you're making an animated cartoon. The animators realised this, and chose instead to focus on Jackie's comedy and characterization. As in Jackie's films, Jackie is a good-natured hero who fights villains which are never one-dimensionally evil. In fact, in Jackie's films the villains rarely qualify as evil and are pretty darn likeable. In the series, Jackie is teamed with the ultra-cute Jade, who the press release describes as his 11-year old niece and the focal point of each adventure is an ancient talisman. Each talisman is also sought after by the show's regular villains, a Beagle Boys-style gang called the Dark Hand. Thankfully, despite the press release describing the program as "anime style," there's virtually nothing in the series to make Jackie Chan look like a pale American imitation of anime. Jackie has far more in common with the detailed illustration and fluid animation of Men in Black and Godzilla. The characters are well drawn and posed, and the backgrounds are left deliberately sketchy, with washes of color.
I'm a big fan of the show's graphic design - with one exception. Jackie's cartoon alter ego in Jackie barely resembles his real life counterpart. This is a departure from many animated adaptations of the past, which featured easily recognized caricatures of the star celebrities. Jackie is produced by some of the same people who worked on Men in Black and The Real Ghostbusters, neither of which featured likenesses of the original film's stars. The decision not to make the Toon Jackie look more like the real Jackie is an odd one.
There isn't a lot of online information available about Jackie Chan,and the Kids WB has committed to only 13 episodes for the 2000-2001 season. I sincerely hope that Jackie Chan isn't just a quick buck for the WB, but that it is allowed to continue for a few more seasons. It's a fun, fast-paced show that's clearly more than a few steps above the Saban-produced Power Rangers nonsense that usually gluts the kiddie action market.
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Other NonAnime Reviews Prince of Egypt Review* Gotham Girls Review* Sleeping Beauty Review * Space Jam Review Tex Avery Screwball Classics Review* |
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