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Jackie Chan Adventures
Columbia/Tri-Star // Unrated // October 23, 2001
List Price: $19.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
I believe it was last year when I originally heard about the possibility of Jackie Chan having his own cartoon show. While I don't watch much in the way of cartoons myself anymore (aside from "Family Guy" and "The Simpsons"), I thought the idea of Chan's mix of impressive action and good-natured humor would translate well to a younger audience. The end result is a show that, while rather roughly animated, still manages to be quite entertaining - if not as action-heavy as Chan's films.
In this hour-long presentation, Chan plays...Jackie Chan, a famous archelogist who comes across one of a group of powerful and valuable artifacts. Unaware of the demand for possession of this treasure, Jackie soon finds out what bands of criminals are willing to do to get it back. Joined (whether he likes it or not) by niece Jade, the two set out to find the remainder of the talismans before they fall into the hands of their attackers.
While the animation was a bit basic, the writing was certainly better than most of the animated action cartoons that I've seen while browsing through the stations on Saturday morning. While not consistently action-packed, there's certainly a strong enough mix of action and good laughs so that I doubt even children with the slightest attention span will be bored. Even adults familar with Chan's adventures will likely be mildly entertained by this "Indiana Jones"-ish animated adventure. This 63-minute feature does show some fade-outs where episodes likely ended (the back of the disc lists credits for three epsiodes - my guess is that these were pieced together for this feature).
I'd say the show is appropriate for ages seven and up.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Jackie Chan Adventures" is presented in the show's original 1.33:1 full_frame aspect ratio. While not remarkable, I didn't find anything of concern about Columbia/Tristar's transfer, either. Sharpness and detail remained fairly good throughout. While the animation remained basic, the DVD presented these images brightly and crisply.
Colors were bright and vibrant throughout, looking well-saturated and without flaw. In fact, the only problem that I noticed was the occasional hint of shimmer. A nice transfer - probably a little better than broadcast quality. Subtitles are offered in English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Korean, Thai and Portuguese.
SOUND: The show is presented in Stereo. Mainly dialogue and music driven, both elements came through clearly and crisply. The occasional sound effect also sounded realistic and convincing.
MENUS:: A quick animated logo leads into a static main menu.
EXTRAS:: A very short (90 seconds) interview with Chan, who discusses his ways of staying fit and why he decided to do an animated series. Also included are trailers for "3 Ninjas: High Noon", "Karate Kid 2" and "Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles". Oddly, no trailers for Jackie Chan films.
<
Final Thoughts: "Jackie Chan Adventures" is a fun animated effort that kids will probably be entertained by, while adults won't mind watching it with their children. The DVD presented the show with the expected level of audio/video quality, but not a great deal of supplements. Still, the DVD is a fine package considering it should be available at most stores for around $15.00.
I believe it was last year when I originally heard about the possibility of Jackie Chan having his own cartoon show. While I don't watch much in the way of cartoons myself anymore (aside from "Family Guy" and "The Simpsons"), I thought the idea of Chan's mix of impressive action and good-natured humor would translate well to a younger audience. The end result is a show that, while rather roughly animated, still manages to be quite entertaining - if not as action-heavy as Chan's films.
In this hour-long presentation, Chan plays...Jackie Chan, a famous archelogist who comes across one of a group of powerful and valuable artifacts. Unaware of the demand for possession of this treasure, Jackie soon finds out what bands of criminals are willing to do to get it back. Joined (whether he likes it or not) by niece Jade, the two set out to find the remainder of the talismans before they fall into the hands of their attackers.
While the animation was a bit basic, the writing was certainly better than most of the animated action cartoons that I've seen while browsing through the stations on Saturday morning. While not consistently action-packed, there's certainly a strong enough mix of action and good laughs so that I doubt even children with the slightest attention span will be bored. Even adults familar with Chan's adventures will likely be mildly entertained by this "Indiana Jones"-ish animated adventure. This 63-minute feature does show some fade-outs where episodes likely ended (the back of the disc lists credits for three epsiodes - my guess is that these were pieced together for this feature).
I'd say the show is appropriate for ages seven and up.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Jackie Chan Adventures" is presented in the show's original 1.33:1 full_frame aspect ratio. While not remarkable, I didn't find anything of concern about Columbia/Tristar's transfer, either. Sharpness and detail remained fairly good throughout. While the animation remained basic, the DVD presented these images brightly and crisply.
Colors were bright and vibrant throughout, looking well-saturated and without flaw. In fact, the only problem that I noticed was the occasional hint of shimmer. A nice transfer - probably a little better than broadcast quality. Subtitles are offered in English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Korean, Thai and Portuguese.
SOUND: The show is presented in Stereo. Mainly dialogue and music driven, both elements came through clearly and crisply. The occasional sound effect also sounded realistic and convincing.
MENUS:: A quick animated logo leads into a static main menu.
EXTRAS:: A very short (90 seconds) interview with Chan, who discusses his ways of staying fit and why he decided to do an animated series. Also included are trailers for "3 Ninjas: High Noon", "Karate Kid 2" and "Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles". Oddly, no trailers for Jackie Chan films.
<
Final Thoughts: "Jackie Chan Adventures" is a fun animated effort that kids will probably be entertained by, while adults won't mind watching it with their children. The DVD presented the show with the expected level of audio/video quality, but not a great deal of supplements. Still, the DVD is a fine package considering it should be available at most stores for around $15.00.
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