Skunk Fu!

Skunk Fu is one of those shows that was imported from British television to America in hopes of gaining an audience. Yet despite an admirable visual style, it's held back by awful writing, unlikable characters, and bad voice acting.

The intro to the show commits the most heinous crime in storytelling: tell don't show. We're told that Dragon once ruled the land but was punished for his arrogance and blames the inhabitants hence his motive to destroy them. The intro is incredibly rushed and makes Dragon less of a fearsome threat and more like a selfish toddler. It also doesn't help that the only hope for saving the land is Skunk for no specified reason besides his name being in the title. I'm envious of the British audience that got a solid rap theme song from Wu Tang Clan's Ghostface Killah as the American version just has the main character repeatedly shout the show's title over generic Chinese action music. This intro unfortunately is more fitting because the rest of the show is just as annoying and repetitive.

This show follows a specific formula for each episode: Skunk does something stupid, his stupidity ignites the conflict and the conflict is resolved with him learning his lesson. If Skunk is meant to be the savoir, the land is better off getting destroyed. Each episode is so reliant on Skunk's stupidity that the episodes are either dull at best or frustrating at worst. In addition to being poorly written, the humor in this show is also severely lacking. Most of the visual gags just don't register because the character animation just feels lifeless. It also doesn't help that it thinks a character being stupid is funny on its own.

Speaking of characters, none off them offer anything to like or relate to. The titular character, Skunk, is an annoying, stupid, irresponsible and impatient kid who never gets better as the series progresses. He's basically Chowder without the self-aware humor, amazing vocal performance, or willingness to learn to make him the least bit likable or entertaining. Panda is nothing more than a grumpy old mentor who's only notable trait is his very forced Chinese accent (more on that later). Rabbit is the tough but dimwitted nincompoop, Pig is the idiot, and the Ninja Monkeys are just a bunch of incompetent goons with the Baboon just barking orders. Then there's Fox, who is the only prominent female character in the show and is the epitome of blatant eye candy. She has no personality, she's not the least bit humorous and her design is curvy and suggestive despite the fact that she's supposed to be a defender of the land and as such it would make much more sense to be bulky and agile. As an animation fan and critic, I'm disappointed she's a one not character; but as a man who supports equal treatment for women, I'm embarrassed (and dare I say insulted) by this character's mere existence.

The voice acting in this show is honestly really really bad. I recognize they put in a valiant effort into their performances but the acting feels so forced and phoney. Jules de Jongh (the voice of Skunk) sounds more like a tomboy than an actual boy and I had to remind myself that Skunk is male in this show. Paul Tylak (the voice of Panda and Rabbit) sounds so off in both his respective roles. Panda doesn't sound the least bit Chinese; he sound like what a naive American thinks a Chinese person souns like. Rabbit sound like what a wimp thinks a machoman sounds like and it's so distracting. Patricia Rodriguez (the voice of Fox) is given so little to work with that she can't even find the right tone for her character. Rob Goodwell (the voice of Dragon) only sounds raspy and never gives the characters any other personality beyond that. And Paul McLoone (the voice of Baboon) doesn't leave much of an impression besides the character having an Australian accent.

This show's only saving grace is the visual anesthetic. The backgrounds are reminiscent of old Chinese paintings and the character designs all look distinct from one another. I also like the lack of lines drawn on each character and visual the intro looked alright. The one problem I have with the visuals though is the actual animation. The character animations feel so lifeless and lack any specific sense of weight to them. I also don't like Rabbit's particular walk cycle where he puffs out his chest and always takes a big step forward. The way it's drawn makes it look like his legs disappear and it's really uncanny.

Unfortunately, Skunk Fu is another one of those forgotten shows that was rightfully forgotten. Despite having a nice color palette and decent backgrounds, the writing is atrociously formulaic, the characters are unlikable, the voice acting isn't good and the actual animation feels so lifeless. It's too bad because this show could've been great, especially when Kung Fu Panda was released around that time and action shows with anthropomorphic animals is always popular. That said though, it's best to avoid this and just stick to Kung Fu Panda.