Saturday, March 25, 2017

Cartoon Saturday-The Adventures of Kung Fu Robot

29094001Rays, Jason. The Adventures of Kung Fu Robot
March 28th 2017 by Andrews McMeel Publishing
Copy provided by the publisher

Kung Fu Robot LOVES peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, even if he has to use his nunchuks to make crunchy peanut butter palatable. He generally makes his sandwiches in the kitchen of a worried boy named Marvin, whose mother doesn't really approve of the robot because of the messes he makes. After being stalked by a ninja (whom they call Steve once they capture him), the duo find out that peanut butter and jelly are in danger of being sent to space by Kung Pao Chicken (because they make people happy, and he is a villain who is bothered by that), Marvin and Kung Fu Robot must work together to make sure this doesn't happen. 
Strengths: The colors and graphics are very distinctive, and there's apparently an app that goes along with this. This is goofy fun for readers who like Hilo, Brailler's Galactic Hotdog, and Captain Underpants. 
Weaknesses: Not really much going on except the running around and fighting. This seemed to be on the elementary side of the Pilkey line. I was ridiculously bothered by Kung Fu Robot's disjointed appearance as well as the niggling thought that students probably don't eat pb&j as much as they used to. Plus, I had the theme song to Hong Kong Phooey blaring through my mind, which led me to ponder whether this was culturally insensitive somehow.
What I really think: There's definitely a market for goofy comic book style kung fu robot stories, but I'm not the target demographic!



No comments:

Post a Comment