The New Legends of Monkey

When they’ve outgrown Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles, but you don’t want them watching R-Rated flicks filled with gore and foul language, this is an excellent compromise, and full of pleasant surprises. I’ll get the obvious detractor out of the way: For adults, the acting and script delivery will seem overdone—there isn’t the level of nuance and subtlety we’d expect from a serious show geared towards a grown-up audience. That being said, unlike the linear plot lines and extreme caricatures of childhood shows, there is here just the right amount of complexity in the characters and their allegiances, without making it (forever) ambiguous which “side” is ultimately good or evil, right or wrong. It’s the plot line equivalent of graduating from checkers to the basics of chess. Through the journeys of the protagonist, children can learn a great many life lessons: 1. Bravery and courage are virtues worth pursuing 2. There’s more than one side to every story, and one shouldn’t form alliances until gathering information from multiple sources (There is wisdom in a multitude of counsel; One side seems right, until the other is given a chance to present their case) 3. Virtues and vices can span all persons of all ages appearances: The casting is wonderfully diverse and there are no general correlations between the characters’ physical properties and their moral or ethical alignments (aside from the occasional demon looking like an obviously and supernaturally evil villain). I’m not recommending children be planted in front of the show to binge-watch it without adult inclusion, but it’s one of the most tolerable series’ I’ve found to watch and discuss with my son. I love how the production quality utilizes techniques adult viewers have come to expect, and even the choice of architecture, imagery, accents, and music allows for a wide range of “projections” by viewers into the story line. You get the scent of the ancient orient, but it’s mingled with a wide variety of accents, with European Medieval structure and social culture. It’s actually brilliantly blended, and without promoting any particular controversial agenda—a testimony to profound intentionality on a modern sociocultural level. Keep in mind, it’s intense, scary, and the setting is that of engagement in an epic, ongoing battle between good and evil. But if your kids are old enough to handle that sense of underlying reality, there are few shows as age appropriate and tolerable as this one. I’ve listed it as “10+,” but my 8 year old son who takes martial arts is enthralled, and asking wonderful questions. I might hesitate, however, to recommend that my social, kind-hearted, 9-year old daughter start in on it until she’s older, and even then only if she finds it interesting and entertaining.

Our 3 boys (14,6, and 5) have really enjoyed this show. The action is clean and there is no sex or swearing. Finally something I don’t have to worry about my boys watching.