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Jan. 20, 2005
American Dragon: Jake Long
By Marilyn Moss
Disney Channel In the press materials for its new weekly animated kids' series "American Dragon: Jake Long," the folks at the Walt Disney Co. note that they're cognizant of the "11.9 million U.S. residents who report themselves as partially or entirely Asian" and the "roughly 2.9 million ... who are Chinese." In an effort to pull in a large Asian-American audience, Disney has designed this half-hour series with care. "American Dragon" shows off its teen trappings -- fast action, cute dialogue, angst -- all wrapped in an Asian theme. Unfortunately, originality has gotten lost along the way. The series' hero is Jake Long, a Chinese-American teenager living in urban New York who must cope with the usual problems of fitting in with others, worrying about the opposite sex and doing well in school. As expected, he's got one more issue to deal with: He's the descendent of dragons, Chinese culture's ultimate representation of excellence and the forces of Mother Nature. Being so blessed (depending on your view of things), Jake has responsibilities other kids can't even imagine. Of course, he keeps all this a secret, even though he's called upon to defend the world (well, the city, for starters) against the usual evil foe (a menacing dragon, of course), cope with being trained in ancient ways by his grandfather and try to get his homework in on time. It's formula, but young kids will like it. |
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