American Born Chinese

If Everything Everywhere All At Once and Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings had a baby then it would be this fantastic show! American Born Chinese is based on Gene Luen Yang’s groundbreaking graphic novel that chronicles the trials and tribulations of a regular American teenager whose life is forever changed when he befriends the son of a mythological god. 

Let's get right into what makes this show so good. First off, the story here while familiar is extremely well-told and offers some important messages. Like I said the story is nothing special but it's a beautifully written coming-of-age story. What made it much more interesting for me was the inclusion of Chinese mythology. I love it when shows incorporate any kind of mythology in their story and how they utilize it to their advantage. The eccentric and weird characters that you'll meet here as well as the fun way that the mythology is introduced to you here will put a big smile on your face! While it may seem like a mixed bag, I can assure you that the story is simple yet deep and complex (in a good way!) Furthermore, I absolutely loved that the writers incorporated an important social commentary. They explore racism and discrimination against the Chinese which was important in a show like this. No show is perfect and the show does suffer from a poor ending. In my opinion, the ending was too vague and superficial with little to no meaning which was a bit disappointing. Despite this minor issue I still had a blast with this show due to its highly charismatic characters! 

Surely, these characters couldn't have been brought to life without a great cast. Everyone and I mean everyone here did a phenomenal job. Daniel Wu, Leonard Wu, and Michelle Yeoh were incredible! They stole the show each time they were on screen. Of course, credits should also go to the rest of the cast. Ben Wang, Jimmy Liu, Ke Huy Quan, and Stephanie Hsu were great too. Wang and Liu shared some great chemistry on screen and were fun to see them interact with each other.  You're surely wondering where is the Shang-Chi part in this show. Well, this show has some of the best choreographed and coolest action sequences that I've seen in a long time. I loved how Jimmy Liu incorporated his taekwondo skills into his character's movement. It's fast, it's crazy, and most definitely marvelous! On that thought, I have to mention the excellent CGI. Everything was surprisingly seamless and extremely well-polished. 

Overall, American Born Chinese offers both a compelling story for fans of the Chinese Mythos and a beautiful coming-of-age narrative that will definitely speak for a younger audience.