Review: Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero ”Where Dragons Dare; Rip-Penn”

 

Spoilers Below

Where Dragons Dare

Penn and the guys head into a world where everyone is dragons. Their mission is for Penn to finish at the top of his class of Dragon Flight School, but must somehow sub due Blaze who is like the Lebron James of being a dragon. Rip wants Blaze to win so he attempts to throw off Penn’s concentration at a karaoke gig where Penn gets all jealous of the new guy wooin’ the girls, so now Penn is determined like crazy to win the competition. Scumbag Rippen tries to interfere in the match up to give Blaze the win, but homie don’t play like that and Penn ends up saving him and knocking Rip out of the sky. The competition becomes a draw, and Larry cuts the rug.

Our Take

Fans of Dreamworks Dragons would be happy to see this high flying affair. Moreover, anyone that is part of the team that produces Archer Vice would blush to see that another series got itself more K-Log than they did. Sean Astin was fantastic as the chauvinistic ‘Blaze’ as he played both a great competitor to Penn as well as a keen ally in the battle against Rippen.

The many Kenny Loggins songs were both a blessing and a curse for the episode. On one hand…it’s Kenny Loggins. But, on the other, there were so many montages that they more or less got in the way and really didn’t serve any purpose to the overall plot.

That said, I dare you not to enjoy yourself when watching Penn Zero. 

Score

9/10

Rip-Penn

Penn accidentally drinks a potion that turns him into a Rippen-monster whenever he loses his temper. Larry shows up, and he’s the first one to test Penn’s patience which causes him to turn into a big hulking Rippen. Rippen wants to stay this way, but laughing turns him back to Penn. To prevent from jeopardizing the mission, Penn stays behind with an annoying Larry while Boone and Sashi head out to get a flower that will prevent Rippen from contaminating the water with more of his monster juice and will turn Penn back to normal for good. Fortunately, a cameo from Penn’s parents with everyone else presenting themselves sets up an intervention that causes Rippen to be turned back to Penn and on to the next mission.

Our Take

Penn Zero’s take on the Incredible Hulk is a lot of fun. I actually think Larry shined more tonight than anyone due to his constant badgering and the fact that he can randomly start a conversation with anymore no matter which side that person is on. However, I wasn’t crazy about the fact that Rippen but no real effort in trying to win out, and instead, showed compassion at the end. A change of pace? Sure, but this show needs convincing villains, too.

Score

8/10