WOLF KING: Episodes 1.1-1.3

Name: WOLF KING: Episodes 1.1-1.3
Item: WOLF KING: Episodes 1.1-1.3
Author: Review

"A Beastly Beginning."

Family Content: -1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

The first three episodes of WOLF KING on Netflix introduce Drew, a commoner who discovers he’s the last in a long line of powerful shapeshifting warriors. Drew leaves home and runs, searching for answers about his new dark powers. Along the way, he encounters monsters, other were-lords, and powerful enemies in the form of the Lion monarchy. Can Drew find his place in this dangerous, embattled world, or will he be hunted to extinction?

Although WOLF KING has some moral elements, such as celebrating loyalty and defending the innocent, it also favors a humanist worldview, and characters get out of problems based on their own inner power or talent. To make matters worse, most adult characters who aren’t cruel or villainous are either killed, tricked, or act in cowardice instead of setting any ultimately helpful examples for the heroic child characters. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children.

Content:

(H, Pa, VV, M

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Humanist worldview exemplified by characters who generally live or die by the answers within themselves, casting a negative light on adults and authority figures who are unhelpful and cruel to the underage main characters, some internationalist elements when the main characters are describing the ideal future, some moral elements such as defense of the innocent and loyalty;

Foul Language:

No foul language;

Violence:

Frequent scenes of moderate violence where visible blood and gore are technically hidden, but characters are stabbed, hit with arrows, and murdered in cold blood onscreen;

Sex:

No sex;

Nudity:

No nudity;

Alcohol Use:

No alcohol;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

None; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Some bullying, abuse of students by teachers, cruelty, torture, betrayal, deception, disregard for authority and disobedience to parents, jealousy, some pagan elements including the use and teaching of dark magic, and a group of villainous characters who are said to worship spiders as gods.

More Detail:

Netflix’s first Season of WOLF KING is about Drew, a commoner who discovers he has powerful shapeshifting abilities. In the first three episodes, Drew must flee his home and learn how to control the beast within. In Episode One of the first Season, Drew discovers his new powers and flees to find help in the neighboring realm of a new ally named Whitley; instead, he is subdued and captured by her father.

In Episode Two, Whitley struggles to keep an imprisoned Drew out of danger when the wicked Prince Lucas and other visiting nobles enter her family’s territory. In Episode Three, Drew learns more about where his abilities came from, but unfortunately, so do the paranoid Prince Lucas and his evil court magician.

The first three episodes of WOLF KING move at breakneck speed, with an interesting setting to explore and a pleasing premise for fans of classic werewolf stories or high fantasy. Unfortunately, the animation is lazy and often hits its highest points when characters are coloring action scenes with intense violence. Emotional moments don’t have enough time to connect with the audience, and the lack of range in expression animating the characters’ faces doesn’t help.

To make matters worse, WOLF KING’s heroes and villains solve all their problems with their unique knowledge or powers. Couple this with no mention of a higher power or even minimum respect shown for any form of authority by the young cast, which elevates a humanist worldview. Despite a few moral elements like the celebration of loyalty, protection of the innocent, and passion for justice, WOLF KING’s first three episodes contain violence, unhelpful or cruel adults, and dark magic elements. Because of this, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children.