Hinter der Gartenmauer

This series, without a doubt, is a treasure of animation. Never once has a series or movie ever gotten me so interested. It isn't too long, it perfectly runs its course, unlike other fantastic shows like Adventure Time or Regular Show that can be hard to keep up with. Ten episodes, each about ten minutes, giving practically a feature- length movie that is certainly going to strike you as wonderful. Elijah Wood gives an amazing and realistic depiction of the average modern teen, and Greg provides the comical child-like wonder that we all could relate to our past as kids. Lessons in trust, family, friends, love, and honor perfectly blend with the simplistic yet entrancing artwork, and not since Gravity Falls has a cartoon ever amazed me with its genius concept and plot devices. The series is short and wonderful, and it needs more exploitation. And just as I was growing worried for animation on television like Clarence or Uncle Grandpa which leave little to be desired. If you like the creativity of Regular Show, the quirkiness of Adventure Time, and the art of Steven Universe, coupled with the humor of Amazing World of Gumball, this is without a doubt the best animated creation that has been put out in decades.

In May 2014, Stuart Snyder, the man responsible for single-handedly destroying Toonami, bringing in live-action schlock to CARTOON Network, establishing the "NO GIRLS ALLOWED"* policy for cartoons, declaring that boys only like comedy (as a member of that demographic, I can assure you that such a statement is completely asinine), and ultimately killing every good show the network made resigned as the President of the Network. And oh what glorious day it was.

If Cartoon Network made this series as an apology for the sins of Snyder, then it succeeded. This series is dark, atmospheric, weird and pretty scary at times. It's not bright, it's not dumbed-down, it doesn't hold back on the creep factor, especially for Tim Curry's character, Auntie Whispers, and it takes its audience seriously. And even though the cast has a lot of celebrity actors (aside from Tim Curry, they also got Christopher Lloyd and cast Elijah Wood as one of the two main leads), they got them because they knew these guys were perfect for the roles. The story is revealed a snippet at a time and from what little I've gathered from the two episodes it strikes me as being just as dark as the setting and atmosphere.

Oh, and just to put icing on the cake, they stuck the old Cartoon Network Studios animated logo on to the end of it like they used to for shows like Samurai Jack and Power Puff Girls, followed by the classic Cartoon Network logo with the Cartoon Cartoons theme dubbed over it.

They're back, and this is only the beginning of what I hope is another era akin to that of the late-90s/early-2000s.

*IMDb does not allow me to spell the word "GIRLS" with a backwards "R". Please pretend that it did.

I recommend Over the Garden Wall to kids, teens, and adults, (maybe a little scary for tiny tots) looking for a super fun, aesthetically-pleasing fairy-tale-Halloween mystery. The unique characters are likable and break a lot of cookie-cutter-character clichés. The atmosphere is dark and eerie while humorous and exciting. Each episode contains its own cool twist, and the series overall contains several bigger twists. I don't wanna drop any spoilers but there's lots of super awesome twists. You will love it! It's wonderful! I want to watch it again right now. I also recommend watching all ten episodes in one sitting like a movie.

What can I say about this show? It has to be expirienced to grasp it, because of all these interesting characters which appear in the different episodes.

The main characters Wirt and Greg make up this pair of brothers of which Wirt is an insecure but straight one and Greg is a goofball with high spirits. Even though both serve a purpose in the series I kind of hated Greg most of the time, because the goofball role came of not as comedic but just stupid like a no-brain moron most of the time, but he gets better over time.

We encounter many interesting characters and scenarios through the episodes on their journey through the forest. Creepy stuff happens and they somehow solve it.

An unsetteling feeling hangs over every episode and the gorgeous backgrounds are made with great attention to detail to suit every feeling we're supposed to feel and that is the core purpose of art! One of the highlights of this mini-series.

Worth watching for everyone who enjoys well crafted animation and fairy-tales.

From the first second the dark and enchanting atmosphere pulls you right in. Greg's fearlessness and Wirt's worries, their love for each other creates a wonderful dynamic. Maybe it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I'd advise you to give it a try. Ten 10-12 minutes episodes, it takes about 2 hours to finish the whole series. Watching it like a film is reccomended.