(Des)encanto

Season 1 of either Futurama or The Simpsons were never considered their best work. Disenchantment does not meet this high mark just yet. Jokes are funny but they are often rather safe and lacks some cleverness. The main characters are well acted by the young talent but Princess Bean, Luci, and Elfo come off as very one note. The Planet Express crew and The Simpson family are well defined characters but these shows had time. While I enjoy the show as a huge fan of Matt Groening, Disenchantment needs time and some thoughtful writing that made Futurama a fan favorite.

With this show being from the creator of "The Simpsons" and "Futurama", I was of course curious enough to give it a watch, and I thought it would be as outrageous and hilarious as those earlier shows. While I didn't think the show was terrible, it is to a degree somewhat disappointing.

First, the good stuff in the show. Technically, the show is first rate, with good animation and art design. The premise and the characters are pretty original, making the show not feel like a clone of any past TV shows. The show is certainly not boring, and is somewhat amusing at times.

However, "somewhat amusing" is about as funny as the show gets. The humor of the show lacks significant comic jabs to make it truly laugh-out-loud funny. The show seems to be content to move along with an amiable attitude instead of really trying to be hilarious. There are other problems with the writing as well. The creators of the show seem to be having difficultly moving from a 22 minute episode format to a longer version; you can really feel some blatant padding at times, especially with the first episode of the show. Also, the show is very slow in explaining details of the characters and situation at times. For example, Bean's half-brother is not clearly identified or given a chance to speak until about halfway through the show's first ten episodes.

This is not a bad show, but currently it's not reaching its full potential. It's possible the writers will manage to improve things should the show be renewed. Until then, I would say give the show a chance by watching the first three episodes. If you like what you see there, you'll probably find the rest of the episodes amusing enough. If not, then I would say skip the other episodes.

This show is not a comedy! It's a story and character driven fantasy show with jokes. And I love it! Every time the focus is on the characters or the story and world, it's awesome!!! Don't treat this show as a comedy, and kind of suffer through most of season 1, still enjoyable, but mostly one offs. This show is fun!

And now I'm waiting for the third season. Its not funny, its not something special but its fun to watch and i really like the animations.

I was once watching someone compare latter day Simpsons to latter day Family Guy and one point they made was that while the Simpsons had fastidiously updated its subject matter year after year, it hadn't update its humor.

And sort of like how Futurama was The Simpsons but based around speculative sociology and the work place instead of the traditional family, this (as I suspect a million and seven people have already suggested) could be considered historical- arama (or something cleverer...).

But it's not quite though. It's mostly that but the Groening mind has turned away from the sitcom (and eventual movie) formula and actually had the ambition to create what was more or less a serial. We are able to see a character grow and develop across the multiple instalments and with the same humor and inventivenss.

It's too bad that at the beginning it is WAY too much like just another animated sitcom. And a bit too much like a couple in particular. I like Tia, she's an intriguing character who has grown up in great politico-economic advantage but lives in immense quiet emotional desperation. I think she's a bit wasted on the first season but it is, thankfully, in the second season as we see the show really discover its own strengths as it finally tells THE story of Tia as the ground-work has now been lain.

Gradually, this goofy (and I mean REALLY goofy at times) show actually shows a lot of tenderness and very meaningful emotional conflict that actually doesn't feel mawkish or schmaltzy because they invested in the characters and made their breakthroughs believable.

King Zog might just be the best character for this reason. I especially loved an episode about him and a bear.

Now Elfo...I think they retooled him the moment they saw the pilot. At first he was cynical and adventure hungry but as soon as he leaves the shire he becomes a sort of SpongeBob parody except even more infantile. I like him and all and I really want him to get laid but they do paint him as the loser quite relentlessly.

The world building is extravagant and satisfying with a few surprises I won't ruin. Let's just say it takes us to a variety of contrasting landscapes and in time really works on a substantial historic background that fuels conflict between a numerous peoples, aesthetically in debt to other artists of course but they make it their own fair enough.

Ultimately this was more of a Saturday Morning show than a Friday night show but as imperfect as it is, I grew to be glad for it.

Edit: I watched the finale the other day. Well...I will save the details for a review for that episode. It's hard to conclude a serial this long in a way that will please everyone. I don't feel insulted but I can't help but feel to a large extent they settled for easy answers.

But seriously, a lot of the jokes are predictable.