(Des)encanto

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!

This series had potential to be unique, and I think in some ways it still maintains that, but overall it doesn't do well in capturing your attention. I do think it has a few redeeming qualities that would make it worthwhile to some viewers.

The show's characters aren't interesting or distinctive, which is what I believe this series misses most.

The episodes tend to have very little conflict. The stakes are typically low as well which make for boring television. Often, the main trio (Bean, Elfo, and Luci) get into something trivial, it resolved, then they're back to square one and ready to repeat it in the next episode. It's all predictable. Each episode started to blend together at about episode 6 in Season 1. I soon realized I was having trouble with episode plots and what the characters were truly doing.

As for comedy purposes, it doesn't garner laughs from me--the comedy it tries to produce isn't particularly funny.

There is some sort of charm the show possesses though. I can't quote put my finger on it exactly, but it makes for a decent show to have on in the background.

I don't think the writers are passionate about the show, unfortunately. It certainly shows in the episodes.

All in all, it's watchable enough.

So it seems like everyone and their mother expected Matt Groening and co to pull off a hat-trick and add a third golden animation series to his resume. It's hard to find a review that doesn't mention or compare it to his earlier work (And inevitably I will do so too). But people are being unfair, illogical and overestimating the current comedy prowess of the veteran crew around Matt.

It makes no sense to compare Disenchantment to the golden age of the Simpsons, which lies more than 2 full decades in the past now. Nor to compare it to Futurama, which has been off the air for years now and that includes the revival, which was mostly build out of archived leftovers from the initial run hence why the revival was still top notch material.

If you want to compare Disenchantment to something compare it to the last few Simpons seasons. Last one I saw was season 24 and that was already an atrocity so I can only imagine what depths they should have reached by now. Point here is: what was anybody still expecting here? that Matt and co would reinvent themselves after they've been unable to do so for years?

Another major point in why a comparison is approaching disenchantment the wrong way is because it's clearly trying to be something different. There's a serialized narrative, a longer format, some mystery to the plot, a new painting-like art style (for backgrounds) and little segments here and there that seem to have a different purpose than straight up comedy, something that supports the idea that Disenchantment might not be intended or at least envisioned as a purely comedic effort.

And herein lies the fatal flaw that impairs Disenchantment. It plays it way too safe. It doesn't fully embrace the new direction and misses on potential opportunities. disenchantment could have been crafted as a full blown adventure series, with a hefty dose of classic Simpsons comedy injected. There's a rule in comedy: the less grounded in reality your fictional creation is the harder you'll have to try to be funny. It's why series like family guy have to go way over the top while things like veep and curb your enthusiasm can keep it simple and still be funny. The idea is that making your comedy series more real creates potential to have impactful emotions beyond just those derivated from comedy. More grounded comedy series can instill for example fear, tension, sadness, melancholy etc. So in my opinion they should have shifted Disenchantment along the comedic spectrum in the opposite direction from where it is has gone now. Could have been something Avatar:TLA alike but with maturer comedy but now it's just Futurama in middle-earth.

Which leaves us with only the comedic aspect as a potential selling point. And by now you've guessed it: it's simply not funny enough. Like another reviewer stated: Disenchantment seems to be content with being just amiable instead of being genuinely funny. I made it to the sixth episode. By then it came clear that there wasn't much novelty to disenchantment in general, they weren't really committed to the concept of serialization and this sixth episode was particularly unfunny.

I'll give you an example of a joke from one of the first scenes of said episode (though it might not translate very well by just typing it out): The 3 main characters Bean, Luci and Elfo are playing a drunken game of guessing who the other is impersonating.

When it's Elfo's turn he simply says: I'm Elfo. Luci reacts: Hmmm, I know this one, (keeps thinking aloud for a few lines), I wanna say Schmelfo? Elfo replies: No! It's me, Elfo!

........sigh.

This sort of comedy level feels like watching one of those many third-rate short-lived stoner comedies on adult swim nobody's heard of or watches. Or like going to an amateur improv comedy night. Rest of the episode was on par, so that was my limit.

In general it's fairly watchable, it doesn't deserve the 1 star rating from people who expected to relive the Simpsons/Futurama golden age and are just rate-bombing in frustration. It get's a 7.3 currently and that seems about right. 7.3 Counts as mediocre on IMdb but in my book average is still 5 logically so it gets a 5. Barely recommendable.

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.