Over the Garden Wall

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.

Over the Garden Wall is a masterpiece. Recently i have been binge watching cartoons to try and find one which i was instantly hooked on. So far i have enjoyed the excellent Cowboy Bebop and other shows such as Rick and Morty and the wonderful Gravity Falls but none yet have been up to the standard that i now have after watching Over the Garden Wall which masterfully tells the tale of two brothers in the land called 'The Unknown' as we see them try and keep up faith that they will ever return home.

Firstly, the characters are truly amazing, Wirt (voiced by Elijah Wood) a sullen boy with low self esteem issues struggles with his overly excitable brother Greg who is always messing up and seeing himself in often worse situations than in the beginning. We also get to meet up with the mysterious cast of characters that this show brings such as Beatrice a bluebird trying to help her family also the mysterious and creepy antagonist the beast who is always seems to be playing at the strings of our heroes trying to make them lose all hope and faith of ever returning home. Each character brings something that we can all relate to and overly helps to form a truly compelling story.

OMG the style of animation. It is fluid, dark and creepy and helps bring the eerie feeling of mystery that is present in every episode. The simplistic character design helps them 'pop' out against the highly detailed and aesthetically pleasing background done in a autumn forest style. Helping to portray the tones as our antagonists wandered through the dark and creepily palpable world. This is assisted by the music which in turn helps to create at some times a light atmosphere but also transforming the world into a eerie and mysterious place which makes you fear for Wirt and Gregory. Also if all of the music in this was put onto an album i would instantly buy it *hint hint Disney* because of how much i was enthralled by the show. One of the factors that attracted me to this was it knew when to end, other shows such as Adventure Time and the Amazing World of Gumball (although being brilliant) seemed to drag on a bit too much. Over the Garden Wall lasting 10 episodes still manages to develop the characters to an extent that i have not seen in other shows whilst still retaining humour and also atmosphere.

Overall, would highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in a cartoon which can entrance you and make you hope for a journey back into The Unknown and in the future I hope for more masterpieces like what i found in Over the Garden Wall.

As I was watching Over the Garden Wall with some friends, I found myself commenting, more than once, how charming this would be/is for kids. It's got anthropomorphic creations (birds and horses and other things that talk, pumpkin-headed farmers, frogs in a band on a river-bank, magical and funny and weird dreams, or a dream, from a child), and yet it has a sophistication to the writing that kids appreciate; one might think that they will only take in the lowest-common denominator - put on whatever, it's fine, it's for kids - but this is smart stuff. This is also really great for adults, the ones at least who can tap a little into their childhood sense of awe, because of the humor and irreverence. Over the Garden Wall is like taking Adventure Time, transferring the other-worldly into early 20th century Americana, folk tales, even some Alice in Wonderland (the structure for me is very Wonderland, especially with a young character getting lost and on a series of episodes), and adding some songs as well that are reflective of the period.

The story follows Wirt and Gregory (Elijah Wood and the young Collin Dean, who has been on Adventure Time a couple of times), brothers who seem to be lost in the woods and are trying to find their way home. Their main adversary appears to be 'The Beast', who is being stalked by the Woodsman (Christopher Lloyd in a wonderful part - you can't always tell if he's good or bad or both). As one can imagine, or hope for, a lot of wild and crazy things happen to these young people, such as the pumpkin farmers (what are they digging for in the farm?), the frogs on the boat (and suddenly there may be some singing from Gregory's frog, who's name always changes), and John Cleese as both the possibly deranged landowner of a spooky mansion and an old woman. Even Tim Curry gets a good character as 'Auntie Whispers', who is 'protecting' her niece, a possessed girl.

The creators of 'Garden Wall' suffuse many scenes with some nightmarish moments, but it's all with a light, absurd touch, and a lot of this is helped immensely by Collin Dean's performance and the writing for the character of Gregory. This is a little kid who has zero filter; he'll say the truth of something no matter what, even if it's a moment (especially if it is) when the smart thing would be to lie or shut up. That's where so much humor comes in - also watch and listen how he sings ever so cheerfully at times - since in many scenes Wert is trying to get by on a fib or a lie or a trick, or doesn't have that sense of boundless optimism. It's one of the most charming acting voices for an animated character in as long as I can remember, and accentuated by the gigantic pupils - made to make him look cute as a button - and head-gear (he's an elephant, after all!)

There's a real sense of play and, equally, danger (the final episode with the Beast, Auntie Curry), and I found myself laughing a lot, but I also found I took this story a little more seriously than I would an Adventure Time or something else with Patrick McHale's name on it. It takes from some folk tales and fairy tales, but it has an identity all its own. It's creepy and weird and adorable and heartfelt, and it carries both the awe and innocence of being a little kid and the disillusionment of being a teenager like Wert. And did I mention the songs are a lot of fun and contribute to the atmosphere? It's like taking in old ragtime songs (some of the time) and giving them an animated, pop-up book feel. It's tremendous, semi-subversive stuff for kids, and a joy for adults.

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.

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, this show, this sweet little mini series, this golden show! I am always looking for good cartoons, in a weird way the shorter the better (short and sweet right). However, most short cartoons were canceled (for example: Clone High or Mission Hill). This is not the case for OTGW, which plays like a movie, 10 episodes multiplied by each episode's 11 minute run time is only 110 minutes (or an hour 50 minutes). Yet what I imagined would simply be some odd Adventure Time show about two brothers in the woods turned out to be so much more.

The animation is sweet, dark and fluid. The backgrounds are very well done, especially because they are of nature. This really helps keep a deep and real feeling throughout the show, as these two simple cartoons are traveling through a dark and dementedly palpable world. Speaking of the world may I mention that it has two great things going for it (and these two things blend well together). One: it takes aspects form the 1700's, 1800's and early 1900's and Two: this fantasy world is American. I'm not some horn tooting nephew of Uncle Sam, but I am proud to see any show or animation really take advantage of 350 odd some years of "American" (Europeans in America) history, music, culture and atmosphere. This can add to the creep factor, but also grows on you. This show feels like it was made by an American Hayao Miyazaki; in the same way HM uses his Japanese culture to heighten the world. The magic and old time world in this show and Hayao's worlds are so familiar in a completely different way. Plus the two have old women with giant heads, spirits, magic, nature, human like frogs, adventure, strong females, and young protagonists in a fairytale environment. The world actually feels like the "Frog and Toad" books I read as a child.

Don't let me forget that this show is also a musical in a sense. As many cartoons do now (I'm looking at you Adventure Time) the characters sing in every episode, accompanied by fantastic music (that matches the various American eras), and I quite enjoy the opening song as well.

The voice acting is superb with Elijah Wood, an actual child (which I appreciate in animation) by the name of Collin Dean, and Melanie Lynesky taking center stage. Yet Christopher Lloyd and many others provide there talents too. The characters themselves are very real and multidimensional. Wirt is one of the best heroes in a long time, with a fantastic arc and a very unsure demeanor, Greg (his brother) is an adorable, optimistic and surprisingly bright boy who lives in his own cute little world, but not so cute that he doesn't also live in the real world, and Beatrice is a sassy, brave and loyal friend. I also like the clean character designs, I mean they're simple but also fluid, fresh and different.

I don't want to spoil any part of the story, but I will say all your questions are answered and everything wraps up beautifully. The episodes are unique but they are all touched upon again, connect, and add to this singular plot. Sometimes you will start somewhere unexpectedly new (or rather without precise context) and this can be disconcerting, yet it does make sense. And more importantly the episode will start somewhere and stay somewhere, 11 minutes never flew by so quickly on a river ferry or a grammar school (the music also contributes to the speed of the episodes). Nod of course to writers: Tom Herpich, Amalia Levari, and Patrick McHale. Also the director Nate Cash (this show also has great directing)

Over the Garden Wall is so great, and I'm writing this right after finishing the show, that's how great it is. It is dark and bizarre at times (not too dark for most children), but it is also a true adventure with lots of light and hope inside bleakness. And it is the perfect blend of real and surreal that fantasy deserves, there's plenty wacko s@#$ but the story and motives aren't wacko. By episode 2 I was definitely hooked, and by episode 6 I was pretty sure it was going to get my 10/10. I had some doubts with episode 8, yet I was won over during the episode and of course with the show's end. An end that perfectly wraps up everything in a neat bow. Episode 9's "surprise" is also so exciting and sets up the tenth to be a sort of finale, but again this is really just a movie, and its so short that there is no fear that one wouldn't finish it and consequently love it.

And that's its beauty and why it is a ten starred masterpiece. Kids movies are very rarely so, long, weird, and have such a unique flow (and all the other great stuff from earlier), children's shows will have extra stories and characters than they often need (and again not have all that stuff from earlier). This is like the "True Detective" of children's animated television shows. And the world, oh my gosh the world, I know I already talked about this but whatever. I've just never seen anything like this, and when you wrap all these great elements together you get a perfect show. I recommend everyone see this show and I will be going back over the Garden Wall very soon, to enjoy it even more...

p.s I forgot to mention it's funny too