Cartoon Network were responsible for some great childhood favourites that I still hold with fondness today(i.e. Dexter's Laboratory), but they have gone downhill in recent years, with some strong hits(i.e. Young Justice) and also some even stronger misses. Of which, along with Johnny Test and Uncle Grandpa, The Problem Solverz is one of the worst.
The animation and the writing are my two biggest issues with The Problem Solverz. Regarding the animation, the colours in this show are so bright and garish, and never with any shades or subtlety, that it was truly nauseating, while the characters are hideous especially Horace, the backgrounds are incredibly sloppy and haphazard-looking in detail and the overuse of flash is further assault on the senses(as horrible as this sounds epileptics, speaking as one, should beware watching this show). The writing is all over the place, with crude unfunny humour that is far too heavy on the toilet humour, and it all feels obnoxiously stupid, uncomfortably awkward(it probably was always meant to be awkward, but to this degree?) and random. It's constantly low on wit, emotions are always forced and like Uncle Grandpa it's weird and bizarre but not always with much reason to be. Target audience is constantly in question, because The Problem Solverz's constantly chaotic feel will see kids finding it too hard to take, and that it's embarrassingly juvenile and lacks any kind of edge or smart writing will irritate adults.
Don't expect better from the story lines either, the episodes are not that long- less than a quarter of an hour each- but judging from how thin and leading-to-nowhere the story lines are in execution they already feel stretched, as well as incredibly contrived, predictable and rushed. If you are looking for any fun or emotional resonance either, look elsewhere, as neither can be found here, sometimes you are even question what is the point. The characters are impossible to engage with, they are very irritating and act like bumbling idiots, with Alfe's belly-aching making one want to scream shut up at the screen. In no way do they live up to the show's title either, instead of solving problems they often cause them. The music is bombastic, dizzying and forgettable at best and the theme tune while not as annoying as the theme tunes for Johnny Test and Ben 10: Omniverse is certainly not something that will be remembered for a long time either. The voice acting is poor, John DiMaggio tries but Kyle Kaplan and Ben Jones are both obnoxious and dull and talents like George Takei and James Avery are wasted on terrible writing.
Overall, an abomination of a show and one of Cartoon Network's all-time worst. 1/10 Bethany Cox
