(Des)encanto

Season 1 began with an episodic construct that was similar to any fraction of Futurama or The Simpsons. At the eleventh hour, it suddenly gained a multi-episode narrative that finished off with a Game of Thrones-esque cliffhanger, and suddenly it became a strange, if not interesting departure from the formulaic sitcom it made itself out to be.

Season 2 picks up right where they left off, and not only kept the narrative, but proved that it also gained a personality somewhere along the way.

Don't get me wrong, I love the first season. The plots are endearing, it's easy to binge, it's nice to look at, and the world is interesting. Is it Game of Thrones? No. Do I want it to be Game of Thrones? Absolutely no. When I see Futurama in medieval times, I want it to be Futurama in medieval times.

Futurama and The Simpsons are meant to be "soup of the day" shows, and people enjoy that. Some people have enjoyed that for 30 years. It's situational antics and shameless social commentary, and that junk is candy for the eyes and ears of your average viewer, myself included. What makes Disenchantment different from Futurama or the Simpsons (apart from only having 20 episodes so far, and a season-long plot, to boot) however, is the fact that both of those programs don't have a main character that lives to make an important statement.

I love Bean and everything she stands for. She's meant to not only be someone who rocks the proverbial boat (especially given the medieval-fantasy setting of the show), but someone who is pained, confused, complex, strong and often has valid points to make; shes a real person. She's a great character. And while I love how Homer Simpson can have a heart sometimes, I really love how Bean has a heart all of the time. She can be mean and she can make mistakes, but she can also learn, care about things deeply, and throw a punch at someone who wrongs her. I think that's someone that a lot of people secretly wish they could be.

The second season has a lot of heart, made me frustrated a lot, probably ended episodes rather abruptly at times but still managed to be really interesting story-wise, and develops the characters nicely to the point where I want season 3 to premier yesterday.

The animation style is just wonderful. It's like 2D in a 3D world. When you see the clips of the village, you can really see it.

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.

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.

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.