Programa de Talentos

Advanced Natural Talent, that's what an ANT is in the world of high school Magic Kingdom style. Some of these kids are stretching the boundaries of what might be talent. One young lady has a photographic memory, another kid makes robots, one is an aspiring gymnast. But our protagonist young Chyna Ann McLain only sings beautifully. All the kids are too young for high school and none of them really fit in, nor do the others try. In fact one of them is Carlon Jeffrey who is Chyna's older brother and he's more of a traditional misfit.

ANT Farm is neither the best or the worst of Disney's juvenile comedy shows. It's like Hannah Montana in that it really only comes alive when a very talented young lady like Miley Cyrus opens up and sings.

When I decided to attempt to give everything on Disney Plus a try, it was the show's like "ANT Farm" that I was particularly concerned about. There appear to be endless, witless, crappy, canned laughter shows like this, that I'm going to have to have a shot at. I watched two episodes before deciding that life was too short, which equates to just over 3% of the shows complete output.

11 year old music prodigy Chyna Parks (China Anne McClain) joins high school early, as part of the advanced natural talents (A.N.T) programme. There she meets Olive (Sierra McCormick) and Fletcher (Jake Short) fellow wunderkind who warn her about the tribulations of the older kids at the school. These include Lexi (Stefanie Scott) the schools head cheerleader who immediately takes against Chyna, but also her older brother Cameron (Carlon Jeffery) who isn't keen about sharing a school with his younger sister.

I am miles away from the target audience for something like "ANT Farm" and had it not been for my stupid quest to watch stuff blind, would never have come across it. Though there's potential in some of the cast ultimately I can't say that I enjoyed it. I'm not going to criticise the kids for their stageschool overacting (any further than just mentioning it there). I'm sure it's what they were told to do and depending on the character performances run from promising to nails down a blackboard. I will throw some shade in the direction of Zach Steel and his character of Gibson, the student councillor. He's spectacularly awful, a gurning unfunny jackass. It's a hugely broad style of comedy, that I'd imagine might appeal to kids of that age. Silly, slapstick style humour that I felt got old pretty quickly. I should say that each of the two episodes I watched, did raise a smile in me at some point though.

I feel like, though I didn't care for "ANT Farm" much I fear that further investigation of shows available on Disney Plus may end up with me looking back fondly on it.

I cannot see how this show even passed the drawing board. I know Disney has had poor taste lately but this just adds to the idea of failure. Basically, the show is a bunch of pre-teens who are in an advanced program set at their local high school. One of them is a musical prodigy even though it is blatantly obvious that she cannot play any of those instruments. The other is a person who can memorize everything they see and hear. That is not exactly likely. The jokes are cheesy and overdone. I cannot see that plan even passing in the real world. Where do you get enough geniuses to create this program? The acting is lousy and very overly dramatic. Just skip A.N.T. Farm.

It's cute, silly and a bit of fun. Although it will never win any awards it still has it's charm. The characters may be a little weird and out there but they are entertaining in their own ways. China Anne McClain is certainly the star of the show and has great potential. The occasional catchy fun song is thrown in from time to time which also adds to the likability of the show. While it is not superb television it will entertain you.

There are good episodes and bad ones and luckily they ended the show on a high before it dragged out too long. It is great for kids, not so much for people with short attention spans but it really is not that bad.

As much as I did grow up on Disney, I do dislike most of the stuff on the Disney Channel nowadays. I do like very much Sonny with a Chance, Good Luck Charlie and Phineas and Ferb, but there are some like Hannah Montana and Shake it Up that I can't stand, I find those shows irritating and unfunny.

I actually wasn't expecting much from A.N.T Farm, but got far more than I expected and in a good way. I can understand though why some mayn't like A.N.T. Farm, some of it is cheesy(with a rather edgy reference to Satan at one point) and the pilot episode is not as funny or as exciting as the other episodes(the haunted locker episode was one of the better episodes).

That said, I do think A.N.T. Farm has potential to grow. A lot of TV series when they first start are rocky to start with, and get better until they're great. Although A.N.T. Farm has only just started, it's not bad, in fact I like it.

For instance, the production values are well above average, with trendy fashions, sets that don't look tacky and good(if not award-worthy) photography. The music is also very memorable and catchy, with nice melodies and lyrics that make sense and are intelligible.

The writing is amusing mostly, some of it is cheesy, but the dialogue does make me laugh and the jokes are not as clichéd or as stale as they can be on some Disney Channel shows. The story lines may have some predictable moments, but overall they're interesting and well paced.

I personally really like the characters. Chyna is very charismatic and fun, and the actress who plays her seems to be having a ball playing her, but my favourites are Lexi and Olive, played very appealingly by Stefanie Scott and Sierra McCormick. Paisley, Gibson and especially Fletcher are also fun characters. The actors do have chemistry, and I was most surprised by the singing, the lead actress has real talent and could go a long way with a voice like that.

In conclusion, this show to start with is not perfect, but it's far better than expected and has room to grow. 8/10 Bethany Cox