Foster, la maison des amis imaginaires

This reviewer remembers very fondly the times where Cartoon Network was one of her most watched channels as a child, along with Boomerang, like it was only yesterday. With so much pleasure gotten out of watching gems such as 'Dexter's Laboratory', 'Courage the Cowardly Dog', 'Ed, Edd and Eddy', 'The Powerpuff Girls' as well as the Scooby Doo franchise until it aired instead on Boomerang. Those days were long gone after they gradually aired less frequently and then stopped being aired, and when scheduling was in recent years dominated by abominations like 'Johnny Test', 'Uncle Grandpa' and the reboots.

Absolutely loved the premise for 'Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends', one of the most creative ones that Cartoon Network ever did along with 'The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy'. Was a bit unsure of the way it was advertised at first, this is though going from memory, where it didn't come over as very imaginative, but there are plenty of shows out there that are a bit ehh in advertising but turn out to be very good and more. 'Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends' is one of the very good cartoons, in fact most of the time it was a great show and in its best days one of the last properly great ones that Cartoon Network did. One of their all time best? Not quite. Well worth watching? Yes.

It is not a flawless show. It did lose its way around 2007-2008, which was around the time where Cartoon Network became nowhere near as good, where the plots lost freshness and became a little repetitive and some of the humour was too mean spirited and childish.

Do agree as well that the latter episodes went too far in making Bloo a jerk by overdoing the selfishness, cynicism and arrogance, some of it coming too out of the blue and sometimes with not much learnt in terms of mistakes.

However, 'Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends' does a lot right. The animation is great, am not always keen on Flash but along with 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' this is how to do Flash in a vibrant, imaginative and meticulously detailed way. The music has energy and always felt at one with what happens, very catchy theme song too. The voice acting is top notch from all, and apart from reservations with Bloo later on the characters are great. Really loved their well fleshed out, individual personalities that contrast so well with each other. Loved the nice characters Wilt and Eduardo, who were immensely likeable and nice without being passive. Mr Herriman is strict and very funny and Coco is hilarious. Personally had no problem with Cheese and when the show was in its prime Bloo's point of view was understood and his behaviour was understandable. Mac and Frankie are relatable human characters.

The writing is incredibly funny and smart, personally do think there is more than enough for adults as there are actually references throughout that adults are a lot more likely to get and find funny. The concept is such an imaginative one and pre-2007 the storylines were colourful and inventive, admittedly very random and bizarre but that is what childhood imagination is like. In fact, what was so good about 'Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends' throughout its run was how well and truthfully it captured the essence/spirit of childhood imagination.

Overall, very good and often excellent. 8/10.

They get so many emotions out of such a simply drawn character ( bloo ). What a fabulous idea to do a cartoon about our imaginary friends. I think young and older alike will enjoy this toon. I'm almost 50 years old and enjoy this cartoon. The design of the characters, back-rounds and props is wonderful and creative. It's flash animation at it's best. It's whimsy with a touch of reality. I think kids and adults will love it and have turned many a friend on to it. I like cartoons that show kids that your brains count, that when your clever and smart you can achieve anything. I love the music as well. thumbs up for a great new show and congrats on the Emmy nomination.

I recently went back to watch some old kids shows with my girlfriend. I have to say, this show is almost as good now as it was when I was a kid. The humor can be outdated at times, and the first season isn't as good as the rest, but all-in-all, this kids show, much like many of the other Cartoon Network / Nickelodeon Animated shows from the early and mid-2000 holds up well and has a very nostalgic feeling to it.

With all that said, there are some negatives. For starters, Cheese. When he is introduced, he works by himself for one or two episodes. But the show took it a little to far every once in a while, throwing in annoying characters that worked for about five seconds before making me wish they were gone. Luckily, the main characters also would get annoyed with them, so it's not that bad.

Some of the episodes are genially great. Some are hit-or-miss, and some are bad. Most TV shows are like this and you can't escape it.

All-in-all, this is a great kids show with some discreet adult humor sprinkled throughout that makes it much easier for adults to watch this. But with that said, most adults (that I know at least, and millennials) could watch this show no problem without the head- banging annoying goofy over-the-top colorful migraine inducing characters and animation that brand new shows have.

It's kind of funny that a cartoon has never been made with such a simple theme as the Imaginary friend. In the world of Foster's, when kids think up imaginary friends, they become real and can interact with anyone, even adults. But as the kid grows older, they grow tired of their "fake" friends. Or, in the case of Mac, a kind, friendly eight year old, parents and older siblings force him to give up his friend, Bloo. So he takes him to Foster's, where he makes an agreement with the staff to allow Bloo to live there without being adopted out as long as he visits him. The show has some pretty interesting characters, while they are not very original, are voiced and animated so wonderfully, it really doesn't matter. Among them are Madame Foster, (the eccentric, adorable old lady who run's the place), Frankie (her granddaughter), Mr. Herriman (Mdm. Foster's stiff, English imaginary friend), Wilt (an extremely apologetic, helpful friend), Coco (in my opinion, the only annoying part of the show), and Eduardo (the shy, Spanish speaking "monster".) Eduardo is also voiced by Tom Kenny, a truly talented man who has given voices to dozens of animated characters including BNLT SpongeBob and Heffer from Rocko's Modern Life. This show is very funny, no underlying "adult" humor here as far I can tell. My favorite episode is the one with Cheese, Bloo's younger brother. It will have you rolling when he sneers *bunnies*. Beware, though, if you watch this show, I guarantee you will get hooked!

A good show for the whole family to enjoy. Even for adults to enjoy... I think.