Is Matt Groening's New Show 'Disenchantment' Any Good? Here's What The Reviews Say
Matt Groening hasn't worked on a new show since "Futurama" premiered in 1999. People will be able to catch the first ten episodes of "Disenchantment," Groening's new animated sitcom set in a fantasy world, on Netflix come August 17th. Years from now, are people going to say things like "'Disenchantment' doesn't get good until…" or "to me, the show is only seasons 3-9" like they do with "The Simpsons"? Does it even make much of a first impression? Here's what the reviews are saying:
A Human, An Elf And A Demon Walk Into A Cartoon…
The series revolves around Bean (Abbi Jacobson), a gambling, booze-chugging, ne'er-do-well princess from a medieval kingdom called Dreamland. (Between the rampant poverty and plague-ridden dead bodies, that name is clearly false advertising.)
When we meet her, she's trying to get out of an arranged marriage to the prince of a nearby kingdom — by any means necessary, including trying to off him by organizing a bachelor party boat trip to siren-infested waters.
[Empire]
Bean meets a couple new buddies. There's Elfo (Nat Faxon), an elf who leaves his species' forest utopia seeking adventure in the human world. And there's a little demon named Luci (Eric Andre), who looks vaguely like a cat plotting the destruction of all humanity. So, like a cat.
It's Sort Of Serialized Yet Sort Of All Over The Place
"Disenchantment" looks a lot like a medieval "Futurama," but it's more accurate to say it falls somewhere in the middle of that series and "The Simpsons." "Futurama" embraced its "Star Trek" parodyness, sending the Planet Express crew off on adventures away from home in more episodes than not. "Disenchantment" typically keeps its plots anchored to its home base, the castle and kingdom of Dreamland, making it feel closer to a conventional sitcom than a "D&D" campaign.
At times, the parodies and satire go in unexpected directions. Plot points that could've easily been dragged out for an entire episode are instead resolved in a single act or the opening minutes before the episode title flashes on the screen. It's more serialized than you might expect, but you can also randomly select an episode without getting too lost.
Even If You Don't Dig The Characters, The Cast Is A+
All four leads nail their characters' idiosyncrasies in ways that make them likable even at their most wicked. Jacobson carries much of the show as the good-natured brat within us all — as close as any animated cartoon has ever come to replicating Bill Watterson's Calvin — while Lucy and Elfo's rivalry forces their actors to break out of one-dimensional, always-good or always-bad performances just often enough to make their performances enjoyably surprising. And DiMaggio plays the role of king like a salty Mets fan — one who just happens to run an entire kingdom's guillotine — and his over-the-top penchant for violence and revenge fits neatly into the show's bizarre proceedings.
While "Disenchantment" has amassed a murderers' row of voice talent, it hasn't quite worked out what to do with any of them yet. Abbi Jacobson, Eric Andre and Matt Berry all have specific anarchic streaks, yet here they all seem slightly constrained by a script that hasn't been tailored to their skillsets. Only John DiMaggio lands with any sense of zeal, perhaps because his King Zøg is exactly as boorish as Bender before him.
It's Only A Bit More Violent Than Most Cable Cartoons
"Disenchantment" does not indulge in any vulgarity, nudity, gratuitous violence, or other FCC-enraging practices. The show still has a bit of a "Netflix-exclusive" edge, as beer flows like wine, sex is regularly hinted at, and limbs get chopped off from time to time. But at worst, this series draws its seediest elements through a decidedly Looney Toons lens.
I'd also like it if the series didn't rely on violence as much as it does, not because I'm bothered by it, but because it's almost never funny. I recognize it's a holdover from "The Simpsons" (Homer gets roughed up a lot), but maybe it's gotten a bit stale (one questions if Homer getting hurt was ever one of "The Simpsons'" strong points in the first place). It certainly feels as though the series falls back on it a little too often.
You Might Find Yourself Waiting A Long Time Between Each Laugh-Out-Loud Moment
As it is, the show's backdrop feels generically grim-historic, all leech jokes and plague jokes, the "Bring out your dead!" scene from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," except as a whole show. The hit rate's low. Some of the castle guards have a band called the Pillage People (grooooan). The band mostly plays at corn exchanges, and Bean says, "Maybe someday you'll play at Cornchella" (GROOOOAN).
The approach is solid, but the writing just isn't quite up to snuff. Jokes are rarely outright bad, but they also usually fall well below hilarious. It can be hard to pinpoint exactly makes comedy work or not, but it's possible some of this can be attributed to the length of the episodes affecting the pacing.
While gags come thick and fast, ones that land successfully are alarmingly less common. It stumbles as it attempts to both set up its characters and race through the plot machinations needed to bring them all together. But it does pick up. With the status quo established, and the characters able to play off each other, the hit rate increases, and by the time Bean is hosting an illicit kegger after poisoning the king to get him out of the castle, the writing has sharpened and the unease faded.
[Empire]
Still, It's Definitely A Groening Show — Time Will Tell If A New One Can Work In 2018
It's recognizably a Matt Groening production, then (right down to the overbites and freeze-frame background signs), although it's not yet the equal of his previous work. But "Futurama" didn't peak until Season 4 — and, groundwork laid, there's good reason to believe it'll keep getting better.
[Empire]
"Disenchantment" upends expectations about fantasy series with its characters, storyline, and politics. But for all of its ingenuity, parts of its storytelling still feel stuck firmly in the past.
TL;DR
The good news is that Groening's new animated Netflix series, "Disenchantment," may grow into itself before long. The bad news is that it isn't there yet.
Watch The Trailer
