Let's Watch This: An Episode of "The Mr. Peabody and Sherman Show"

NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.

NOTE #2: No disrespect is meant towards anyone who worked on the show I am reviewing today. I'm sure they are all very nice and talented people.

NOTE #3: If you like this show, that is great. Go ahead and like it. I'm not judging you.

All right, I know this is an unpopular opinion, so get ready to type insults in the comments section... I don't like DreamWorks' 2014 Mr. Peabody and Sherman movie.

Do I hate it? No! Do I think it's worth watching at least ONCE? Sure. Are there things I like about it? Of course. But there's a lot that keeps me from being a fan. I've already talked about how little I like Ty Burrell as Mr. Peabody (every time he talked, all I could hear was Phil Dunphy), but my main problem is that it takes itself very seriously, which I'm not sure something based on a segment from Rocky and Bullwinkle should do. You're taking a cartoon about a genius dog and his pet boy traveling through time and helping historical figures and playing it for drama? I don't think that EVER could have worked. Just so we're clear, I'm not saying that the film should be non-stop jokes and zany antics - the George of the Jungle movie is a goofy comedy that doesn't take itself seriously, but it still has heart. Mr. Peabody and Sherman prioritizes emotion over humor. And I'm honestly not sure what Mr. Peabody's character arc in the movie was even supposed to be... is it that he should be more open with affection or less overprotective of Sherman?

But I know a lot of people love the movie. The critics, in particular, were thrilled by it... which didn't stop the film from underperforming at the box office. But DreamWorks wasn't done with Mr. Peabody yet. Like most of DreamWorks' films in the 2010s, it got a Netflix show.

Serving as both a reboot of the original "Peabody's Improbable History" segments and a spin-off of the movie, the show was developed by David P. Smith and premiered on Netflix on October 9th, 2015. Unlike the movie, this show was 2D, with DHX Media providing the animation. Mr. Peabody was now voiced by Chris Parnell, but Max Charles reprised his role as Sherman. Most of the characters created for the movie that weren't in the original segments (Sherman's girlfriend, her parents, the evil social worker) don't show up. Like the original segments, Mr. Peabody and Sherman traveled through time and met historical figures, but now they also hosted a variety show with other historical figures serving as the guests.

Four seasons and a total of fifty-two episodes were produced. The show managed to snag two Annie Awards and a couple of Emmys as well. It has since been removed from Netflix, so if you want to watch it you either need a streaming service called Kidoodle.TV or go to the Internet Archive. I'll be using the latter. I know the chances of me liking a TV show based on a movie I don't like are pretty slim, but I can name several times I've liked a movie but hated the TV show it spawned (see also Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness), so who knows? We're going to watch the third episode of the show. This is The Mr. Peabody and Sherman Show.

The episode starts off with Mr. Peabody and Sherman figure skating. They've invited the father of modern figure skating, Jackson Haines, to judge their routine.

Hey, Sherman, Elton John called. He wants his glasses back.

They do their fancy figure-skating routine, which culminates in Mr. Peabody falling through the ice because Sherman was taking care of his Tamagotchi instead of catching him. Remember the Tamagotchi? I think it's still a thing, but it's not quite as popular nowadays. I guess everyone realized that digital pets aren't as much fun as real pets. Even if digital pets don't poop on your carpet.

I never had a Tamagotchi. I think my older sister had one at some point, but I could
be wrong.

"Sherman, we've been over this. Having a pet is a HUGE responsibility," Mr. Peabody says. Plus, Sherman is already Mr. Peabody's pet... oh, wait, that was the ORIGINAL version of these characters, where the joke was that instead of a boy having a pet dog, it was a dog having a pet boy. The DreamWorks version of Mr. Peabody is Sherman's adopted father. How else would they be able to throw manufactured drama over Mr. Peabody not being a good father in our faces?

Next, it's time for the portion of the show where Mr. Peabody and Sherman actually do the time-traveling. But first, an appearance from Mrs. Hughes, their... secretary or whatever, who emerges from a giant venus flytrap with a portal in it? Yeah, I don't know either.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but could we please go back to the figure skating?

After that, Mr. Peabody tells us via flashback how he and Sherman met the explorer Marco Polo (voiced by Nolan North). You know who Marco Polo is, right? Venetian mechant and explorer, traveled the Silk Road in China, namesake of the popular pool game? THIS version of Marco Polo has a Brooklyn accent for some reason and is wandering around eating food from street vendors. You see, there's a legend that Marco Polo is the guy who brought noodles to Italy from China, so he's the reason we have spaghetti. This, from what I've read, is false - pasta already existed in the Mediterranean before he came around. I suppose I should complain about this show's not being historically accurate, but that seems kind of pointless for a show where a dog can talk and travel through time.

Eugh, those armpit hairs.

Instead of noodles, however, Marco Polo plans on bringing back... bok choy. Y'know, that food that's basically just cabbage. He doesn't even know what a noodle is. So Mr. Peabody and Sherman bring him to the most famous noodle shop in all of China. "Marco Polo don't put nothin' in his face that ain't got a face," Marco Polo claims. Even though about five minutes ago he was talking about how great bok choy is, and bok choy doesn't have a face either.

Will Mr. Peabody and Sherman get Marco Polo to eat noodles? We'll have to find out later, because Mr. Peabody interrupts the flashback to introduce the audience to Charles Darwin. He's brought with him a dodo bird, a quagga, and a woolly mammoth that looks more like Sidney the elephant from Terrytoons (if you don't know who that character is, look it up).

I've heard that scientists are actually trying to bring back the woolly mammoth.
You think they'll ever accomplish that?

Charles Darwin explains that these animals became extinct because they were all dumb as a rock. I'm doubtful. If being incredibly stupid is all it takes for an animal to go extinct, how come humans are still alive? Charles Darwin is also kind of a jerk, because he tosses the dodo into the air just to let it fall on its face (y'know, because he can't just say the dodo can't fly, nobody's gonna believe THE FATHER OF EVOLUTION on that). AND he wheels in an inflatable pool full of hot tar for the woolly mammoth to drown in. Fortunately, Sherman has taken a liking to the mammoth and he advises it not to take a dip. Ha! In your face, Darwin!

Did you know that woolly mammoths used their curved tusks to dig up the ground? Hey,
if I can't be funny, I think I should at least try to be educational.

Sherman begs Mr. Peabody to let him keep the mammoth, but Mr. Peabody says no. For one thing, it's hard to house-train a mammoth and he doesn't want to wake up one morning and find a mountain of crap on the living room rug. But also Mr. Peabody thinks HE'LL be the one walking him and feeding him and getting him chew toys. And those are all things SHERMAN should be doing for HIM. Y'know, since he's a dog.

"I tried, boy! But my... FATHER... doesn't approve of our LOVE!" Sherman tells the mammoth. Mr. Peabody, how could you be so cruel? Separating your son and the enormous prehistoric pachyderm that he's clearly formed a bond with? But Sherman is clever and simply HIDES the mammoth behind the set. And Mr. Peabody doesn't notice the mammoth's trunk peeking out from over the wall. So much for being the world's smartest dog.

I think Mr. Peabody needs new glasses if he can't see the literal elephant in the room.

It isn't until Sherman starts listing pet names that Mr. Peabody notices the mammoth's trunk and reveals the whole thing to the audience. And now, back to the Marco Polo story!

Apparently, Marco Polo's finickyness reminds Mr. Peabody of when Sherman was a baby and wouldn't eat his vegetables. He would simply read him a book about another finicky eater and Sherman would inhale the broccoli. For legal reasons, he can't read the book on this show, so he wrote his own: a parody of Green Eggs and Ham. Long story short, Marco Polo eats the noodles and loves 'em.

"And I will eat them on the go.
And I will eat them in the snow.
And I will eat them 'neath the sky.
And I will eat them in Shanghai.
And I will eat them in Beijing.
They are a most delicious thing!
And I will eat them with a yak.
And I will eat them as a snack.
And I'll eat them with grated cheese.
And with marinara sauce, please.
I'll take them back to Italy!
I like them, Mr. Peabody!"

So they go back to the noodle shop so Marco Polo can get the recipe, but the Chinese stereotype who runs the shop will only give it to them if they compete in three challenges. What are these three challenges? We'll have to find out later, because we cut back to Sherman and Mr. Peabody arguing over the mammoth. Their argument is interrupted by their downstairs neighbor and resident stereotypical sassy black woman, Christine (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), barging in and doing this with her dog:

"The mammoth needs to be in his own environment with the proper climate, the right kind of food, and familiar animals! The Ice Age!" Mr. Peabody says. After all, if they don't return him to the Ice Age, how will Disney be able to continue milking the franchise, even after they shut down the studio that made the films? Why, no, I'm not still bitter about that at all.

Then who should show up but ANOTHER stereotype. This time, it's an Indian swami riding a magic carpet.

Meanwhile, Christine is still French-kissing her dog.

Mr. Peabody tells the swami to help Sherman return the Woolly Mammoth to the Ice Age. Instead, Sherman turns the apartment into a winter wonderland, with saber-toothed tigers and giant beavers and even neandrethals walking around. How did he accomplish this? I don't know. I guess the implication is that the swami has some sort of mystical genie-like powers and can grant wishes.

All it needs is for Elsa to show up and start singing "Let It Go".

After that, we continue with the flashback. Everything turns into one of those martial arts movies where the lip-sync doesn't match up (which Sherman points out). Their first challenge is to walk across a floor comprised of the tops of large swaying noodles, holding a cup of water. And also the noodles are being boiled, but they're being cooked al dente which makes them both hard and soft... I'm just gonna take Mr. Peabody's word for it, I'm not a culinary expert. They manage to get across when Mr. Peabody uses one of the noodles to swing across the room.

The next challenge is for them to, while holding an egg and preventing it from cracking, fight "noodle warriors" wielding fortune cookies and eggroll nunchucks. I can't help but find this offensive. Did I turn on an episode of Chop Socky Chooks by mistake?

And why do the "noodle warriors" have purple skin? Did they eat Willy Wonka's gum
or something?

Sherman defeats the "noodle warriors" by eating their weapons. Challenge number three is for them to take a measuring cup full of flour to the middle of the room - after they've been spun around and the room is filled with flour. To solve THIS challenge, they invent the game "Marco Polo".

"Each challenge was a secret ingredient!" Mr. Peabody says, and thus Marco Polo learns how to make noodles, preventing the world from not knowing what rigatoni is. After the flashback, we see Mr. Peabody use his skating skillz from the beginning of the episode to save Sherman from a saber-toothed tiger cub. Or, rather, its mother.

Diego's girlfriend from the fourth and fifth Ice Age movies is mad she wasn't invited back
for Ice Age 6.

The mammoth saves them, and Mr. Peabody decides to let Sherman keep him after all. I'm guessing the mammoth doesn't show up in any of the following episodes. Which is too bad, because having a woolly mammoth around would make this show a lot cooler.

What's the Verdict?

This is a mixed bag of a show. On the one hand, it manages to avoid most of the problems that the movie has... namely, it doesn't take itself so seriously. The focus is entirely on the jokes. Downside: most of the jokes aren't funny. This is what the show considers a funny joke:

Being disgusting is not the same thing as being funny.

It doesn't help that Sherman is extremely Flanderized here. In the film, and the original segments, he was a normal little kid. He was not loud, obnoxious, and stupid - three words that I think best describe him here. Basically, he's been turned into Chowder (right down to the large appetite!). They even both frequently make over-the-top bizarre expressions for the sake of WACKINESS. I considered making screencaps of each one, but I didn't, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

The animation is pretty good, every so often there's a chuckle-worthy moment, and I much prefer Chris Parnell as Mr. Peabody to Ty Burrell (even if he still doesn't sound much like Bill Scott). If you enjoyed the movie, I'd say give the show a watch. If you liked the original segments but didn't care for the movie, I'd avoid it. It's hardly the WORST reboot of a Jay Ward cartoon, though. I think we all know what show THAT honor goes to...

Rating: Two and a half woolly mammoths out of five. You'll wish you could travel back in time and warn yourself not to watch it.

Let's Watch This: An Episode of "ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks"

NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.

Reboots are a tricky thing. More and more of them are coming out, be they movies or TV shows, for the sole reason that reboots of pre-established things that were successful in the past are less risky than making something new. Problem is, many times these reboots are handled by people who didn't have any involvement with the original show, so there's the chance that they won't understand what made the original show good.

This is especially true of cartoons. When a reboot of a cartoon show is bad, it's preeeeeeeeetty bad. Let's see... there's the 2016 reboot of The Powerpuff Girls, where Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup barely fight crime, attend middle school despite still being five years old, and have been Flanderized to absurd levels (not to mention that Cathy Cavadini, Tara Strong, and E.G. Daily weren't asked to come back and yet Tom Kenny, Jennifer Hale, and Roger L. Jackson were). There's also that crappy George of the Jungle reboot that I've already looked at. And the less said about Jellystone! (assuming that qualifies as a reboot), the better.

On the other hand, you have the flawed but surprisingly pretty good Wacky Races reboot. You have the acclaimed 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show. You have the Muppet Babies reboot, which I've seen very little of but have heard good things about (and what little I've seen of it I liked). I'm not sure the exact reason why some reboots work out but some don't. Maybe it all comes down to who you put in charge of it?

Anyhow, you're probably familiar with Alvin and the Chipmunks. That trio of squeaky-voiced rodents who look more like furry toddlers with some rodent features than actual chipmunks.

Seriously, when you come down to it, they look nothing like actual chipmunks.

They were created in 1958 by Ross Bagdasarian, and made their animation debut in the 1960s series The Alvin Show (I'm not sure why Alvin got top billing). But it wasn't until the 1980s that the Chipmunks really became popular, with another cartoon called Alvin and the Chipmunks premiering in 1983 and receiving eight seasons. This series introduced the Chipmunks' love interests, the Chipettes. Then in 1987, the Chipmunks starred in their first theatrical movie, The Chipmunk Adventure... which I'll probably be reviewing some other time.

After a few years of not much happening with the Chipmunks, this came out:

And it was a big hit. And, confession time: I actually went to see it in theaters. Sorry. And then there was a sequel, which I did NOT go see in theaters. And then there was a THIRD movie, which I did go see in theaters (in hindsight, I really should've asked to go see The Muppets instead). All three made mucho moolah at the box office, so surely the time was right for a new Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoon. And so...

March 2015 saw the premiere of ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks on Nickelodeon. This was the first Chipmunks production to be animated entirely in CGI, and as a result the Chipmunks and Chipettes got redesigns - in addition to giving Alvin, Simon and Theodore actual hair and putting the characters in more "modern" clothing, they sort of merged the original "furry toddler" looks with the movies' realistic chipmunks that actually looked like chipmunks, but I'm not sure how well that worked out. I'll give them credit for trying, though.

They look like the missing link between chipmunk and human. In fact, they might look even MORE
human now.

As far as the show's premise goes, it's basically the same thing as the 1980s series - Alvin (voiced by Ross Bagdasarian Jr.), Simon (also Ross Bagdasarian Jr.), Theodore (Janice Karman), Brittany (Janice Karman), Jeanette (Janice Karman), and Eleanor (Vanessa Karman) still live amongst humans, they still sing, Alvin's still causing trouble, their adopted father and manager Dave Seville (Ross Bagdasarian Jr.) is still there to chew him out for doing so, blah blah blah. The show, if you can believe it, ran until 2023 (in America, that is - in France it ran until 2022).

I remember watching episodes of this reboot when it came out, but eventually just... stopped. I think there was only so many times I could watch Alvin cause trouble and get his comeuppance for it before the show became repetitive. I don't really see people talk about it online, and when they do, it's mainly to discuss how creepy the characters look. Here are the episodes I remember seeing...

- The one where Alvin uses Theodore's teddy bear to take advantage of him
- The one where Alvin has the hots for his principal
- The one where Simon becomes the school's safety supervisor and Alvin (again) takes advantage of it

And I don't think I've watched it since then. What say we watch the fourteenth episode, which consists of the segments "Safety Third" and "Mister Manners", to see which category of reboots ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks falls into?

We start off with Alvin behind the wheel of a really, really, really, really, really cool car. Isn't Alvin a bit young to have a driver's license? Or are the rules of drivers' licenses and who's allowed to have one different for chipmunks?

"Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer, he's a demon on wheels..."

Actually, this is all happening in Alvin's imagination... he's actually looking through the window of a toy shop at the car they have for sale - the X-Class 47. He really wants it, but Dave shows him an article in the newspaper about how kids have been injured thanks to the car's faulty accelerator. If it's so dangerous, why the heck was the toy store selling it? Why hasn't it been recalled? Is the toy store owner just an idiot?

Honestly, CGI Dave is even creepier-looking than the Chipmunks...

So no X-Class 47 for Alvin, Dave says. Alvin attempts to show him that ANYTHING can be unsafe if you don't know what you're doing, but of course it doesn't do any good. Dave and his creepy cheekbones will not let Alvin get that car.

Alvin heads down to the basement, where he sees Simon and Theodore working on a project. Alvin asks what they're doing, and Simon says, "Nothing that concerns you." Jeez, Simon, way to be a pill. Then he tells Alvin that he can help by sitting in the corner and not touching or saying anything. Was Simon always this hostile?

Also, is it just me, or does Theodore now look a lot like Jesse McCartney? I guess their mindset was that since Jesse did Theodore's voice in the movies, they could have Theodore look like him in the show even though it's not Jesse doing the voice here? Or maybe it's just me...

"Hey, Simon! Herp-a-derp!"

Simon says that it's a project for his auto mechanics class. What grade are the Chipmunks in? I don't recall any of my schools having an auto mechanics class. I looked it up, and apparently some high schools do have auto mechanics classes... are the Chipmunks in high school? I think they went to high school in one of the movies... this just raises further questions.

Anyhow, the assignment is to recreate the car of their dreams. Simon's is a solar-powered bus. And now that Alvin's involved, he's of course going to take over the project - which means that he's gonna make Simon build a replica of the X-Class 47 instead of a solar-powered bus.

If Simon can build a car like that in a DAY, why on Earth is he just part of a band? Why
doesn't he have a job at Toyota or Nissan?

Early the next morning, while Simon sleeps, Alvin takes the car out for a joyride. Arriving at the toy shop, he gets out of the car and brags to the X-Class 47 in the window that he doesn't need it because he's got his own version... wait, doesn't this technically make Simon's car a bootleg?

But what's this? Alvin forgot to put the car in park, and it winds up sliding into the street. Where it is destroyed by a bus. Alvin thinks that he and Simon are both toast, but then the toy shop owner carries the X-Class 47 out of the store and throws it in a dumpster. And in the words of Django from Ratatouille, it's not stealing if nobody wants it.

And remember that article about the car's faulty accelerator? Well, Alvin is reminded of that the hard way...

"Clear the way, Nick logo!"

Eventually, the car winds up flying through the front door of Dave's house, up the stairs, out a window and into the pool outside. Fortunately, Alvin jumped out the car went out the window. He tells Simon that, uh, he was just, uh, testing out the car he built (this part isn't technically a lie) and it went crazy. Simon laments that he should've tested it himself to see if it was faulty, but then a sticker reading "X-Class 247, Tech Toys" floats to the surface of the pool and Dave pulls it out. Uh oh, it looks like Alvin has some explaining to do...

Also, I think I've figured out why the Chipmunks look so much more human than they did before - it's the skin tone-colored fur. They've always had that, which is part of the reason they've never looked particularly rodent-like, but in this bad textureless CGI, the skin tone-colored fur looks even more like skin. And giving them actual hair just makes it stand out more.

In fact... IS that even supposed to be fur? Or is it just skin?

So now Alvin's in trouble. Luckily, Simon's teacher believed him and gave him the second chance to build his original vehicle. And, since Dave is making Alvin assist him... even though that's how this whole mess got started in the first place, so when you come down to it this is just as much his fault as it is Alvin's... Alvin's made a few modifications to Simon's blueprints, demonstrating that he's basically learned nothing.

Though, to be fair, that WOULD be a really cool bus.

Next segment...

Alvin tells Simon, Theodore, and Dave that there's some contest going on where the winner gets a date with Princess Kate of England. I take it this "Princess Kate" is meant to be Catherine, Princess of Wales, though the image of her they show us doesn't look much like her.

Was Princess Catherine at any point a blonde?

Alvin wants to win the contest because he so totally has the hots for Princess Kate (apparently he doesn't know that Catherine is married), and then Brittany shows up and makes it clear that she wants to win the contest too. What the heck? Did she just walk into the house unannounced? We didn't even hear the door open.

There's also a Running Gag here about how Alvin doesn't know how to pronounce "knight in
shining armor". It is not funny.

Fortunately, you can enter the contest as many times as you'd like. Because that's totally how contests work, right? So Alvin and Brittany enter the contest multiple times. After the montage, Alvin gets a visit from Kate's lady in waiting, Mrs. Flaversham. Amusingly, even SHE can't tell what species Alvin is.

"I'm a lady in waiting, and I'm WAITING for you to let me IN!





Do you know how long I've waited to make that joke?"

As it turns out, Mrs. Flaversham is there to see both Alvin AND Brittany. Alvin won the contest with twelve hundred and three entries, and Brittany is the runner-up with twelve hundred and two entries. But in order to meet Kate, Alvin must first pass the "Manners Test" and prove that he is Mr. Wonderful Manners. If he fails, Brittany is dubbed the winner... if SHE passes the test as well.

First, Alvin must identify all of the different spoons, knives, and glasses used for eating in hoity-toity restaurants. Normal people like us, of course, don't give a rat's tail about manners, so we just use ONE fork, ONE knife, ONE spoon etc. for eating. Alvin fails miserably at it, but Brittany pulls it off, and we are treated to another montage.

After the montage, Mrs. Flaversham tells Alvin that she is not convinced he has mastered ettiquite. For the final test, he must accompany Brittany on a date. Oooooooh, Alvin and his female counterpart going on a date. I can only see THIS ending well...

I hope Wallace doesn't mind that Alvin raided his closet...

After taking a needlessly long time to get ready, Brittany proceeds to make the date extremely difficult for Alvin. And Mrs. Flaversham is apparently an idiot, because she doesn't pick up on this. Like, at one point when they get to the cafe, Alvin gets her a glass of the finest juice (because there aren't any waiters at this cafe, it would seem) and she blatantly tips it over and douses him with it, saying "Oops." in the most blatant yeah-I-did-this-on-purpose tone of voice and she does nothing. This is around the time that Alvin snaps like a twig and subjects Brittany to a well-deserved pie in the face.

I don't know if we're supposed to be on Alvin's side here or not, but y'know what? I am.

Alvin and Brittany get into a food fight, and after Mrs. Flaversham gets a pie in the face as well, she storms out of the cafe, a pretty good indicator that neither of them will be meeting the princess. Fortunately, Brittany explains everything to her off-camera, which means that Alvin gets to meet the princess after all. Oh, and it turns out Alvin is allowed to bring a guest. Which basically means that all of Brittany's efforts to sabotage him were for nothing. But Alvin's still going to make her work for it.

What's the Verdict?

As a reboot of the 1980s cartoon, ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks gets the job done. The voice actors do a good job, some of the jokes are kind of funny, nobody is drastically out of character. But as a whole, I'd dub the show mediocre. Most of that, admittedly, is on the really uncanny-looking CGI. Rule of thumb - if a Nickelodeon show is CGI, it's not gonna look too great. The Chipmunks look freaky, I get what they were going for but if anything they might actually look even LESS rodent-like than before. On top of that, there's way too much of an emphasis on Alvin causing trouble. I don't recall him being THIS much of a pest in the original cartoon (then again, I haven't watched the original cartoon in a while).

So, yeah, I'd say fans of the Chipmunks would like this show, but unless you're a HUGE Alvin enthusiast, I'd say there are better cartoons worth your time. Maybe I'm the wrong person to say that, though, I'm not really a Chipmunks fan myself. Well, I do like Theodore, but that mainly stems from the fact that he's adorable.

Let's Watch This: An Episode of "George of the Jungle (2007)"

First confession: I didn't know that the George of the Jungle movie was based on a cartoon when I first saw it.

Second confession: I think I still didn't know it was based on a cartoon when the 2007 reboot premiered - and as a result, I thought the 2007 reboot was based on the movies.

Third confession: I think I watched the sequel, George of the Jungle 2, before I watched the first one.

Now that those confessions are out of the way, let's talk about George of the Jungle. The character was introduced to the world in 1967 as the star of a cartoon series created by Jay Ward Productions. He's basically Tarzan except he's incredibly incompetent.

In 1997, Disney decided to adapt the cartoon into a live action movie starring Brendan Fraser as George and Keith Scott as the narrator.

The film spawned a sequel in 2003, with Christopher Showerman as George (because, according to the film, "Studio too cheap to hire Brendan Fraser") and Keith Scott reprising his role as the narrator.

Then in 2007, a new George of the Jungle cartoon was created with no relation to the movies. Or even the original cartoon, for that matter, aside from the character names and the basic plot of "guy named George is a Tarzan parody".

The 2007 series initially only had twenty-six episodes, but then in 2016 they made twenty-six MORE episodes, because apparently people were clamoring for more of this show. Is it any good? Well, let's take a look at the intro...

First sign that this is a 2000s cartoon - ha ha, George is smacking his butt. Because butts are automatically funny, right?

The theme song is the same one used in the original cartoon and the movies, but now it includes a rap portion (because 2000s). It's not a particularly good cover of the song.

…what the heck is going on with Ape here?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Ape's entire personality that despite being, y'know, a gorilla, he was much more cultured and intelligent than George, a human being?

I'm in trouble, aren't I?

Okay, so today we'll be watching two episodes (this is one of those "two segments per episode" sort of cartoons). First up is the episode "Cone Head". No, this doesn't have anything to do with the Saturday Night Live characters.

The episode begins with a narrator (Michael Daingerfield) telling us that the jungle is a dangerous place, especially with spears flying through the air. And let me tell you, this narrator is no Keith Scott (by which I mean the narrator isn't written in a funny manner like Keith Scott's narrator is, that wasn't a slam at Michael Daingerfield). But actually, the spears aren't spears - they're asparagus, which George is throwing through the air for some reason. Ape (Paul Dobson) tells George that the asparagus he's throwing is actually poisonous, and they're trying to find the kind that one EATS. "BUT HOW CAN YOU TELL THE DIFFERENCE?!" George whines. To demonstrate how stupid George is, we see that he's standing in a patch of poisonous asparagus right next to a patch of NON-poisonous asparagus.

George is voiced in this show by Lee Tockar, who as you may recall also provided the voice of Yakkity Yak. In fact, the voice he uses for George sounds almost exactly like the voice he used for Yakkity. And he looks like Mr. Turner from The Fairly OddParents if he were to grow a mullet and stop wearing clothes.

Actually, that's something that I could totally picture Mr. Turner doing.

Anyhow, George and Ape are apparently... grocery-shopping. Ape has a list and a shopping cart and everything. Ape tells George to gather the other ingredients on the list while he goes home and starts dinner. Uh, Ape, just a word of advice... maybe giving such a task to the character who we've established is a massive idiot is not a very good idea? Just maybe? Don't you realize that George will most likely just get involved in WHACKY SHENANIGANS instead of gathering the other ingredients, as that is usually what happens in the episodes of cartoons where characters that are massive idiots are given the task of doing something important? I mean, you ARE the smart one of the show, right?

Actually, to George's credit, he DOES manage to get some of the other foods they need, such as mushrooms and carrots. Eventually, he comes across a strange-looking plant that he saw once before - a long time ago, in fact...

What is that thing, some kind of turnip?

George has a flashback to... prehistoric times. As in, when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Okaaaaaaaay... is this supposed to reveal that George is actually a caveman? It would explain his intellect (or lack thereof) and choice of attire.

Say, didn't Brendan Fraser once play a caveman? I think it was in a movie called Encino Man or something like that...

Boom, boom, acka-lacka-lacka-boom.

Well, okay, it wasn't THAT long ago... George then flashes back to when he was a baby and swung on a vine into a field of the plants, only to wind up with a bad rash. And wouldn't you know it, after the flashback George has that rash again. So apparently the plant was poison ivy or something.

Back at George's place, Ape is preparing dinner and singing, only to be caught in the act by Ursula (Brittney Irvin) and Magnolia (Tabitha St. Germain). Now, I know what you're thinking - "who the heck is Magnolia? There was no Magnolia in the original cartoon or the movie!" Well, Magnolia is this new character the show's producers came up with, I guess because otherwise the show's cast wouldn't have enough girls in it. It's the same reason why Skeeter was invented for Muppet Babies. She has a stereotypical "Southern belle" accent. Does she add anything to the show? Not in the least.

Ursula's the brunette, Magnolia's the red-haired one. And here's a fun fact
for you - in the second season, they randomly switch names. For some reason.

George comes in, and seeing him causes Ape and the two rejected Total Drama Island characters to gasp. His rash has gotten worse, and now his face is all red and swollen.

Eugh...

We are then treated to a close-up of George's pimply face (don't worry, I'll spare you the screencap) as Ursula's father, Dr. Scott (Mark Oliver) - get it? It's a reference to Bill Scott. Nice touch - looks over him with a magnifying glass. Apparently, he has "itchus swellitus" and he mustn't scratch it no matter how much he wants to. The only antidote is what appears to be a bottle of Pepto-Bismol, but George remembers drinking that stuff before and it tasted awful. "George will NEVER drink that stuff AGAIN!" he snaps.

Here's another fun fact for you - in the second season, Dr. Scott isn't Ursula's
dad anymore, and he's evil all of a sudden. Why did they make so many random
changes?

Dr. Scott tells George that this is actually a NEW formula that tastes like bubblegum. Then we cut to a monkey drinking it and going insane for some reason. After that, we cut back to George, who's now being treated by some witch doctor guy (Brian Drummond) who dubs George's condition "the itch of a thousand scratches". Wait, I thought it was "itchus swellitus". Which is it, guys?

"There is only one cure," the witch doctor guy says, "He must bathe in a bathtub of crocodile spit, under the full moon." Spit - it's automatically funny, just like butts. And monkeys. Dr. Scott and George agree with me and dub the witch doctor's idea ridiculous - "Where can George get that much crocodile spit?" George asks. We then cut to this:

Oddly convenient that they were able to find three crocodiles with massive
saliva buildup...

George says that he just won't scratch and everything will be fine, then makes a run for it with Ape and the girls in hot pursuit. He winds up running right into his elephant, Shep, allowing Ape to catch up with him. Tooki-Tooki Bird shows up, too. For those of you who haven't watched the original cartoon or the movie(s), Shep's shtick is that he acts like a dog, and George thinks he's a dog (a "great big peanut-loving poochie"). And Tooki-Tooki Bird is... a bird. In the live action movies, he was a toucan. In the original cartoon and this one, I don't think they ever specify what kind of bird he is.

How the heck is George still alive? Wouldn't an elephant sitting on you at least
result in a few broken bones?

Ursula tells George to just drink the stupid medicine, but George refuses. "It's delicious!" Ursula claims. "I'll prove it! Ape, show him how yummy this is." Ape reluctantly drinks the stuff, and quickly discovers that it does indeed not taste delicious.

Bubble gum is apparently a bad flavor for drinks. I suppose it makes sense,
seeing as bubble gum is something to be chewed, not drank...

"George has had it with friends' unflinching support!" George snaps as he storms off. "Trying to take care of George, worried about his health, looking out for his happiness... ENOUGH!" The joke, of course, being that George is ticked off at his friends for an incredibly stupid reason.

George attempts to shower under a waterfall to cure the rash, but that only provides temporary relief for his itchiness. Ape tells George that they've come up with a way to help him without the medicine. "Ooh! You invented porcupine pajamas?!" George asks.

We then get a Gilligan Cut to George wearing one of those cones you put on pets when they get hurt. He'll have to wear it until the itch goes away.

"George does not like the Cone of Shame."

Later, while the others are distracted, George enlists the help of Shep to get him a large stick which he can use to scratch the itch, but his plan is foiled. Thanks to the others, George starts to become even MORE itchy. The solution? Get him MORE cones.

I'm not one hundred percent sure how this is going to keep him from scratching...
Maybe the cones on his arms make it harder for him to reach the rash, but what's
the point of the cone on his head? He can't scratch his rash with his head.
Seems kind of pointless to me...

Honestly, I wish the narrator from the movie were here... I would love to see him do a snarky commentary on this episode.

"You can't work if you're scratching all the time," Ape tells George, "And what can you be if you're not king of the jungle?" Well, he could always be a massive idiot. Y'know, like he is already.

The next day, George comes across a monkey who's ALSO wearing a cone, and he tells George that he's got a big surprise for him. He takes George to a place where animals are free to scratch.

Pictured: the place where animals are free to scratch. That hippo is scratching
its butt on a porcupine. I'll spare you THAT screencap, too.

The other animals talk about how much they hate that awful pink medicine, but George tells them the problem isn't the medicine, it's their friends. "Let's EAT THEM!" a boar shouts. "NO!" George replies. "We have to EDUCATE our friends, for without education, friends are just... stupid people we know!"

And what better way to "educate" their friends than by putting on a play?

I'm reaaaaaaaaaaaaally getting tired of looking at George's rash-covered face...

The show consists entirely of George and the animals "singing" (I used quotation marks because George can't sing in the slightest) stupid songs about scratching, and despite how awful it is the crowd goes wild (no pun intended). Ursula, Magnolia, and Ape have learned a valuable lesson about not being supportive... oh wait, false alarm! They just tricked George and the other animals into drinking the medicine! Ha ha, they outsmarted George... which likely isn't too hard to do. But it works! George's rash goes away, and he is MAD that his "sneaky conniving friends tricked George into getting better".

"Y'know, George, I'm not going to say that you're dumb... but when you say
you'll tell someone everything you know, it only takes three seconds! Ba-dum-tsssh!"

Ape tells George to look on the bright side - now he can help Ape with his idea for a new musical! "It's about a young ape with big dreams and a lot of spunk!" he exclaims, but before he can start singing again George shoves a cone on his head. The end.

The next episode is called "Cousin Larry of the Jungle". It begins with George running through the jungle carrying a baby tapir back to its mother, but then his cousin Larry of the Jungle (Peter Kelamis) shows up, swipes the baby and brings it back to its mother instead.

Have I ever mentioned how much I loathe this show's art style? That barely
even looks like a tapir.

Larry's shtick as a character is that he's a competition freak who's obsessed with winning. He immediately shows the audience that he's far more of a winner than George is, then we cut to Ape, Ursula and Magnolia playing a board game. Ape sees George and Larry coming their way and tells the girls that Larry is "completely obnoxious". Well, that's one thing he and George have in common. And the worst part is, George is just too nice to realize how much of a competitive jerk Larry is. George and Larry show up, and despite how completely obnoxious Larry indeed is, Magnolia doesn't care because she thinks he's hot.

Well, I guess we can add "shallow" to Magnolia's very short list of personality traits. Seriously, I can't think of one other personality trait she has.

Unless "has a Southern accent" counts as a personality trait, I mean...

Ursula and Ape take a look at Larry's trophy case. Apparently, he's the first person to ever win a three-legged race and climb a guy known as Mike Everest (some guy he knew in school, according to Ape). Larry says that he took a look at Ape's closet, and he couldn't help but notice that he has more blue shirts than Ape. That might stem from the fact that Ape is a gorilla and doesn't wear clothes, so it'd be pointless for him to own a blue shirt. "Let's celebrate my winning by going on a picnic!" Larry suggests. Amazingly enough, I think that Larry just might be even more annoying than George.

They get to the picnic spot, and Larry makes the others carry all their stuff because he won the "least amount of letters in your name contest". Ape correctly points out that HE has the least amount of letters in his name, not Larry, but Larry claims that he doesn't count because he's an animal or some crap like that. Then Larry says that he's better than everyone at RELAXING and that gives him the right to jump on everyone's stomach.

Yeah, I don't know either...

Ursula and Magnolia now hate Cousin Larry just as much as Ape does. They all tell George that Larry must leave, but George doesn't let them because, as we've established, he's a massive idiot. "We can't kick out George's family!" George protests. "Yes, we can! In fact, let's have a contest to see how far OUT we can kick him!" Ape replies, giving us the only funny line in the entire episode.

I agree with Ape - they SHOULD have a contest to see how far out they can
kick Larry.

George announces that he will go sit on his "Forgetting Rock" until he forgets what his friends just said. Too bad he forgot where the Forgetting Rock is.

We then cut to George sitting on his "Forgetting Rock" until he can't remember what it is that he's forgetting, and then comes across these... uh, yetis, I think? I know this is kind of a nitpick, but why the heck are there yetis in a jungle? Shouldn't they be in the Himalayas?

Maybe they got tired of eating snow cones...

Apparently, the yetis hate Larry too and want to beat him up. Is it bad that I'm rooting for them right now? Oh, wait, never mind, they're not going to beat Larry up. Darn. They're going to beat him in a pie-eating contest. You see, the yetis love them some pie-eating contests, and usually a yeti wins one, but recently Larry beat them and they're convinced that he cheated. Ape agrees with them, but George, being such an idiot that even Homer Simpson would be slapping his forehead by this point, announces that he will prove that Larry didn't cheat.

"You know, you really need a new sense of fashion. And a new hairdo."

Believe it or not, Larry is actually NERVOUS about having to face the yetis, but alas, his inevitable Laser-Guided Karma will have to wait - he manages to trick George into entering the contest in his place.

Predictably, the Yeti is ahead about halfway through the contest, and Ape tells George that Larry made a bet he would lose. This makes George realize that, hey, Larry is a jerk, but Ape says that he believes in George, giving him the strength to carry on. George wins the contest, and he announces that he'll give the trophy that he won to the first yeti to chase Larry out of the jungle. Meh, would've been funnier if they had a contest to see how far out of the jungle they could kick Larry as Ape suggested.

We're almost done. We're almost done!

Larry gets chased out of the jungle, and then George throws up. We end on Ape and the girls sitting on the Forgetting Rock to get the image of George vomiting out of their mind.

WHAT'S THE VERDICT?

Oy, was that bad. It was not funny. The animation was typical bad Flash animation. I really don't like the art style, I wish they'd tried to ape (no pun intended) the original cartoon's designs a bit more. The "new" George is not endearing or funny or anything like the original George from the original cartoon, he's just your typical bad 2000s cartoon idiot main character. Ursula and Magnolia are boring. Disappointingly, the narrator barely shows up and is given jack-squat in the way of funny lines. The only character I kind of like is Ape.

There was no reason for this to be a George of the Jungle reboot. They could've just called it "Idiot in a Loincloth Runs Around the Jungle Acting Like an Idiot" and you would've had the exact same show. It's about as far removed from a Jay Ward production that you could get. Heck, even the Mr. Peabody and Sherman movie felt more like a Jay Ward production than this. It's nothing more than yet another bad Canadian Flash cartoon like Spliced or Yakkity Yak. My recommendation would be to watch the original cartoon or the movie instead.

To end this review on a lighter note, here's a funny clip from the movie: