Alright! Today I'm reviewing the second act of Disney Channel's trilogy of "keeping quality children's animation alive," which consists of Gravity Falls, The Owl House, and today's review, Amphibia. Amphibia is about the young Anne Boonchuy, a thirteen-year-old who, along with her two best friends Sasha and Marcy, is transported into the mythical land of Amphibia, a world where anthropomorphic amphibians are the norm. Now she finds herself navigating this strange world while making new friends and family while trying to find a way back home.
Right off the bat, Amphibia is very much made for children. That's expected and not at all a criticism - this is, after all, a children's show. However, when compared to Gravity Falls, The Owl House, or shows like Justice League Unlimited, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and The Clone Wars, Amphibia decidedly leans less towards tween to teen and more towards the five to ten demographic. Again, not a criticism, but if you go into it expecting Clone Wars-level violence or Avatar-level, well... everything, you'll be mistaken. It's a silly, episodic kid's show that doesn't need to be anything else.
It is so episodic, in fact, that nearly 90% of the series might count as "filler" episodes, with only the season premieres, finales, and perhaps two episodes in between that might count as "essential" to the plot. But this isn't a show you watch for Gravity Falls-esque mystery plotting, it's a show you watch to spend time with the characters as they mature and grow. It's an inoffensive, often hilarious, and charming thing to watch with your kids. "It's just another goofy episode filled with silly jokes for kids" is the name of the game here, and that's perfectly okay and quite welcome at a time when even Scooby-Doo can't escape an adult-oriented reboot.
 |
| LOOK AT THESE NOODLE ARMS |
Part of what makes it feel more child-oriented than the rest is the unfortunate decision to have every 22-minute episode divided into two eleven-minute episodes, each so rapid-fire that it's almost hard to keep up. It's the perfect show for children with ADHD - for anyone else, it can sometimes be exhausting. It moves so fast and has so many jokes in The LEGO Movie sort of way. While I'm not particularly bothered by the runtimes, it does occasionally squish otherwise emotional moments in the never ending time crunch. Some moments needed to breathe, and Amphibia didn't always allow that, making some of the stakes and emotional beats feel rushed through.
With the eleven-minute minisodes, each one completely rapid fire and technically "filler," Amphibia reminds me most strikingly of the musical Cats. While that comparison makes zero sense at a glance, here's why I say it: Most musicals have an "I Want" song and an "I Am" song. The hero sings the "I Want" song early in the show ("Part of Your World") while the villain sings the "I Am" song ("Poor Unfortunate Souls"). Cats is composed of eleven "I Am" songs with one "I Want" song at the very end (""Memory"). That's why "Memory" is such an iconic song - after an entire play of watching characters show up and introduce themselves, everything comes into focus with the hook, line, and sinker of one of them actually wanting something. That's why "Memory" makes such an impact - after a play where nothing happens, something finally happens and it sounds absolutely gorgeous.
Amphibia is the same. Every single episode, nothing happens. Just silly little adventures with an explicit moral at the end. But then, after an entire season, you get to the finale and everything falls into place for maximum drama. After the first season, you'd expect it to take an Avatar-level turn and grow into the epic fantasy you'd expect it to. But it doesn't, the silly adventures continue. And then it happens again in the second season, but with even more drama, and again, you'd expect it to finally grow up. But no! Once again, the entire third season is filled with wacky episodic adventures! And then they finally reach a mid-season point where you'd expect, you'd really, really expect, the series to grow up and it emphatically refuses. The wacky adventures continue all the way into the penultimate episode! You wonder: Will it ever grow up?
But then, after three seasons of nothing, Amphibia takes its time. It grows up. It rips off the band-aid and finally, finally becomes the epic fantasy you'd expect while having a last ten minutes that are heart-wrenching in ways you'd never expect. In the interest of remaining spoiler-free, let's just say that tears were shed on a level I have not done since Interstellar. It's the personification of my favorite quote from Life of Pi - "I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye." Amphibia shows what happens when you do take that moment. And it broke me.
In general, Amphibia is a wonderful time. The characters are funny, it's often legitimately insightful, so rapid-fire that it can never not be entertaining, and above all else has a hook, line, and sinker finale that left me absolutely devastated. Sometimes the humor can be a bit much and the morals a bit on the nose, but even then it's always enjoyable. It has, expectedly, and perhaps disappointingly, all the hallmarks of standard children's animation with an underlying edge that gives it an above-average feel that only becomes clear in the final episode.
And so too must we depart from Amphibia. It had the je ne sais quoi vibe, the livable world that I absolutely adore. It has one of my favorite hodgepodge families, tropes, and the ever-remarkable voice of Keith David as King Andrias with some of the strongest emotional beats in the show. It's a fantastic show through-and-through, sure to entertain young audiences while occasionally surprising older folks with clever gags and heartfelt endings.
 |
| Ouch. |
Comments
Post a Comment