Sam-I-Am breaks an endangered Chickeraffe out of the zoo and drags a reluctant Guy-Am-I on a road trip to return the animal to the wild. Along the way, they continuously cross paths with domineering mother Michellee and her precocious daughter, E.B., as well as a pair of bounty hunters.
This is easily the best adaptation of Dr. Seuss that I've seen since the author's death, although the bar's been set ridiculously low in that regard. The primary problem is that it seldom feels Seussian. The only character to speak consistently in rhyme is the narrator, who's primarily relegated to the opening of episodes. Okay, so enduring more than six hours of continuous rhyming would've become grating, so that can be forgiven. But it also lacks in the rampant off-kilter weirdness that was a hallmark of all of his works. There are occasional flashes of Dr. Seuss (the animals, town names, a hallucination sequence, an off-the-wall musical number), but they're few and far between. As has become standard in Hollywood of late, they're merely capitalizing on a name; this same story could have been told with original characters instead of defiling an established classic.
Overall, this feels way more like a Don Bluth production (Land Before Time, Secret of NIMH, All Dogs Go to Heaven, etc.) -- and I don't intend that as an insult. It's got wit, heart, three-dimensional characters, and gorgeous hand-drawn animation. I'm unsure if they were intentionally aping Bluth's style or if his long-unemployed animators worked on it, but it's a type of animation that we haven't seen in decades, which is welcomed and marred only by occasional splashes of cheap-looking CGI.
The show's other big problem is its non-ending. Although they wrap up the primary storyline, it's done in a manner that doesn't feel entirely fulfilling, and it certainly doesn't feel like Dr. Seuss (or even Don Bluth!). It's not really a spoiler to reveal that the fates of a few characters are only glimpsed as newspaper headlines in the final scene, where they also establish the plot for a second season. It just feels rushed and hollow. "Tune in three years from now to see how this story is resolved... unless the show's so successful that we decide to cheap out and have it finished in 2020!"
I'm a little surprised that I'd recommend giving the show a chance. If you can forgive that it bares very little resemblance to Dr. Seuss and overlook a few issues, it's an entertaining road trip adventure that's sure to entertain kids and the young at heart.
This is easily the best adaptation of Dr. Seuss that I've seen since the author's death, although the bar's been set ridiculously low in that regard. The primary problem is that it seldom feels Seussian. The only character to speak consistently in rhyme is the narrator, who's primarily relegated to the opening of episodes. Okay, so enduring more than six hours of continuous rhyming would've become grating, so that can be forgiven. But it also lacks in the rampant off-kilter weirdness that was a hallmark of all of his works. There are occasional flashes of Dr. Seuss (the animals, town names, a hallucination sequence, an off-the-wall musical number), but they're few and far between. As has become standard in Hollywood of late, they're merely capitalizing on a name; this same story could have been told with original characters instead of defiling an established classic.
Overall, this feels way more like a Don Bluth production (Land Before Time, Secret of NIMH, All Dogs Go to Heaven, etc.) -- and I don't intend that as an insult. It's got wit, heart, three-dimensional characters, and gorgeous hand-drawn animation. I'm unsure if they were intentionally aping Bluth's style or if his long-unemployed animators worked on it, but it's a type of animation that we haven't seen in decades, which is welcomed and marred only by occasional splashes of cheap-looking CGI.
The show's other big problem is its non-ending. Although they wrap up the primary storyline, it's done in a manner that doesn't feel entirely fulfilling, and it certainly doesn't feel like Dr. Seuss (or even Don Bluth!). It's not really a spoiler to reveal that the fates of a few characters are only glimpsed as newspaper headlines in the final scene, where they also establish the plot for a second season. It just feels rushed and hollow. "Tune in three years from now to see how this story is resolved... unless the show's so successful that we decide to cheap out and have it finished in 2020!"
I'm a little surprised that I'd recommend giving the show a chance. If you can forgive that it bares very little resemblance to Dr. Seuss and overlook a few issues, it's an entertaining road trip adventure that's sure to entertain kids and the young at heart.