This is my third attempt at writing a review for this title, I am not so sure why IMDb rejected the previous two, but here we are with my third try at leaving a comment.
Anyway, Animaniacs was one of my favorite shows growing up and still remains a favorite of mine now as an adult. I was skeptical a revival could work because the original is too much of a product of the 1990's - back then the internet was nowhere as complex of a system as it is today, there was actually such a thing as Saturday morning cartoons, and western animation itself didn't venture out as much to appeal to strictly adult audiences as they do so now so a lot of animation writers had to work around censorship. There were no streaming services, if you wanted to watch an episode of television you had to make you were there on time when it aired, you could only tape programs instead of DVR. Cable networks such as HBO and Showtime were known mostly for showing movies and would not become known for having daring and critically acclaimed original programming. Blockbuster season at the movies generally occurred in the summer time and occasionally in the winter but not all year round as they would like to have you believe these days, either. It was a pretty different time, and other attempts at revivals of 90's favorites haven't always gone over too well. Coupled with the fact that the majority of the original writing staff of Animaniacs didn't return I had serious skepticism about this. Having seen the first season on Hulu my feelings are that it is largely a mixed bag.
On the one hand it does seem like they ae really trying to keep the spirit of the original strong despite it being the 2020's, and you have the original voice artists back which is a plus. The animation is a bit clunky in areas but not awful - it could look worse. Some of the writing is clever and funny, but on the other hand the series misses much of its original cast of characters, a lot of the satire feels overdone in parts without much to any subtlety whatsoever, and the political satire feels much too one-sided for comfort.
Could have been great, could have been worse.
Anyway, Animaniacs was one of my favorite shows growing up and still remains a favorite of mine now as an adult. I was skeptical a revival could work because the original is too much of a product of the 1990's - back then the internet was nowhere as complex of a system as it is today, there was actually such a thing as Saturday morning cartoons, and western animation itself didn't venture out as much to appeal to strictly adult audiences as they do so now so a lot of animation writers had to work around censorship. There were no streaming services, if you wanted to watch an episode of television you had to make you were there on time when it aired, you could only tape programs instead of DVR. Cable networks such as HBO and Showtime were known mostly for showing movies and would not become known for having daring and critically acclaimed original programming. Blockbuster season at the movies generally occurred in the summer time and occasionally in the winter but not all year round as they would like to have you believe these days, either. It was a pretty different time, and other attempts at revivals of 90's favorites haven't always gone over too well. Coupled with the fact that the majority of the original writing staff of Animaniacs didn't return I had serious skepticism about this. Having seen the first season on Hulu my feelings are that it is largely a mixed bag.
On the one hand it does seem like they ae really trying to keep the spirit of the original strong despite it being the 2020's, and you have the original voice artists back which is a plus. The animation is a bit clunky in areas but not awful - it could look worse. Some of the writing is clever and funny, but on the other hand the series misses much of its original cast of characters, a lot of the satire feels overdone in parts without much to any subtlety whatsoever, and the political satire feels much too one-sided for comfort.
Could have been great, could have been worse.